The decision has been made that this Thursday, audiences in Karnataka will not be able to watch the Kamal Haasan and Silambarasan starring Mani Ratnam directed Thug Life. The movie is scheduled for a worldwide premiere on June 5, 2025, however the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce has prohibited its release in the state due to Kamal's refusal to apologize for a recent linguistic controversy that he caused.

After failing to find relief by petitioning the Karnataka High Court in the case, Kamal's lawyer stated that the actor-producer had opted not to release it in Karnataka at this time.

There will be no apology, Kamal stated, since there was just a misunderstanding and no error. By June 10, 2025, when the case will be made public, it will be known whether the actor will introduce Thug Life to Karnataka or not. His counsel has stated that the film crew plans to discuss the matter with the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce in order to reach a resolution.

Will the release of other Tamil films be affected by the Thug Life controversy?

Nevertheless, industry insiders claim that the choice to prohibit the release will have significant ramifications regardless of what happens on June 10. For example, if the two sectors don't resolve this issue soon, the release of Thalapathy Vijay's most recent commercial movie, Jana Nayagan, which was produced by Bengaluru-based KVN Productions, may be impacted. Jana Nayagan is scheduled to be released on January 9, 2026. The next major release from Tamil Nadu is Rajinikanth's Coolie.

The latest development has polarized netizens, with some claiming that the reason "Thug Life" wasn't released in Karnataka is because of Kamal Haasan's "ego," which prevents him from apologizing and moving on from this chapter, rather than any conflict between industries. "In order to fix things, you have to bend," some social media users said.