Whenever I watch a film like Thug Life, a project that is helmed by greats like Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan, the question that comes to my mind is, after watching the final cut, do the creators and actors feel that they didn’t perform at the limits of their potential, do they recognize the flaws? I say this because I was really disappointed after watching this film, maybe because I was really looking forward to the project. The screenplay was just not up to the mark, and I could never feel invested in the story. What’s even more disheartening is that it was one of those rare occasions where A.R. Rahman’s music just didn’t complement the scenes even one bit. Maybe I wouldn’t have called the film a blunder and instead referred to it as a decent watch had the names of such greats not been associated with the project. That said, let’s find out what happened in Thug Life and if our protagonist achieved what he set out to do.
Spoiler Alert
How did Amaran meet Sakthivel?
The film opens with a flashback sequence in 1994 where we find Sakthivel, the real estate mafia, making a truce with his nemesis, Sadanand. Sakthivel always said that, in his line of business, enemies were not permanent. He believed that it was always better to join hands and make a profit, until and unless there was a personal grudge between two people. Though Sadanand pretended that he had come to beg for forgiveness and that he wanted to live under Sakthivel’s tutelage, in reality he had no such intentions. Sadanand had informed the police about Sakthivel and his gang’s whereabouts, and so the moment he left, the police conducted a crackdown. Manickam, Sakthivel’s elder brother; Pothros, his right-hand man; and all the important gang members were present inside the building, and before they realized it, they had walked right into the trap laid by Sadanand. Though Sakthivel was able to escape from there together with his brother and other members of the gang, a lot of innocent people who lived in the same building ended up losing their lives. One of the people who died in the crossfire was Amaran’s father, who delivered newspapers to the building. The son of the newspaper vendor saw his father dying right in front of his eyes. Sakthivel felt empathetic for the little boy, and so he took him in his arms and ran from there. Sakthivel would have been shot by the police officer, but the little boy acted as a human shield. He knew that the police wouldn’t shoot at him because of the little boy. From that day onwards, Sakthivel felt that the boy was the reason why he was still alive. The little boy named Amaran had a sister named Chandra who was present in the same building when the firing started. Amaran couldn’t find her till the very end. Sakthivel told Amaran that he would make sure that Chandra came back home safely. But then years passed, and nobody ever came to know what happened to Chandra. Amaran started working for Sakthivel, and together they built a huge empire. Never did Sakthivel let Amaran feel that he was not his real brother, and the latter also gave him all the respect and love.
Why did Sakthivel kill Sadanand’s nephew?
It was the year 2016 when, once again, Sadanand and Sakthivel crossed paths with each other. Manickam’s daughter had fallen in love with Ranvijay, Sadanand’s nephew, and she was carrying his baby. When Manickam’s daughter went to talk to Ranvijay, she realized that the latter was not serious about her, and in fact, he didn’t even love her. She felt guilty, and she didn’t know how to face her father. Manickam’s daughter took her own life, and in her last note to her father, she told him the reason behind her decision. Once Sakthivel got to know about it, he abducted Ranvijay and asked Sadanand to meet him at a specified location. Sakthivel killed Ranvijay in front of Sadanand’s eyes, and the latter felt extremely helpless as he wasn’t able to do anything to save his own blood. Sadanand made peace with that fact, but Ranvijay’s elder brother, Deepak Yadav, was not able to forget what had happened. He waited for the right opportunity, and then he orchestrated an attack on Sakthivel. Though Sakthivel survived, Sadanand knew that it would spoil his relationship with the man. Sadanand asked Deepak to leave town and go into hiding, as he knew what Sakthivel was capable of doing. Deepak went, but still there was a fire burning inside him, and he desperately wanted to take revenge on the man who had killed his brother.
Why did Amaran go against Sakthivel?
