Kamal Haasan's Thug Life Quietly Arrives On Netflix In Less Than A Month Of Its Theatrical Release Following Language Row
The Tamil gangster action drama was embroiled in controversy after lead star Kamal Haasan at a promotional event said "Your language (Kannada) was born out of Tamil".
Despite backlash, Kamal Haasan -- who was also attached with the film as a producer -- refused to apologise for his comments. He also decided to not release the film, mounted on a reported budget of Rs 200-300 crore, in Karnataka, which may have played a role in Thug Life 's poor box office collections.
What's Happening
On Thursday morning, Thug Life -- also starring Silambarasan TR -- quietly made its streaming debut on Netflix. Its OTT premiere came two days before it completed even a month in theatres.
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In an Instagram post, Netflix said, "It is a battle between Death and Rangaraya Sakthivel, want to see who wins the game? Watch Thug Life, now on Netflix in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam #ThugLifeOnNetflix #Thuglife #KamalHaasan #SilambarasanTR
"A #ManiRatnam Film An @arrahman Musical @ikamalhaasan @silambarasantrofficial #Mahendran @siva_ananth @trishakrishnan @aishu__ @ashokselvan @abhiramiact @jojugeorgeactorofficial @dop007 @rkfioffl @madrastalkies @turmericmedia @magizhmandram @saregamatamil."
What The Audience Said About Thug Life 's OTT premiere
A section of social media users seemed disinterested in watching the film on OTT.
One of them commented on Netflix's Thug Life announcement post, "Save your life."
Another said, "Not interested."
An Instagram user said, "Not interested. Already wasted my valuable time and money in theatre."
In A Nutshell
Weeks before the release of Thug Life, Kamal Haasan landed into a fresh controversy with his "your language (Kannada) was born out of Tamil" remark at an event. The row led to boycott calls from the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce and pro-Kannada language groups. The film, directed by Mani Ratnam, didn't release in Karnataka on June 5, 2025, as did in the rest of the country and other international territories.
According to reports, Thug Life emerged as one of the highest grossing Tamil films of 2025 earning around Rs 90 crore, but it didn't perform well at the box office considering its massive budget (Rs 200-300 crore).
The movie is now streaming on Netflix.
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