'Ulaganayagan' Kamal Haasan's next big film, Thug Life, has kicked off principal photography and National Award-winning Tamil filmmaker Sudha Kongara has now shared pictures from the sets of the highly-anticipated Mani Ratnam directorial. Standing alongside Mani Ratnam, who is seen seated in one of the photos and his associates in the other two pictures, the Soorarai Pottru director surprised fans on X on Thursday, January 25, writing "Energy Booster - Mani Sir's sets! #ManiRatnam #ThugLife #KH234" (sic).
Thug Life featuring music composed by Academy Award winner A. R. Rahman rolled into production yesterday after an intense and action-packed title announcement video was released last November, which received a thunderous response and has since skyrocketed the expectations surrounding the film. Touted to be a high-octane action film, Kamal Haasan will be sharing screen space with several leading Tamil cinema names starting with Jayam Ravi, Trisha, Gautham Karthik, Nasser, and Abhirami, while Malayalam actors Dulquer Salmaan, Joju George, and Aishwarya Lekshmi have been cast in crucial roles.
There is tremendous buzz surrounding Thug Life as it also marks the big reunion of Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam after 35 years when they made the iconic Nayakan (1987), which has since garnered a cult classic status, and the duo is expected to come out firing on all cylinders once again. On the other hand, Sudha Kongara, a former associate of Mani Ratnam, whose last film Soorarai Pottru won five awards at the 68th National Film Awards, including Best Feature Film, is all set to soon begin shooting her next big venture, the tentatively titled Suriya 43, and is the second time the filmmaker is teaming up with Suriya, who will be sharing screen space with Dulquer Salmaan and Nazriya Fahadh cast in key roles, with Bollywood actor Vijay Varma coming on board in a negative role.