Sakthivel was taken into custody and sent to prison for a period of one year. During that time, Amaran ruled in his stead and managed the entire business. He even joined hands with Sadanand, something which Sakthivel didn’t approve of. It was at that moment in Thug Life that we got to know that Manickam, Sakthivel’s brother, had a lot of problems with him. He felt jealous of Sakthivel, as he was the one who started the gang, but now the people considered Sakthivel the real leader. Sakthivel would have never overstepped his authority had Manickam been able to lead his people. Manickam did not know how to run an empire, and had he been in charge, the family would not have been able to make such progress as they had under Sakthivel’s leadership. Also, there were people around Manickam who egged him on and told him how unfair it was that the younger brother was the leader while the elder one had to just sit on the sidelines. When Sakthivel came out of the prison, he saw that people had somehow started treating Amaran as the leader. They treated Sakthivel with respect but still went and addressed matters related to the business with Amaran. Though Sakthivel was not an insecure man, at that moment in Thug Life, he did get a bit jealous. Manickam decided to use this rare opportunity to his advantage; he went and told Amaran that his father had been killed by Sakthivel back in the day and that the man had been hiding the truth from him ever since. Somehow, even after what Sakthivel had done for him, Amaran believed those lies; it felt as if it was way too easy to convince a man like Amaran, who otherwise happened to be so steadfast and logical in his approach. So a plan was made to get rid of Sakthivel and make him pay for his sins. Sakthivel was going to Mount Kailash as his wife, Jeeva, had taken a vow after the former had been attacked by Deepak Yadav’s men. Sakthivel went there not knowing that his own people had planned to kill him there. Manickam, Amaran, Pothros, and others attacked Sakthivel while they were on the way. Sakthivel fell from a cliff after being shot, and his enemies believed that he had passed away. The news of Sakthivel’s death spread like wildfire, and soon after that, Amaran declared himself to be the new leader of the empire. Amaran had had his eyes on Sakthivel’s mistress, Indrani, for a very long time, and so the first thing he did after coming back from the Mount Kailash trip was to force her to marry him. Jeeva, Sakthivel’s wife, lost her memory due to the trauma, and both she and her daughter, Mangai, left the house. The business flourished, and Amaran and the others were having the time of their lives. But little did they know that Sakthivel was still alive. Yes, after being shot, after falling from a cliff, and after being stranded in that harsh terrain, Sakthivel still managed to survive. He stayed in a Tibetan monastery for a couple of years, recovered from his injuries, and learned the art of combat. The old lion returned to the battlefield in order to teach a lesson to all those who had dared to betray him.
Was Sakthivel able to find Amaran’s missing sister?
The ending of Thug Life was so chaotic that one can’t understand what the writers’ intention was. Deepak was still lurking in the shadows and waiting to take revenge for his brother’s murder. Sakthivel made some deal with Inspector Jai and asked him to give him 48 hours to find and kill Amaran. Amaran, on the other hand, made plans to escape out of India because he knew what Sakthivel was capable of. Deepak planted a bomb at Amaran’s residence, and unfortunately, Indrani lost her life in the ensuing explosion, as she was the only one who was present at the mansion. Indrani had a talk with Sakthivel just moments before she took her last breath. The film tried very hard to justify their relationship and brainwash us into believing that it was not wrong for a man to love two women at the same time and have the desire to have a relationship with them. Sakthivel loved Jeeva, but he made it very clear that he would keep seeing Indrani no matter what. Jeeva was not left with much of an option, but since the film found a way to glorify Sakthivel’s actions, nobody questioned his sense of morality.
Sakthivel killed his brother, Manickam, and he kept asking him till the last moment why he had betrayed his trust. Sakthivel came face-to-face with Deepak and Amaran, and he got gravely injured during the fight. Inspector Jai took him to his place and asked Chandra, who was a doctor by profession and his ex-wife, to keep him alive. That’s when Shaktivel realized that she was the same Chandra who was Amaran’s sister, and who he had been searching for years. It was just a sheer coincidence that Sakthivel found Chandra at Jai’s house. Chandra, after being left behind at the building, was rescued by Jai’s father, who in a way adopted her. Chandra married Jai, but after some years the couple decided to part ways. Jai’s father loved Chandra so much that even during the divorce he supported her and made it very clear that she would always be his daughter no matter what. Sakthivel got injured in a fight with Deepak and Amaran. Once Sakthivel recovered, he asked Amaran to meet him at the same building where he had met him for the first time in 1994. Even after so much had happened between Amaran and Sakthivel, the latter wanted to fulfill his promise and make him meet his sister.
In Thug Life’s ending, Sakthivel and Amaran once again came face to face, and the former told him that he was not the one who had killed his father. Sakthivel also told Amaran that he had finally found his sister and fulfilled his promise. But before Chandra could come and meet with his brother, Deepak arrived at the scene and killed Amaran. Sakthivel was able to kill Deepak, but he couldn’t save Amaran. Chandra held her brother’s hand just before he took his last breaths. Sakthivel felt like the most unlucky man in the entire world. He felt that God ended up taking everybody he loved. I believe Sakthivel left the crime world as he had nothing more to gain. Sakthivel decided to spend the rest of his days with Jeeva, his daughter, and his grandson. Though Jeeva still didn’t recognize him, he knew that one day she would remember the beautiful moments they had spent together.
