Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam on reuniting 35 years after Nayakan: "It's about time"

Thug Life is the follow-up to the 1987 Tamil movie, which chronicled the life of a man who rises from Mumbai slums to become a revered don.

The actor says time moved too fast, the director wishes he had done every film with him and their bond goes back to their youth. Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam have gotten together 35 years after "Nayaka", the gangster film with few parallels, and the two cinema greats look back wistfully at the decades gone by.

Thug Life is the follow-up to the 1987 Tamil movie, which chronicled the life of a man who rises from Mumbai slums to become a revered don. The movie, considered one of the finest in the genre in India, won three National Awards and was sent to Oscars as India’s official entry in 1988. In Thug Life, their second collaboration in the same genre, Haasan, the protagonist, has the same name as his character in Nayakan – Sakthivel Naicker.

The film emerged from an idea conceived by Haasan, who later brought in Ratnam to co-develop the story and direct the film. The two friends have also co-produced the movie, scheduled to be released in cinemas on June 5.Why did it take so long? Ratnam, who made films such as Roja, Iruvar, Bombay, Dil Se and two-part epic Ponniyin Selvan after Nayakan, said he wanted to cast Haasan every time he started a project.

"Every film I’ve done, I wish Kamal was there. So I’m glad. Finally, I’m doing one in which he’s there. It’s about time," the 68-year-old filmmaker told PTI. Haasan, 70, sitting next to him, echoed the sentiment. "Time moved faster than us… But better late than never," he said. Their friendship predates Nayakan, beginning with the dreams they would discuss at Haasan’s Eldams Road home in Chennai, the actor had recalled in an earlier interaction with the press. Haasan, who started his career as a child star at the age of five with Kalathur Kannamma (1960) and became a huge actor-star by the 1980s, kept an open house for talented people to hang around those days, added Ratnam.

"Tamil cinema had found a new actor-star and he was right on top. But he had his house open. There could be several writers, there could be several actors, several technicians who could just drop in, hang around and have a chat with him. So it was like a breeding ground… It was an amazing place for a technician to grow,” Ratnam recounted. Haasan said they have probably forgotten most of what they discussed during those days but remembers it as a 'fearless time'. "It wasn’t the lack of responsibility. We wanted the responsibility. But none of it was fiscal. We were ready to do anything. We never thought of money… because both of us did not come into movies to make money. We did not come into the movies to allay poverty. That gave us that advantage of the security of not doing something in a hurry," he said.

Even so, Haasan admitted, he has acted in nearly 150 films which he "need not have done". "If I grade the rest of the hundred films, there is still a category where I will put certain films in the top row because there can’t be one film topping it. Also, another good film will come and put it in its place," he added. Getting back together after the long years, Haasan said Ratnam and he discussed several ideas before finalising on Thug Life.

"I don’t even remember where all we went… The only thing is that we didn’t go into one terrain because he had just completed Ponniyin Selvan,” the actor said, referring to Ratnam’s two-part adaptation of the historical novel of the same name.Discussing the name Sakthivel Naicker, Haasan said both liked the name. "There is a certain amount of sentiment. I don’t believe in that luck business because I truly believe there’s nothing called luck for those who deserve it. I think we enjoyed making the film. I wrote it and he liked the idea,” Haasan said.

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Storytellers face all kinds of hurdles and censorship in telling their stories with a political message but both Haasan and Ratnam have successfully navigated that troubled road. Artists, they said, have always found a way to tell their stories, even in the most challenging circumstances. "They will always be there, depending on who’s dictating you. Sometimes it’s a business, sometimes it’s politics," Haasan said.

In Ratnam’s view, sometimes these restrictions make filmmakers "think out of the box". "In the land of so many restrictions, there have been brilliant filmmakers who have made films. So, we can’t use it as an excuse. It’ll be there. It’s a fact of life. It’s not only for filmmakers, it’s true for everybody. It’s true for a journalist and it’s true for a writer,” he added.