Readers Write In #811: Thug Life – You come at the King, you best not miss

By Sai Ganga

As the dust settles as Thug Life has finally hit us, the reactions summarize how Mani Ratnam’s career has been – like him or hate him, you just can’t ignore him. The fact that his films still elicit a reaction from audiences four decades after Pallavi Anupallavi released is a testament to his longevity. The difference this time around has been the extreme reactions owing mostly to the presence of Vinveli Nayagan himself; (got to say, I was taken aback with BR saying it would be best if both of them don’t work together). But a lot to unpack on the move itself…

The conceit is solid- a Mani Ratnam hero ^TM   who is thrown into a new world but for whom death comes calling and each time it takes away the person he loves the most, his skirmishes with the law engagement, his inter personal struggles giving us an intimate and macro view at the same time. But what worked in a Nayagan, Thalapathi, Guru and to a big extent in Raavanan and not in TL is the somewhat distant nature of the proceedings and a lack of emotional core. We don’t feel why Amaran would straight off buy into Chinnavar killing his father, we don’t feel Naazar’s jealousy, we don’t feel what the other capos have against Chinnavar to turn against him; a woman committing suicide because of pregnancy in an MR movie- really ? The result being the characters don’t strike an emotional chord with us. Even Amaran’s death doesn’t engage much save for Chandra’s appearance and Aishwarya Lekshmi has to do the heavy lifting here (Chinnavar keeps checking Amaran’s watch here. Wonder why). 

But at the same time, the magic and the genius bits are there in the movie- a brother and sister separated at childhood; one raised by a gangster and the other by a cop (kodukku inthapakkam & anthapakkam), the entire staging of Trisha’s entry scene- one would have seen pretty much every expression of KH over the years, but this scene brilliantly brings in a mischief and playfulness in his face; completely new, the Chinnavar and Amaran scene where he doesn’t really apologize for him doubting  Amaran but explains context and his mindset- it is Delhi and the history of fratricide the place has seen; the action pieces especially the car shoot out scene

However, I think the reason why the movie hasn’t worked with the audience is MR himself – After watching TL, I really believe him when he says he’s not here to play it to the gallery and to make what the audience “wants”. I mean, to put a “non massy” Maara song for Simbu’s entry scene, not showing any chest thumping training bit for Kamal’s comeback to set the stage, Chinnavar’s equation outside the wedlock (Chinnavar telling Jeeva to think of his infidelity as BP was hard to digest; glad that MR didn’t make Ganapathy Uncle from Ok Kanmani mouth that dialogue); even the final show off with Simbu and Kamal are treated as part of the narrative. 

My hypothesis is all this would have worked uptill the early 2000’s but the commercial film language (especially the gangster movies post Lokesh’s entry) and the theatre going crowd have gone through a massive upheaval. The millennials and Gen Z who throng the theatres in the first weekend want the elevation scenes, a wink to the previous movies (no the little boy in the oversized shirt doesn’t count), a racy BGM (probably we might have to call it with a heavy heart– Anirudh trumps ARR in action genre scoring ) some decent rug pulling (yes Agent Tina kinda  thing). That’s the reason why the movie got such a thrashing on the first day. 

But the mature audience seem to not hate it and like it for what it is. Unfortunately of late, everything is either cringe or sambhavam. Nothing exists in between. 

Unfortunately, Thug Life falls into the list of Star Director & A list hero underperformers- Dunki, Retro, Jab Harry Met Sejal, Malaikottai Vaaliban, Vettayan etc and we wonder why we cant have our Killers of the Flower Moon, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Irish Man, The Revenant etc). Well, for now the juggernaut moves to Coolie..