Pattas

Pattas is a 2020 Indian Tamil-language martial arts film directed by R. S. Durai Senthilkumar and produced by Sathya Jyothi Films. It stars Dhanush in a dual role, alongside Sneha and Mehreen Pirzada. Naveen Chandra, Nassar, Munishkanth and Manobala play supporting roles. The film entered production in March 2019 and ended that December. It was released theatrically on 15 January 2020, coinciding with Pongal, to mixed reviews from critics but became a box office success.

Plot
Pattas and his friend Puncture rob an mixed martial arts (MMA) academy due to their enmity with their neighbourhood girl Sadhana. Meanwhile, Kanyakumari "Kanya", a released convict, follows Nilapparai "Nilan", the owner of the MMA academy in an attempt to kill him, but Kanya meets Pattas and recognises him as her son Shakthi. Nilan finds that Kanya is trying to kill her and attempts to capture her, but in vain. When Kanya arrives to meet Pattas, Sadhana unknownigly sets up Kanya under Nilan's instructions and leaves her to get attacked. The thugs arrive at Kanya's location to kill her, but Shakthi rescues her and learns about his past.

In the past, Shakti's father Dhiraviyaperumal learns Adimurai through his teacher Muthaiah Asaan, Nilan's father and a skilled Adimurai warrior. Nilan is unable to learn Adimurai and leaves the village after being defeated by Kanya in a fight. Due to an incident, Dhiraviyaperumal realises that Adimurai is not known to Tamil Nadu and opens an Adimurai school to spread awareness about Adimurai. Nilan returns home as a kickboxing champion with his family and kickboxing friends. Nilan plans to recruit Adimurai practitioners to learn kickboxing, where he ask Dhiraviyaperumal to transform it as a kickboxing academy and make more profits, but Dhiraviyaperumal refuses.

Nilan and his friends tries to recruit Adimurai students into kickboxing, but to no avail. An altercation between Nilan's brother-in-law and a boy leads a fight between Nilan and Dhiraviyaperumal, where Dhiraviyaperumal defeats Nilan. Enraged, Nilan kills Muthaiah Asaan and poisons the food of the academy, affecting staff members, teachers and students. Nilan burns down the academy with the help of his friends and massacre any academy survivors and Nilan burns Dhiraviyaperumal alive, where Kanya witnesses this and manages to escape with Shakthi. While escaping from Nilan's friends, Shakti gets injured and Kanya angrily kills one of them, which is noticed by the police nearby and Kanya gets imprisoned. Shakthi is found by Kolusu, where he was adopted as Pattas.

In the present, Pattas swears vengeance and enrolls in the MMA event organised by Nilan. Pattas is trained by Kanya, in the art of Adimurai. On the day of the event, Nilan uses a convict from Thailand to fight with Pattas. Pattas defeats him, but the convict stabs Pattas in the right shoulder. However, Pattas still fights the next opponent and wins as he is ambidextrous. Nilan asks his son Richard to use unethical methods to kill Pattas, but Richard refuses and forfeits the match. Sadhana eavesdrops on Nilan and tells Pattas, but she ends up getting smashed into a glass table. Due to this, Sadhana is rushed to the hospital. Nilan challenges Pattas to a fight. A fight ensues in which Pattas defeats Nilan and wins the championship. Later, Pattas gives a speech on Adimurai and its importance, which leads the Tamil Nadu Sports Ministry to accept Adimurai as a sport, thus achieving Dhiraviyaperumal's dream of spreading Adimurai throughout Tamil Nadu.

Production
In January 2019, it was announced that Dhanush had signed a two-film deal with Sathya Jyothi Films, with one of the two films being directed by R. S. Durai Senthilkumar. Sneha joined as the lead actress in early March, reuniting with Dhanush after Pudhupettai (2006). For their roles, Dhanush and Sneha underwent training in the martial art Adimurai. Principal photography began on 6 March. In June, Mehreen Pirzada joined the cast. The title Pattas was announced on 27 July. Principal photography wrapped on 4 December 2019.

Music
The music was composed by Vivek–Mervin. The audio rights were purchased by Lahari Music.

The album features seven tracks, of which three of them were released as singles, and the first single track titled "Chill Bro", which was sung by Dhanush, released on 1 December 2019, went viral on YouTube with its lyric video crossing 3 million views. The tracklist was released on 9 January 2020 and the full album was released two days later at the Suryan FM Radio Station in Chennai.

MovieCrow rated the album 3.25 out of 5 and summarised it as "Vivek Mervin produces easily accessible energetic tracks for Pattas and barring few misses, composer duo deliver a fine commercial album after a long time." Studio Flicks rated the album 3 out of 5, stating, "Pattas is an album that easily indicates the movie is an out and out commercial entertainer and having used this term, it is sure that the songs will achieve an escalated stature with the visuals. For now, Chill Bro and Jigidi Killadi happen to be the instant attractions" and gave a verdict "Vivek-Mervin offer a tailor-made package that a commercial entertainer demands."

Release and reception
The film was released on 15 January 2020, coinciding with the Pongal festival, and received mixed reviews from critics. Behindwoods gave 2.75/5 stars and wrote "Pattas is a well made commercial entertainer with good performances that highlights our ancient martial arts." Sreedhar Pillai of Firstpost gave 2.75/5 stars and wrote "Pattas is just a predictable run-of-the-mill ‘festival special,’ which is watchable only for Dhanush’s swag and energetic style."

The Times of India gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "A formulaic action drama that is predictable from start to finish". S Subhakeerthana of The Indian Express gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Pattas has "style", but less substance." Janani. K of India Today gave 2/5 stars and wrote "Pattas tries to be a proper commercial entertainer that fails to entertain." Anupama Subramanian of Deccan Chronicle gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Based on a Pongal formula, the film relies heavily on the Dhanush brand."

Sowmya Rajendran of The News Minute wrote "Pattas’s triumph is that it’s enjoyable while it lasts, much like a firecracker." Baradwaj Rangan wrote for Film Companion South, "Dhanush double roles his way through an action drama that’s the dictionary definition of formula."