'Thug Life' struggles to beat 'Indian 2’s opening day collection

Kamal Haasan’s much-anticipated action drama 'Thug Life', directed by Mani Ratnam, hit the big screens today (June 5), and the film received lukewarm responses from both fans and critics despite considerable buzz.

Early estimates suggest that the film managed to earn Rs 17 crore at the domestic box office by 10 pm, which is nowhere near Kamal's recent film 'Indian 2’s first-day box office collection.Box office collection of Indian 2 and Thug LifeAccording to Sacnilk, 'Indian 2' had recorded Rs 25.6 crore on its opening day, despite being labelled a box office failure. It appears that 'Thug Life' may fall short of the mark and fail to surpass 'Indian 2’s opening day collection.

Official figures are still awaited from the makers, with only a few hours remaining.Occupancy rate Occupancy rates for the Tamil version of Thug Life showed a gradual decline throughout the day. Overall occupancy stood at 48.72% on Thursday. Morning shows saw a 50.66% turnout, which dipped slightly to 50.35% in the afternoon. Evening shows witnessed a more noticeable drop to 45.15%. Among all regions, Pondicherry registered the highest occupancy at 69.33%.

Unfortunately, the film is not expected to rank among the top Tamil openers of 2025. So far this year, Ajith Kumar’s 'Good Bad Ugly' holds the top spot with Rs 28.15 crore, followed by Vidaamuyarchi at Rs 25.5 crore. However, 'Thug Life' may still outperform Suriya’s Retro, which had a Rs 17.25 crore opening day collection.Thug Life controversyThe film has reportedly faced a ban in Karnataka, triggered by comments made by Kamal Haasan during a promotional appearance. “Your language (Kannada) was born out of Tamil,” he had said. The statement drew sharp criticism from pro-Kannada groups and resulted in widespread backlash. Haasan stood firm and refused to apologise, which only intensified the dispute and led to the film being pulled from screens in the region.'Thug Life' also stars Trisha Krishnan, TR Silambarasan, Abhirami, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Ashok Selvan, Joju George, Nassar, Ali Fazal, and Mahesh Manjrekar in key roles.