<p>Kaali, a mysterious and deceivingly aged person, takes up the job of a boys’ hostel warden at a college in . He notices that a group of unruly final-year students, led by Michael, the spoiled son of a Gnanam, a local leader, dominate the hostel. Kaali puts a stop to Michael’s antics, which leads to a rivalry between them. Kaali also forms a close bond with Anwar, an hostelite, who is in a relationship with Anu, the daughter of Mangalam, a . Kaali convinces Mangalam to accept her daughter’s relationship with Anwar, and they end up falling for each other. Michael, who lusts for Anu, is enraged on hearing about her relationship with Anwar and attempts to harass them, only to be stopped by Kaali. The school suspends Michael and his friends, and Anwar records and shares the humiliation of Michael and his gang. The video is noticed in by Jithu, a local goon, and his father Singaaram alias Singaar Singh, a powerful politician. On seeing Anwar in the video as well as in a photo with his mother Poongodi on , Singaar sends his men to kill Anwar for unknown reasons. At the same time, Michael, who is humiliated at his suspension, sends his men to beat Kaali. Michael’s plan backfires as he and his men get mixed in the fight between Kaali and Singaar’s men. Kaali subdues Singaar’s men, earning Michael and Gnanam’s respect, following which Anwar meets Kaali’s friend, who narrates about his past. Anwar is the son of Kaali’s best friend Maalik, and Kaali’s real name is Petta Velan, a respected person in , and narrates Petta’s past. In the past, Maalik learns that brothers Devaram and Singaar are involved in an illegal sand mafia, which leads to Maalik and Petta getting enough evidence for the police to arrest Devaram. Petta learns that Maalik is in love with Devaram and Singaar’s sister Poongodi, who conceived with him out of wedlock. Though reluctant, Petta finally agrees, and he and his wife, Saraswathy “Saro”, convince Poongodi’s father, Rajapandi, to get Poongodi married to Maalik. Devaram and Singaar vehemently oppose the alliance and the property transfer to Poongodi. After Maalik and Poongodi’s marriage, Devaram and Singaar kill Rajapandi. On learning this, Petta kills Devaram during Rajapandi’s funeral and chases Singaar out of the village. Enraged about Devaram’s death and his forced exile, Singaar orchestrates a bomb blast during Poongodi’s , killing Maalik, Saro and seemingly Petta’s son Chinna. After finding that Poongodi is still alive, Petta takes her to safety. Poongodi later gives birth to Anwar, and leaves for Australia with him to escape from Singaar. On learning about his past, Anwar, Petta and Michael’s henchmen leave to kill Singaar. Petta and Anwar confront Jithu, who is determined to kill them after learning about them from Singaar. The duo manages to escape Jithu. Later, Petta meets Jithu privately and reveals to him that he is actually his son Chinna, who Singaar adopted after finding him still alive in the wreckage. When Jithu confronts Singaar regarding his parentage, the latter sends his men to kill him and Petta rescues him. Petta, Anwar, Michael’s henchmen and Jithu ambush Singaar’s mansion and decimate his guards. Petta confronts Singaar and shoots him dead. He then reveals to Jithu that he is not Chinna, but Singaar’s son since Chinna really did die in the blast. Petta reveals that he used Jithu to lead to Singaar as a strategy to kill him. Holding Jithu at gunpoint, Petta asks whether he should kill or spare him. In early February 2018, after completing his filming commitments for ‘s (2018), Rajinikanth held final discussions with a group of young directors, including Arun Prabu Purushothaman, , and for his next project. On 23 February 2018, production house announced that they would produce a film starring Rajinikanth to be directed by Karthik. To accommodate the film’s shoot throughout the course of 2018, the director postponed the pre-production work of another proposed film starring for . Karthik revealed that he was confident about approaching Rajinikanth to work on his film, after the actor was impressed with his earlier project, (2014) and expressed a desire to collaborate. The pair had first discussed the script in early 2017, but Rajinikanth did not take a final call until finishing his existing filming commitments to and (2018). Talking about the project, Karthik initially revealed that the film would be an “action drama” which was “fictional” but “realistic”. was signed on to work as the film’s music composer in early March 2018, in a move which saw him collaborate with his maternal uncle Rajinikanth, and Karthik, for the first time. and were selected to be the film’s cinematographer and editor respectively, continuing their collaboration with Karthik following their work in (2018). Likewise, stunt choreographer also joined the team thereafter. In late May 2018, Karthik and Tirru went on a to scout locations in and North India to shoot the film. The film’s title was revealed on 7 September 2018. was signed on to play a character in April 2018, and