Pattalam () is a 2009 Indian Tamil-language teen drama film directed by Rohan Krishna. Produced and distributed by Thirrupathi Brothers, the film features an ensemble cast including Nadhiya, Yuthan Balaji, Arun, Hariharan, Irfan, Deepthi Nambiar, and Vikash Suresh. The music was composed by Jassie Gift. The film was released on 27 March 2009.
The film is about a school correspondent and psychiatrist who is very close to eight school going youngsters who are having a blast enjoying their teenage years without any commitments to burden them.
The film is about two groups of four adolescents in Holy Bells School, who are pitted against each other. Their encounters make up the first part.
Daisy is the correspondent of the school. A psychologist too, she manages a mental asylum. She believes that students in her school can be disciplined only through love and no hard punishments will reform them. At first, two groups of students who are rivals are always seen fighting with each other. At an athletic competition, due to their enmity, they come last of all. At this time, a former professor of the school who was dismissed from the school due to his harsh punishments, taunts Daisy, saying that only harsh punishments and scolding can make students disciplined. Seeing the taunts that Daisy is hearing due to them, the two rivals join together to make Daisy and the school proud of them.
On the other hand, Sakkarai (Arun) is secretly loving Sophia (Deepthi Nambiar), who is new to their school. She stays with him in Daisy's asylum. Meanwhile, Karthi (Irfan), who is one of the members of the rival gang, loses his father, due to which his mother deserts him. Therefore, he too joins Sakkarai and Sophia in the asylum. Karthi sees his dead sister in Sophia, and so he is very friendly with her. Thinking that Karthi and Sophia are in love each other, Sakkarai plans to kill Karthi by making a church bell fall on him. However, after knowing the truth, Sakkarai rushes to save Karthi, but his friend Jerry comes under the bell and dies. The incident makes Sakkarai mentally unfit. The film ends with Sakkarai hallucinating Jerry's presence.
Pattalam is the second film produced by Thirrupathi Brothers. Initially, the film had a father character in the lead. Jayaram was supposed to do the character but could not allocate dates; N. Subash Chandrabose suggested that the character be changed to a female teacher, and Nadhiya was cast. Nadhiya's voice was dubbed by Rohini.
The songs were composed by Jassie Gift. The audio launch was held on 3 December 2008 at Sathyam Cinemas, Chennai.
Pavithra Srinivasan from Rediff.com wrote that "Pattalam does give you a brief, 'in the school' feeling; pity that it's so short-lived". A critic from Sify wrote that "Debutant director Rohan Krishna's back to school Pattalam with tag line 'relieve your school memories', is a clean movie that follows the classic Paneer Pushpangal format". Bhama Devi Ravi from The Times of India wrote that "This one is for the younger generation and is typical Kollywood fare". A critic from Chennai Online wrote that "The movie could have been a more enjoyable fare had Rohan avoided the cliches". Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu wrote, "It needs guts to make a neat film for teenagers with a female protagonist, and no romantic overtures thrust in. [Pattalam] has weaknesses but its strengths make an impression".