Irugapatru (transl. Hold Tight) is a 2023 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by Yuvaraj Dhayalan. The film stars Vikram Prabhu, Shraddha Srinath, Vidharth, Sri, Abarnathi, and Saniya Iyappan.[1] It was released theatrically on 6 October 2023. It received highly positive reviews from critics and became a box office success.

Irugapatru
Theatrical release poster
Directed byYuvaraj Dhayalan
Written byYuvaraj Dhayalan
Produced by
  • S. R. Prakash Babu
  • S. R. Prabhu
  • P. Gopinath
  • Thanga Prabaharan R
Starring
CinematographyGokul Benoy
Edited byJ. V. Manikanda Balaji
Music byJustin Prabhakaran
Production
company
Potential Studios
Release date
  • 6 October 2023 (2023-10-06)
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Plot

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The life of a marriage counselor gets complicated because of her methods and techniques. The plot follows two married couples who are unhappy in their life.

1) Married couple Rangesh and Pavithra live with their kid. Rangesh works in IT, and Pavithra stays at home to care for the family. Rangesh fat-shames his wife as a way of expressing his dissatisfaction with his work. Pavithra hits the gym and works out to lose weight to get over this. In this process, she also gains confidence and realises that she wants to work out for herself. One day, an incident at work causes Rangesh to lose his job. In the meantime, he is still dissatisfied with himself, and Pavithra begins to lose weight. He tells Mithra that he knows why he is unhappy and that everyone, including his father, has discouraged him from pursuing his dreams. Mithra shares the same with Pavithra, who understands and encourages Rangesh to follow his passion.

2) Arjun and Divya are an unhappy couple who work in their respective industries. When Divya demonstrates strong intellectual ability in a variety of subjects, Arjun becomes insecure about his masculine dominance and begins to correct her for even the smallest errors. When he finally admits his mistake and asks Divya for a chance, they patch things up.

Mithra begins to have a better grasp of her life decisions and becomes more honest with her spouse. Mano recognizes that Mithra made her decisions and disguised her feelings, even rage, to make him happy. He confronts Mithra about this behaviour, and the couple is on the rocks for a while. Mithra tries to reconcile with him by using techniques in her marriage counseling profession, thinking about what will fix the problem, until she snaps and fights with him. But Mano expresses that even these actions feel like they do not come from her own volition but more like her treating him as a client. Mano then discovers a bag full of notes which Mithra wrote expressing her feelings, realises that her feelings are genuine, and she wasn’t good at expressing them. The couple resolves this issue and reconciles.

Cast

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Production

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In August 2021, the makers announced the untitled project starring Sri and Vidharth and discussed Nayanthara acting as a lead in the film.[2] Later, Shraddha Srinath replaced Nayanthara due to her commitment to her Hindi debut film, Jawan.[3][4] The title of the film was unveiled on 16 January 2023.[5][6] The film was produced by S. R. Prakash Babu, S. R. Prabhu, P. Gopinath and Thanga Prabaharan R under the banner Potential Studios.[7] Cinematography was by handled Gokul Benoy, and editing by J. V. Manikanda Balaji.[8]

Music

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The music for the film was composed by Justin Prabhakaran.[9] The first single "Piriyathiru" was released on 31 August 2023.[10]

Irugapatru
Soundtrack album by
Released2023
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length30:14
LanguageTamil
ProducerJustin Prabhakaran
Justin Prabhakaran chronology
Adiyae
(2023)
Irugapatru
(2023)
External audio
  Irugapatru – Jukebox on YouTube
Track listing
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Piriyathiru"Karthik NethaYuvan Shankar Raja5:01
2."Maya Maya"Karthik NethaPadmapriya Raghavan, Christopher Stanley4:10
3."Yeno Yeno Manadhiley"Karthik NethaChinmayi, Sathya Prakash3:58
4."Theerndhu Pona"Karthik NethaSathya Prakash2:42
5."You and Me"Maalavika ManojMali3:33
6."Velichandhaan"Karthik NethaJustin Prabhakaran, Padmaja Sreenivasan5:32
7."Life of Mano (Theme)"Hemambiga, Padmaja Sreenivasan, Sriradha Bharath, Devu Mathew2:06
8."The Gap (Theme)"Shibi Srinivasan, Sugandh Shekar, Balaji Sri, Aravind Annest3:12
Total length:30:14

Release

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The film was released on 6 October 2023.[11]

Home media

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The post-theatrical streaming rights to the film were acquired by Netflix.[12] The film began streaming there from 6 November 2023.[13]

Reception

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M. Suganth of The Times of India gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote, "A satisfying relationship drama that could have had less message and more life."[14] Janani K of India Today gave it 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "This romantic drama has good ideas with problematic takes."[15]

Avinash Ramachandran of Cinema Express gave it 3 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Irugapatru reminds us that therapy, counseling, etc... might not work unless the couple really wants to work on their relationship, but it will definitely not work if they aren’t ready to work on themselves."[16] Bhuvanesh Chandar of The Hindu gave the film a mixed review and noted that it was "A flawed but heartfelt drama with impressive performances."[17]

References

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  1. ^ "Trailer Of Vikram Prabhu And Shraddha Srinath-starrer Irugapatru Looks Like Another Premam". News18. 23 September 2023. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  2. ^ "Vidharth and Sri in Nayanthara's next with Yuvaraj Dhayalan". The Times of India. 26 August 2021. Archived from the original on 12 May 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  3. ^ "Actor Shraddha Srinath Replaces Nayanthara For Female Lead in Yuvaraj Dhayalan's Next". News18. 18 November 2021. Archived from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  4. ^ "Shraddha Srinath replaces Nayanthara in Yuvaraj Dhayalan's film". The Times of India. 16 November 2021. Archived from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  5. ^ "Netflix Pandigai: Vikram Prabhu's new film titled Irugapatru". Cinema Express. 16 January 2023. Archived from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  6. ^ "Vikram Prabhu's film with Yuvaraj Dhayalan titled 'Irugapatru'". The Times of India. 16 January 2023. Archived from the original on 27 August 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  7. ^ "Irugapatru gets a clean U from the censor board". Cinema Express. 30 September 2023. Archived from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  8. ^ "Irugapatru 2023: Release date, trailer, plot, cast, behind the scenes, OTT partner and more". OTTplay. 1 October 2023. Archived from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  9. ^ "Irugapatru (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Justin Prabhakaran & Karthik Netha". Apple Music. 9 October 2023. Archived from the original on 25 November 2023. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  10. ^ "First single, Piriyathiru from Irugapatru, is out". Cinema Express. 31 August 2023. Archived from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  11. ^ "Irugapatru release date: HERE's when the Vikram Prabhu and Shraddha Srinath film will hit screens". OTTplay. 30 September 2023. Archived from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  12. ^ "Trailer of Irugapatru is out". Cinema Express. 21 September 2023. Archived from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  13. ^ "Vikram Prabhu's Irugapatru Gets OTT Release Date". Film Companion. 2 November 2023. Archived from the original on 3 November 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  14. ^ Suganth, M (4 October 2023). "Irugapatru Movie Review: A Satisfying Relationship Drama That Could Have Had Less Message And More Life". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  15. ^ K, Janani (4 October 2023). "'Irugapatru' Review: This romantic drama has good ideas with problematic takes". India Today. Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  16. ^ Ramachandran, Avinash (6 October 2023). "Irugapatru Movie Review: A beginner's guide to couples therapy". Cinema Express. Archived from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  17. ^ Chandar, Bhuvanesh (6 October 2023). "'Irugapatru' movie review: A flawed but heartfelt drama with impressive performances". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
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