Paattali

Shanmugam (Sarath Kumar) is the grandson of the rich landlord Kulasekaran (Vinu Chakravarthy). Upon his parents' early death, Kulasekaran transfers all his wealth to Shanmugam and passes away. Shanmugam is raised by his paternal aunt Lakshmi (Sujatha). However, Lakshmi's husband (Anandaraj) is greedy about money and tries to kill Shanmugam. To save Shanmugam from her cruel husband, Lakshmi lies with the help of their family lawyer (Pandu) that the entire wealth is transferred to her name and let Shanmugam grow as a servant in the same home.

Shanmugam is very fond of Lakshmi and treats her as his mother. Shanmugam falls in love with Sakunthala (Devayani) who is employed in the same house. Kannamma (Ramya Krishnan) is the only daughter of Lakshmi and she returns to the village post completion of her studies from abroad. While Lakshmi dreams of marrying Kannamma to Shanmugam, she has other plans. Kannamma discloses that she is in love with her classmate Raja (Bharath Kalyan). Although not interested, Lakshmi agrees for the wedding. One day, Shanmugam is sick and Sakunthala plays a prank on him without knowing by making him jump in the river which makes his condition worse. However, Sakunthala saves him, but Shanmugam shivers in cold. Accidentally, they both enter into a physical relationship and Shanmugam promises to marry her. Meanwhile, on the day of Kannamma's marriage, Raja and his parents cancel the wedding knowing that all their properties actually belong to Shanmugam only. Anandraj also gets shocked knowing the truth. To save the life of Kannamma, Lakshmi requests Shanmugam to marry her. As Shanmugam could not turn down the request, he agrees and marries Kannamma.

To his shock, Sakunthala gets pregnant so she decides to leave the village as she does not want to interrupt in Shanmugam's life. But Shanmugam stops her and accommodates her in their farmhouse which is managed by Manivannan. Shanmugam secretly visits Sakunthala and takes her to hospital for periodical check-up. Kannamma also visits the same doctor once and she spots Shanmugam and Sakunthala together. Kannamma feels heartbroken but understands the situation of Shanmugam. Sakunthala discloses the truth and speaks in favour of Shanmugam. Anandraj's henchmen try to kill Sakunthala and her baby. But she is saved by Kannamma and the baby is delivered. Finally, Shanmugam is married to both Kannamma and Sakunthala.

During the making of the film, Sarathkumar dislocated his left hand during a stunt accident, and shooting was stalled for two weeks.[1] Meena was first offered the role, but could not sign on as a result of her commitment to Vikraman's Vaanathaippola (2000). Her replacement, Meena was replaced by Ramya Krishnan for unknown reasons.[2]

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by film composer S. A. Rajkumar. The soundtrack features 7 tracks.[3][4]

K. N. Vijiyan of New Straits Times praised Ramya Krishnan and Devayani for their acting, and criticised the weak plot.[5]

• Paattali at IMDb