The much anticipated reunion of Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan in Thug Life has failed to meet expectations struggling at the box office with lukewarm reviews. On its second day the film earned just ₹7.5 crore across all languages a steep 55% drop from its ₹15.5 crore opening day bringing the two day India net total to ₹23 crore according to Sacnilk. The release of Housefull 5 starring Akshay Kumar which grossed ₹23 crore on its opening day severely impacted Thug Life's performance especially in Hindi markets where it earned a mere ₹65 lakh on day one with projections of ₹25-30 lakh for day two.

In Tamil markets Thug Life underperformed compared to Kamal Haasan's Vikram which earned ₹60 crore in its first two days in 2022 and even Indian 2 which netted ₹44 crore. A Karnataka ban due to Kamal's controversial remarks on the Kannada language further dented collections. Featuring Silambarasan Trisha and others with AR Rahman's music Thug Life faces an uphill battle to regain momentum.