Kamal Haasan doubles down on eight-week theatrical window for ‘Thug Life’: We hope others will follow

Silambarasan TR and Kamal Haasan in ‘Thug Life’.

The eight-week window between the theatrical and OTT releases of Thug Life is a ‘pragmatic’ choice useful to all stakeholders, actor-producer Kamal Haasan mentioned at a trailer showcase in Mumbai on Tuesday (May 20, 2025) night. 

Thug Life—a splashy, emotional gangster drama—reunites Kamal together with his Nayakan director Mani Ratnam. The duo is collaborating on a movie after 36 years. Co-starring Silambarasan TR, Trisha Krishnan and several other others, Thug Life is slated for launch in theatres on June 5. It will stream on Netflix following the eight-week holdback interval. 

“It’s not even an experiment but the pragmatic thing to do,” mentioned Kamal, who has produced Thug Life underneath his banner Raaj Kamal Films International together with Ratnam’s Madras Talkies and Udhayanidhi Stalin’s Red Giant Movies. 

While the eight-week hole is cited as a distribution norm, many films because the pandemic have opted for dynamic windowing, ending up on OTT wherever between 4 to eight weeks. For occasion, the upcoming Hindi movie Bhool Chuk Maaf, following a authorized dispute and a settlement, will be accessible on Prime Video simply two weeks after its theatrical launch on May 23. 

“I’m glad the OTT partners sat down with us and agreed. It wasn’t a negotiation; it was a plan. We hope others can follow this and it will make the industry healthy,” Kamal, 70, mentioned. 

Earlier, Allu Arjun’s megahit Pushpa 2: The Rule additionally premiered on Netflix after finishing its eight-week unique run in theatres. 

Kamal and Mani Ratnam graced the occasion in Mumbai alongside STR, Ashok Selvan, Trisha Krishnan, Abhirami and music maestro AR Rahman. 

Kamal regarded again on the days of taking pictures of Nayakan in Mumbai within the late 80s. “We were in the Colaba area (in South Bombay) and director Ramesh Sippy was shooting in Film City. We had some shots to be done in Film City so we all went to see the shooting of Mr. Ramesh Sippy. We are, ultimately, film buffs. That is the qualification that has brought us here.”