Pouncing tiger) is a 2015 Indian Tamil language action thriller film written and directed by Suseenthiran starring Vishal and Kajal Aggarwal, with Soori and Samuthirakani in supporting roles.

He makes his lawyer friend Pankaj Lal to earn Singarasu's confidence and collect all the information about his illegal activities, while they also heavily involve in kidnapping rich businessmen in the city and demanding money.

Jayaseelan formulates a plan to find the culprit, where he decides to tap the mobile phones of all the leading businessmen in Madurai so that he can get to know if the kidnapper calls any of them demanding money.

Finally, their father asks Jayaseelan to kill Selvam, saying that it will be a big embarrassment for their family, especially Ramasamy's image in the society if the truth comes out to the public.

[16] Menon later expressed her inability to allot callsheets till April 2015 due to her Twelfth grade examinations and eventually, Kajal Aggarwal replaced her as the film's female lead in early December 2014 marking her first collaboration with Vishal and second with Suseenthiran after Naan Mahaan Alla (2010).

[17][18] Kajal played the role of Soumya, a girl owning a plant nursery who is scared of everything, including small things such as crossing the roads.

[22] Harish Uthaman, one of the antagonists of Pandiya Naadu, was signed to play a brief role of a young policeman reportedly inspired by the real life of Sub inspector Alwin Sudhan, who was killed by a gang in Tamil Nadu in 2012.

[25] Sharath Lohitashwa, who collaborated with Suseenthiran for Pandiya Naadu, and Narasimhan, who was a part of the cast of Kutti Puli (2013), were signed as the other two antagonists apart from Kiran.

[27] After a small delay due to last minute scripting issues, the film's principal photography commenced on 4 March 2015 at a house set in Chennai where Senthoora Poove (1988) was significantly shot.

[41] In late June 2015, Imman revealed through Twitter that Divya Kumar and Shashaa Tirupati were chosen for a racy song whose lyrics were penned by Vairamuthu.

[47] Behindwoods called the soundtrack of Paayum Puli a "fun filled album with a decent balance between melody and folk numbers but leaves the listener wanting for more" and rated it 2.75 out of 5.

Rakendu Mouli, wrote the Telugu lyrics for the song "Naa Soodana Mogini", while Shashaa Tirupati and Muralidhar wrote the English lyrics for the song "Silukku Marame"In early April 2015, Vishal announced that the film would be released worldwide on 17 September 2015 on the eve of Vinayagar Chathurthi.

[52] Escape Artists Motion Pictures acquired the film's Tamil Nadu theatrical distribution rights in mid July 2015 for an undisclosed reasonable price.

[60] On 27 August 2015, the Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners Association announced the stalling of the film's release, citing Vendhar Movies' inability to compensate the losses incurred by the distributors from North and South Arcot, Chengalpet and Trichy due to Lingaa (2014), adding that only half of the promised settlement had been reached in aggregate.

[61] Four days later, the Producer's Council lodged a complaint with the Chennai police against the distributor Singaravelan, who, along with a few other theatre owners, announced the stalling of the film's release.

In the complaint letter handed over to the city commissioner, the council alleged that Singaravelan had been paid the compensation amount, and that he had made this announcement at the last minute to acquire more money from Vendhar Movies.

[63] After holding a meeting with the council, Vishal confirmed that Paayum Puli would have a simultaneous release in both Tamil and Telugu on 4 September 2015 as scheduled.

[65] Vishal and Madhan of Escape Artists held a meeting with the distributors in Chengalpet area, who withdrew the red card after a financial settlement.

M. Suganth of The Times of India rated the film 3 out of 5 and opined that Paayum Puli "lacks the tautness of Pandiya Naadu", but "packs in enough thrills to keep us glued to our seats".

[68] Srivathsan Nadadhur of The Hindu wrote that Paayum Puli "revels in being an old fashioned product" and added, "Given the sincerity of its efforts and the honesty with which the director Suseenthiran leaves his inimitable stamp in a commercial exterior, it takes its own sweet time to register an impact, but when it does, the film's solidity shows up".

[69] Avinash Gopinath of Oneindia Entertainment gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and stated, "While the movie crouches itself in the first half, it pounces really well in the second and manages to save the day".

[70] Sudhir Srinivasan of The Hindu wrote, "For a filmmaker who chose such an atypical beginning, why he goes on to take recourse in a super-typical love angle, only he will know.

He added, "Without these ugly distractions, the story would have been much more gripping, and Suseenthiran would’ve had a lot more time to dwell on the villain's descent into evil".

[71] Behindwoods gave the film 2.75 out of 5 stars and stated, "With a strong climax and a concrete closure to the story, Paayum Puli declares a clear statement".

Criticising the pace of the first half and the characterisations, the reviewer wrote "Hero always getting to be the smartest, heroine being a docile, fun-loving person is all an age-old template.

[73] IANS gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and stated that Paayum Puli "sadly reduces itself to a police drama that fizzles out even before it starts to get impressive".

[74] IndiaGlitz gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars as well and stated, "Suseenthiran has chosen an emotional action story about brothers on both sides of the law pitted against one another which could have had the audiences at the edge of their seats, but his own screenplay is contrived and lacks the grip that his other movies are famous for" and concluded that Paayum Puli is "worth watching for Vishal's action and Samuthirakani's acting".

[75] Sify called Paayum Puli a "predictable concoction of a cop story mixed with brother sentiments and the usual commercial trappings of Tamil cinema" and opined that the romance between the lead pair "sticks out like a sore thumb".

[77] Anupama Subramaniam of Deccan Chronicle too gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and stated, "With plenty of action and criminals waiting to be apprehended, Paayum Puli is a pure entertainer, but a weak script will leave you wondering and wandering".

[79] Reviewing the Telugu version Jayasurya, Indiaglitz rated 3 out of 5 stating that "Vishal has played the gutsy cop in the past, in this he is as strong as an actor as he can be.