Abhirami Calls Controversial Kiss With Kamal Haasan In Thug Life Trailer 'Little Misleading'

Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan’s grand reunion on the big screen with the upcoming action entertainer Thug Life has generated immense buzz and a little controversy for different reasons.

The film is facing boycott calls in Karnataka over Kamal Haasan’s recent remake about Kannada language. Besides that, the trailer featured a blink-and-miss kissing scene between a 70-year-old Kamal Haasan with 30 years younger actress Abhirami who is 41.

Post the kiss controversy, a report claimed that Mani Ratnam is considering removing the controversial sequence from the film.

Amid that, actress Abhirami has reacted to the controversy and has dismissed it stating, “Any press is good press.”

When asked if the controversy was uncalled for considering kissing scenes in Indian films are quite common nowadays.

She told Hindustan Times, “See, anything is going to become a controversy these days, I don’t think you can escape that at all. I’m not in a position to judge Mani sir’s logic and about casting me in a certain role. Whatever his logic is, I’m agreeable with that. And the kissing scene is a three-second kiss!”

She added, “The fact that only that was shown in the trailer is a little misleading. When you watch the movie and the scene and what leads up to the kiss, you won’t even flinch - it sticks so well to the scene. The fact that it’s being talked about this much I feel it is a little unnecessary.”

She further called it a marketing tactic and said, “The marketing people are going to do whatever is beneficial for the film. I understand that aspect as well. Any press is good press, as they say. But I would urge people to watch the film before jumping to conclusions.”

The actress was then asked why she thought people reacted strongly to Kamal Haasan kissing a younger actress, Abhirami responded, “I honestly don’t know. I think maybe because Kamal sir has had a track record of being bold enough to venture into those spaces before. Like in Hey Ram, how beautifully he shot the intimacy between both his partners, Rani Mukherjee and Vasudhara Das. He’s been a very bold storyteller, and whenever he ventures into that space, people always have something to say about it.”

She added, “It’s not that no other actor or actress kisses on screen. When somebody at the top does it, people talk about it because it gives them mileage as well. As you rightly said, it’s so commonplace now; I think the audience will also mature in due time.”

Also starring Silambarasan, Trisha Krishnan, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Joju George, Ali Fazal and Sanya Malhotra, Thug Life releases in theatres on June 5, 2025.