Friday, two Tamil romantic comedies will battle it out at the Indian box office: Vishal’s Pattathu Yaanai versus Mirchi Shiva’s Sonna Puriyathu.

Director Bhoopathy Pandian’s story revolves around a catering company, Poongavanum Catering Services, managed by none other but comedian Santhanam.

“Vishal plays one of the chefs in his team. He is a sambar specialist,” said Pandian, whose earlier film Malaikottai, featuring Vishal was a box office hit.

Aishwarya Arjun, daughter of action king Arjun, makes her debut opposite Vishal.

“She has put in a good performance. As the scenes roll viewers will forget that she is a newcomer,” added Pandian.

“The story moves forward when the chef aspires to set up a hotel.”

“It was while watching caterers at work during a wedding that I came up with the story,” said the director, who assisted Tamil director Parthiban before going it alone.

He has also worked with director Sundar C as dialogue writer for two films, Winner and Giri.

Pattathu Yaanai was shot in Trichy, Karaikudi and Madurai, and produced by Michael Rayappan.

Meanwhle, after assisting C S Amudhan on the sets of Tamil Padam, Krishnan Jayaraj has now gone solo with Sonna Puriyathu, starring ‘Mirchi’ Shiva opposite Vasundhara Kashyap.

“Shiva plays a dubbing artiste who dreads the commitment of marriage,” said Jayaraj, former ad film maker.

“He flirts with several women thoughout.”

Paired opposite him is Vasundhara Kashyap, in the role of a television host of a spiritual channel.

“It is an equally important role and not just arm candy to the hero,” added Jayaraj.

“This is a family entertainer with situational comedy scenes and a neat script. The censor board appreciated the film.”

“I have tried to keep the story fresh without any cliched scenes,” assured Jayaraj.

The film was shot in Chennai and Gopichettipalayam with a song sequence shot in Bangkok. Produced by Saandika Amarnath, music is scored by Yatheesh Mahadev.