Mani Ratnam on Tamil cinema not having Rs 1000 crore box office hit: ‘Why are we making films…’

Mani Ratnam was recently asked about his view on why Tamil cinema hasn’t hit the Rs 1000 crore benchmark at the box office.

During an interview with YouTube channel Gobinath, the filmmaker responded, “Why are we making films? Is it just because we want to make a high-yielding movie or a film that is authentic and, to an extent, a good film? Initially, it used to be whether a movie was good, bad, or just average, but now it goes too much into collections and all.”

Upon being questioned whether such boundaries would kill creativity, the director hoped that it would not happen in the days to come.

Mani Ratnam is currently busy with interviews, owing to the release of his movie Thug Life. The gangster actioner slated to release on June 5, 2025, features Kamal Haasan and Silambarasan TR in lead roles, playing father and foster son.

The movie co-penned by Haasan and Ratnam features the tale of Rangaraaya Sakthivel Naicker, an aging gangster who is presumed to be dead. In his eyes, suspicions of his death led to his adopted son, Amaran, who has now become the head of his mafia gang.

With vengeance in his mind, Sakthivel decides to lead himself on a game of death to vanquish Amaran, highlighting how their destinies were always intertwined.

As Haasan and STR play the leading roles, the movie features an ensemble cast of actors like Trisha Krishnan, Abhirami, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Ashok Selvan, Joju George, Nassar, Ali Fazal, Pankaj Tripathi, and many more in key roles.

The makers of Thug Life recently attended the film’s audio launch event. With the entire album composed by AR Rahman being unveiled, most netizens took notice of how one song was crooned by Shruti Haasan.

Check out the Thug Life album:

Coming to Mani Ratnam’s work front, the legendary director was last seen helming the project Ponniyin Selvan I and II, which released in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

 

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