Ruthless Man)[1] is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by Vetrimaaran in his directorial debut.

Starring Dhanush and Ramya, the film revolves around a man whose life improves after buying a bike, and turns upside down after it is stolen.

Prabhu Shankar is a happy-go-lucky middle-class man who spends time playing carrom in the streets with his friends Sathish and Kumar and others.

He forms an interminable attachment with his bike since it became his streak of luck, from getting a job to Hema eventually reciprocating his feelings.

Prabhu comes into conflict with the underworld when he witnesses a brutal murder planned by a gang in Kasimedu in North Chennai by a smuggling don named Selvam and his accomplices.

When he finds out what happened to Ravi, he gets furious and sends his henchmen to attack Prabhu without knowing the reason for his brother's embarrassment.

Although he wants to stay away, Prabhu invariably gets dragged into rubbing shoulders, caused by Ravi's antics, who now targets his family to seek revenge.

Prabhu lost his job as an employee in his workplace since his bike was a source of transportation, and he was kept in police custody for one night.

The film titled Desiya Nedunchalai 47 was initially launched with Yuvan Shankar Raja as the music director and Ekambaram as the cinematographer.

Dhanush's father Kasthuri Raja finally agreed to produce the film, and Kirat Bhattal was signed as heroine, while Harris Jayaraj was selected as music director.

Production designer Durai helped him rope in Deva to score the film's music, while Dhanush also recommended cinematographer Velraj to Vetrimaaran after the pair had worked together in Parattai Engira Azhagu Sundaram.

The director revealed that there was initially an issue with the actress after she got offended by his words and did not come for the shoot for three days, before Durai intervened.

[3] The film's story was inspired partly by the lost bike of his friend Andrew and the variety of experiences he had tracking down his vehicle.

Vetrimaaran revealed that when he wrote the script, he made many changes to suit the visual medium and for Dhanush on his physical attributes while playing an action hero.

[7] The film was released on 8 November 2007 on Diwali day alongside Azhagiya Tamil Magan, Machakkaran, Vel and Kannamoochi Yenada.

[8] The critic from Sify.com stating that "Vetri has made his mentor proud, and his style of narration and takings are very similar to the ace director "Balu Mahendra".

[9] The reviewer from The Hindu stated that "at no point does Polladhavan sag and that writer-director Vetrimaran has slogged through his screenplay and the result shows.

[11] Malini Mannath of Chennai Online wrote "With a script that is cleverly etched, its racy narration, some well-defined characters, suitably cast actors, and a realistic backdrop to the scenes, whether it's the middle-class ambience or the underworld, 'Poolladhavan' turns out be a slickly packaged entertainer from debutant director Vettrimaran".

[13] Polladhavan was remade in Kannada as Punda and in Telugu as Kurradu,[16] in Sinhala as Pravegeya,[17] in Bengali film Borbaad (2014)[18] and in Hindi as Guns of Banaras (2020).