accordingly reworked his dates to fit the film into his busy schedule. The actor signed the film after a month of media speculation that he would portray a villainous role, and revealed that he signed the film as he had blind trust in Karthik, and initially did not request to listen to the script. Karthik had also been keen to sign for a role in the film, but the actor’s filming commitments for (2018) meant that he could not allot dates. Hindi film actor joined the cast in July 2018, while two other regular collaborators of Karthik, actors and , were also signed to play pivotal roles in the film. Other members of the cast included supporting actors , , , , Adithya Shivpink, and . For leading female roles, the team held discussions throughout March 2018 with actresses , , and , but neither were signed immediately. In July 2018, the producers announced that had joined the cast to play as pair of Rajinikanth. Trisha was eventually added to the cast in August 2018, while was also signed to make her Tamil debut. was cast as Sananth’s pair, and joined the shoot before the release of any of her initial Tamil films, , and . In October, and joined the cast. began in June 2018. The first shooting schedule began on 7 June at Eastern Forest Rangers College at St. Mary’s Hill, in , with the initial portions lasting nine days. The team then shot in other location across Darjeeling and the hill towns for a further month, in locations including and School. To finish the first schedule, the team returned to Kurseong for six days. An audition to cast 150 local actors was also held in Charbagh, during the first schedule. During the making of the schedule, met with politician , who helped the makers have a hassle free shoot in exchange for the promotion of tourism in the area. Principal photography in October 2018, fifteen days ahead of schedule. The soundtrack album and background score were composed by , marking his first collaboration with Rajinikanth and Karthik Subbaraj. The lyrics were penned by , Ku. Karthik, and Karthik Subbaraj. The album consists of all eleven songs, 5 of which are theme songs. The first single, “Marana Mass” was released on 3 December 2018, followed by “Ullallaa” which released on 7 December 2018. The full album was released on 9 December 2018, under the label. In January 2022, “Marana Mass” hit 200 million views in YouTube. was released on 10 January 2019, the week of , and clashing with . was released on 600 screens in Tamil Nadu with tough competition from The film grossed ₹1.12 crore at the Chennai box office. The film also grossed $133K at the US, overtaking which grossed $18K. On its opening day, the film grossed ₹36.6 crore worldwide, with a share of ₹19 crore worldwide. The film collected ₹104 crore, in 3 days and grossed more than ₹138 crore in the opening weekend. The film collected (US$16.26 million) worldwide on 4 days. The film collected ₹200 crore within 23 days. The film collected (US$16.38 million) in , (US$2.81 million) in , (US$701,460.13) in the rest of and (US$11.16 million) in overseas with a total of ₹219—250 crore worldwide at the end of its theatrical run and became the of the year. On the website , 71% of 7 critics’ reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6/10. M. Suganth from gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote ” is less of a Karthik Subbaraj film, but it gives Rajini fans their Thalaivar in a way that they have been dying to see him, celebrating the Rajinisms.” Srinivasa Ramanujam of stated that “Despite quite a few underwritten characters, Petta triumphs by bringing back the Superstar of yore.” Kirubhakar Purushothaman of gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote “Petta is a classic Rajinikanth film that his fans should not miss.” Anusha Iyengar from rated 3.5/5 stars and wrote “Petta is a complete mass entertainer with twists and turns that will make you howl in the theatres like you would in a Thalaiva film.” Shubhra Gupta of gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote “Karthik Subbaraj has a sense of style, which breaks through only occasionally in Petta. For that Rajini Sir will have to submit a little more to the script, and a last little twist in the long drawn-out climax holds out hope. gave 3/5 stars and wrote “Karthik Subbaraj has packed a pleasing crowd puller that is a satisfying revenge drama with twists and turns.” of gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote “Rajinikanth returns to the basics with aplomb. Just go and watch it for the Rajinikanth that you missed in his last few releases.” of gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote ” and were sprawling stories but there was a sense of a gradual buildup, the sense of the narrative noose being slowly tightened. But Petta looks rushed and even the Karthik Subbaraj flourishes come off like affectations.” Gauthaman Baskaran of gave 1/5 and wrote “Petta turns out be yet another outing for Rajinikanth who relies on gimmicks rather than solid performance.” rated the film 41 out of 100.</p>