Kamal Haasan’s Film Gets Decent Opening Amid Controversy; See Figures
Expectations were towering for Thug Life, which marks the much awaited reunion of director Mani Ratnam and actor Kamal Haasan after their cult classic ‘Nayakan’ in 1987. Despite the pre release buzz, the film faced a major setback after it wasn’t released in Karnataka due to the ongoing controversy after Haasan’s remarks on the Kannada language.
According to early estimates from Sacnilk.com, Thug Life collected approximately Rs 17.00 crore on its opening day for all languages.
The movie had an overall 48.72 percent Tamil Occupancy on Thursday and an overall 5.73% Hindi Occupancy for 2D version. And for the IMAX 2D version, Thug Life had an overall 32.86% Tamil occupancy, an overall 21.92% Telugu Occupancy and an overall 7.17% Hindi Occupancy.
Thug Life had an overall 34.25 percent Tamil Occupancy on Thursday for 4DX version.
Industry experts believe the movie will gain momentum over the extended weekend, even though the Karnataka ban is expected to face a loss of Rs 35-40 crore in gross box office collections and Rs 12-15 crore in distributor share, as per a report by The Hindu.
Producer and distributor G Dhananjayan broke down the potential impact, citing how major Telugu films like Pushpa 2, Baahubali 2, RRR, and Kalki 2898 AD collectively earned Rs 391.2 crore from Karnataka alone, “With the four Telugu films grossing a total of Rs 5832 crore, the Karnataka box office revenue alone amounts to Rs 391.20 crore, while the north Indian market accounts for Rs 2361.60 crore. The Karnataka market accounts for around 7% of the total revenue.”
The controversy erupted at the audio launch of the film Thug Life in Chennai, Haasan opened with an emotional tribute to his Tamil roots, saying, “Uyire Urave Tamizhe” meaning ‘My life and my family is Tamil’. Turning to Kannada superstar Shivarajkumar, who shared the stage with him, Haasan added, “Your language was born out of Tamil. So, you are included in that line.”
It also stars Trisha, Silambarasan, Abhirami, Sanya Malhotra, Ashok Selvan, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Joju George, Nassar, Ali Fazal, Pankaj Tripathi, Rohit Saraf and Vaiyapuri.