Puli (2015 film)

Puli (transl. Tiger) is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language fantasy action adventure film written and directed by Chimbu Deven. It is produced by Shibu Thameens and P. T. Selvakumar under Thameens Films and SKT Studios. The film stars Vijay in a dual role, alongside Sridevi, Prabhu, Sudeep, Shruti Haasan, Hansika Motwani, and Nandita Swetha. It marks Sridevi's return to Tamil cinema and her final Tamil film before her death. The film revolves around the clash between humans and demons (Vedhalams) in a Kingdom ruled by demons, where the protagonist fights for justice, of the ruthless slaughtering of humans by demons, but his ancestry turns out to be a mystery.

Puli's original Tamil version was released worldwide on 1 October 2015 in theatres, whilst the dubbed versions of Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam were released the following day on 2 October 2015. The film received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics who praised the cast performances especially from Vijay and Sudeep and visual effects while the screenplay and writing received criticism. Despite being a below average venture at the box office, it recovered the budget investment through profit in satellite and digital rights. The film was screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival, Japan.

The producer of the film Puli described the project as a major professional setback, stating that its failure undermined nearly three decades of his work. He emphasised the severity of the impact by noting that such a loss might have driven someone else to consider self-harm, highlighting the emotional and financial strain caused by the film’s poor performance.