Actor Kamal Haasan’s 234th film, directed by Mani Ratnam, is titled Thug Life, it was announced on Monday, November 6. A video accompanied the announcement, made a day ahead of Kamal Haasan’s birthday. The Tamil superstar is seen sporting a long cape and introducing himself as Rangaraya Sakthivel Naicker. Addressing the viewers, he says, “It seems it was decided upon my birth that Sakthivel Naicker would be a criminal, a goonda, a Yakuza. Yakuza means gangster in Japanese.”

Kamal Haasan and ace Tamil filmmaker Mani Ratnam are working together in a film after 36 years. Their last film together was the cult classic Nayagan (1987). Interestingly, Kamal’s character in Nayagan was Sakthivel Naicker. The visuals in the title-reveal video indicate that the movie could be a historical drama set in Tamil Nadu’s Kayalpattinam, now a municipal town in Thoothukudi.

Other big names who will work in the movie include Trisha, Dulquer Salman, and Jayam Ravi. The film is produced by Kamal Haasan, Mani Ratnam, R Mahendran and Siva Ananth under the banners of Raaj Kamal Films International, Madras Talkies and Red Giant Movies. AR Rahman is set to score the music for the film and Sreekar Prasad will do the editing.

Kamal Haasan’s last release was Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Vikram, where he played a vigilante aiming to create a drug free society. He is also set to feature in Shankar’s Indian 2, the sequel to his popular film Indian that came out in 1996. A sneak peak from the film was released by actor Rajinikanth on November 3, showing Kamal’s character of Senapathy being reprised in the sequel.

Mani Ratnam’s last film was the magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan that came out in two parts. The first part was released in 2022 while the sequel was released one year later. Both the parts featured a star studded cast including Trisha, Aishwarya Rai, Prakash Raj, Vikram, and Jayam Ravi, among others.