After a gap of 36 years, the legendary pair of Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam, who worked together on the iconic film Nayakan, have come together again. Their upcoming project, which is Kamal Haasan’s 234th film is titled Thug Life.

A NEW NAME, A NEW HISTORY!#thuglife

âž¡ï¸Ã‚Â�https://t.co/f2s709GhTC#KH234 #Ulaganayagan #KamalHaasan #HBDKamalSir #HBDUlaganayagan @ikamalhaasan #ManiRatnam @arrahman #Mahendran @bagapath @actor_jayamravi @trishtrashers @dulQuer @MShenbagamoort3 @RKFI @MadrasTalkies_… pic.twitter.com/zuAGZFtC76

— Raaj Kamal Films International (@RKFI) November 6, 2023

The poster showcases Kamal Haasan concealed face underneath a hood along with the outlines of individuals holding weapons and standing in what appears to be a body of water.

The announcement features Kamal Haasan donning long hair with rugged clothes. 

During the teaser, Kamal introduces himself as Rangaraya Sakthivel Nayakan and talks directly to the camera while a gang approaches him with weapons. He goes on to mention that he is known as Kayalpattu Kaaran and explains that from the moment he was born, people labelled him as a criminal or a Yakuza. In Japanese, the term Yakuza refers to a gangster. After saying this, Kamal removes his hood to reveal his distinctive and rough martial arts costume.

Thug Life is a joint production of Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam, under their respective banners Raaj Kamal Films International and Madras Talkies. The music for the film is being composed by AR Rahman, with editing by Sreekar Prasad. Cinematographer Ravi K Chandran and stunt choreographer duo AnbAriv are also part of the film crew. The makers have also welcomed Trisha Krishnan, Jayam Ravi and Dulquer Salmaan on board.

See Also: Kamal Haasan joins Prabhas and Rana Daggubati in the US for Project K’s first look at Comic Con 

Visva-Bharati on Monday said many plaques installed in the past on the university compound did not bear the name of Rabindranath Tagore, the varsity’s founder, as is the case of some recent ones set up at Santiniketan declaring it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The statement of the central university came when its Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty is under fire from various quarters for installing three plaques without the name of the Nobel Laureate poet who had founded the institute over a century ago.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier urged the Centre to remove the plaques as they bear the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the ex-officio Chancellor, and the VC but not that of Tagore. As no action was taken in this regard, workers of her party, the Trinamool Congress, staged a sit-in near the campus.

Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP had also called upon Visva-Bharati authorities to set right the omission of Tagore’s name in the plaque as it involved the sentiments of millions of Bengalis.

In a statement on Monday, Visva Bharati spokesperson Mahua Banerjee said that in the past also several plaques were set up in the institute, which did not bear Tagore’s name.

Such installations include those having the names of then PM and Chancellor Jawaharlal Nehru in one, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and PM Modi in another, and then President Pranab Mukherjee in a third one, according to the statement.

Without naming anyone, the statement read, “It is clear that those who are making futile bids to foment disturbances in Visva Bharati are either expressing their ignorance or doing politics unnecessarily to serve their interests. Or going by the proverb, they are fishing in troubled waters.” Those who claim that the plaque installed after the UNESCO honour goes against the heritage of Visva Bharati must know that there are others that bear names of only former VCs and there was no hue and cry over heritage being violated, the spokesperson said.

Santiniketan campus of the university in Birbhum district was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List on September 17.

“The so-called Tagoreans might cry hoarse over the issue, but they cannot obliterate the names of Narendra Modi and Bidyut Chakraborty as Chancellor and VC respectively. They cannot label these two names as irrelevant,” the statement said.

Whether the names of the poet and his father Maharshi Devendranath Tagore are mentioned in any plaque are not, their contributions cannot be forgotten, she said.

The statement came days after the Visva Bharati VC said that work was underway to “prepare” a plaque retaining UNESCO’s declaration of Santiniketan as a world heritage site and in adherence to Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) guidelines.

In his letter to the chief minister, the VC called upon her “not to continue to form your opinion on the basis of what your sycophants convey”.

“Established in rural West Bengal in 1901 by the renowned poet and philosopher, Rabindranath Tagore, Santiniketan was a residential school and centre for art based on ancient Indian traditions and on a vision of the unity of humanity transcending religious and cultural boundaries,” according to a UNESCO website.

Rabindranath Tagore set up a university there in 1921. Visva-Bharati was declared a central university and an institution of national importance by an Act of Parliament in 1951.

UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman has come under fire from the Opposition and charities even as her own party colleagues distanced themselves from remarks that implied that some homeless people sleeping in tents on the streets of the country were making a “lifestyle choice”.

The Indian-origin cabinet minister announced plans on social media over the weekend to crack down on the rows of tents occupied by homeless people as they caused nuisance and distress to residents.

However, some of her language has since been challenged with the Opposition Labour Party branding it “despicable”.

“The British people are compassionate. We will always support those who are genuinely homeless. But we cannot allow our streets to be taken over by rows of tents occupied by people, many of them from abroad, living on the streets as a lifestyle choice,” reads Suella Braverman’s post on X.

“Unless we step in now to stop this, British cities will go the way of places in the US like San Francisco and Los Angeles where weak policies have led to an explosion of crime, drug taking, and squalor. Nobody in Britain should be living in a tent on our streets,” she said.

The minister goes on to claim that the government has put options in place for people who do not want to be sleeping rough and is working with local authorities to strengthen “wraparound support” including treatment for those with drug and alcohol addiction.

“What I want to stop, and what the law-abiding majority wants us to stop, is those who cause nuisance and distress to other people by pitching tents in public spaces, aggressively begging, stealing, taking drugs, littering, and blighting our communities,” added Suella Braverman.

During a visit to a gas terminal in Norfolk on Monday morning, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was asked by reporters if his minister’s comments were “offensive” and he declined to repeat the phrase.

“I don’t want anyone to sleep rough on our streets. That is why the government is investing GBP 2 billion over the next few years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping,” said Rishi Sunak.

“Our Homelessness Reduction Act which was a landmark law that we passed has already ensured that over 600,000 people have had their homelessness prevented or relieved so I am proud of that record. But of course, there is more to do and we will keep going so that nobody has to sleep rough on our streets,” he said.

Meanwhile, Suella Braverman’s fellow Goan-origin Cabinet colleague, Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho, admitted she “wouldn’t necessarily use that language” as she attempted to defend the Home Secretary.

“I think she was talking about different things. She acknowledged that there are people who just, you know, need our compassion. They’re struggling with things like addiction,” she told ‘Sky News’.

However, Labour’s shadow leader of the Commons Lucy Powell accused Suella Braverman of seeking to divide people with such remarks.

“I think the comments of the home secretary are despicable, really. And they speak to what this government’s whole meaning now seems to be about, which is creating more division, where division isn’t needed, by trying to inflame and sort of false wedge political issues,” Lucy Powell told ‘Sky News’.

Fifteen of Britain’s homelessness charities reacted by issuing a combined letter, addressed to Suella Braverman, to caution that her plan to ban tents for the homeless will lead to “totally preventable” street deaths.

“Sleeping on the street is not a lifestyle choice. Laying blame on people forced to sleep rough will only push people further away from help into poverty, putting them at risk of exploitation. At the extreme end, we will see an increase in deaths and fatalities, which are totally preventable,” reads their letter, also posted on X.