Kamal Haasan's Thug Life expected to suffer up to ₹40 crore loss at box office following Karnataka release uncertainty

Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam’s Thug Life finally released on Thursday, bracing chaos and controveries. The film is now being screened across India except for Karnataka over Kamal's controversial Tamil-Kannada remark. While the film is set to register a good start at the box office, undeniably it will suffer due to its ban in Karnataka.

Thug Life to face loss upto ₹40 crore: Report

According to a report of The Hindu, Thug Life might see a hefty loss of up to ₹40 crore as its Karnataka release is in limbo.

Producer and distributor G Dhananjayan shared with the outlet that the Kamal Haasan film will miss out on about ₹35-40 crore gross at the box office and ₹12-15 crore share to producers share for the Karnataka blockage. The assumed loss was calculated based on the performance of previous hit pan-India releases like Pushpa 2, Baahubali 2, RRR, and Kalki 2898 AD, which earned around ₹74-104 crore of over ₹1,000 crore worldwide revenue, from the Karnataka circuit.

Dhananjayan said, "With the four Telugu films grossing a total of ₹5832 crore, the Karnataka box office revenue alone amounts to ₹391.20 crore, while the north Indian market accounts for ₹2361.60 crore. The Karnataka market accounts for around 7% of the total revenue.”

Other high-grossing Tamil films like Jailer, Leo, Ponniyin Selvan, The GOAT, and Vikram also registered a major amount from Karnataka, which plays a crucial role in the South film business. 

“For Tamil films too, the Karnataka market accounts for 7% of the total revenue,” he added.

Thug Life

Thug Life is a gangster action drama film. It is directed by Mani Ratnam and co-written by Kamal Haasan, who is also producing the film under his banner Raaj Kamal Films International, alongside Madras Talkies and Red Giant Movies.

Besides Kamal in the lead, it also stars Silambarasan, Trisha Krishnan, Abhirami, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Ashok Selvan, Joju George, Nassar, Ali Fazal, Rohit Saraf and Baburaj.

The film marks the reunion of Haasan and Ratnam after their 1987 film, Nayakan.

Thug Life controversy explained

The film landed in the middle of a controversy after Kamal Haasan said, "Kannada was born out of Tamil” during a film event.

After the film's release in Karnataka was opposed by the film body, Kamal moved to the High Court.

However, he was asked to apologise for his statement by the court. He refused to do so and agreed not to release the film in the state.