Kosi and Selva, are contract killers working for a middleman with the ironic name of Sami. Director Vishnuvardan portrays this morbid telling of two orphaned youths with incredible realism of trust, friendship, and ultimate betrayal masterfully. Kosi is an unblinking man with a stubborn feel for life, thereby refusing to love and be loved. Selva, deaf and dumb, is equally intrepid, although he has a heart ticking beneath the dark, dire exterior.
Saroja, a salesgirl at a garment company, is an outgoing, sprightly girl and a friend of both Kosi and Selva. She is in deeply in love with Kosi, but the latter only finds her presence as a nuisance, whereas Saroja's chief manager stubbornly tries to make Saroja sleep with him. In stark contrast to this romance is the love between Selva and Sandhya, who are smitten with each other after some fate-based encounters that bring some lighthearted humor to the film. As the film progresses, Kosi and Saroja end up sleeping together when Kosi begins to drink excessively, promptly making him start to realize his feelings for Saroja. Unfortunately, this newfound happiness does not last as their profession does not allow it to.
Kosi and Selva set out to assassinate Avinashi Nachimuthu Gounder, a business tycoon and uprising politician, as instructed to do so by Sami. Kosi and Selva mutually agree to make this assignment their last, and to begin leading normal lives with their newfound loves Saroja and Sandhya respectively. A new twist occurs in the story where the people who hired Saami told him to finish off Kosi and Selva once the job is completed.
Upon preparing for the assassination, Kosi becomes unable to think as he finds himself overwhelmed with feelings of love, at which point Selva decides that he should finish the execution himself and Kosi should go speak with Saroja. Kosi visits Saroja at her home where he finds her shivering and with bruises. Saroja then tells Kosi how her chief manager intruded the house and sexually violated her after she refused to love him. Infuriated at this, an emotionally shaken Kosi finds the manager and beats him to a horrific death. Meanwhile, Selva had cunningly assassinated Gounder and is returning home. The manager's boss, who happens to be a big don himself, finds out Kosi is the one responsible for the manager's death and seeks out revenge. He gets hold of Saami and blackmails him to bring Kosi to him for his life. Unknowingly, Kosi goes with Saami and is killed in the ambush from a gunshot to his head.
Selva, who returns later, finds out about this unfortunate event and seeks revenge. He visits Sandhya and questions her about Kosi's murder and the people responsible for his death. He intrudes the don's house and kills everyone in his way, including the don. When Selva returned home, Sandhya was shocked to see him with many injuries. She tells him to wait by the door while she went to call for an auto rickshaw to get them both to the hospital. Meanwhile, the irritating boy who appeared before begging for a job stabs Selva in the same approach as Selva did in the introduction scene in the hotel room. The boy who was still recovering for the shock that he actually stabbed Selva stabbed him again multiple times when he saw Sandhya rushing towards him. Selva dies from multiple wounds and falls on Sandhya's lap.
In the scene before the credits, a scene is shown where Saami is having a chat with the boy who committed the murder. The scene is shown as a deja-vu where Saami convinces Kosi and Selva that they are all part of this scheme together. Saami uses the same dialogue to the boy, letting the audience connect that the boy will be killed too.
The soundtrack was composed by Vishnuvardhan's friend and "usual composer" Yuvan Shankar Raja and released on 28 February 2006.[1] It features 6 tracks overall with lyrics by Pa. Vijay.[2] The interlude from the song "Aadaludan Paadalai Ketu" from Kudiyirundha Koyil (1968) composed by M. S. Viswanathan was re-used in the song "Namma Kattula Mazhai Peiyuthu".[3] The song "Poga Poga Boomi Virikirathe" proved a breakthrough for singer Vijay Yesudas.[4]
S Sudha of Rediff.com wrote, "In his third film Pattiyal, [Vishnuvardhan] proves that apart from writing a good screenplay, he can make a technically superior film".[5] Lajjavathi of Kalki praised the music, art direction, cinematography and stunt choreography and concluded praising the climax for stressing on the message of violence never pays and applauding Vishnuvardhan for taking to the new route of Tamil cinema.[6] The film was a commercial success,[7] grossing ₹11 crore at the box office.[8] Yuvan Shankar Raja won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director.[9]
