Following in the footsteps of Bharatiraja and Satyaraj, its now yesteryear actor Ravichandran's turn to try and make his son a leading man in Kodambakkam. With none of Hamsavardhan's movies making a mark so far, Ravichandran has stepped into the director's shoes himself to see if he can provide the all-important break for his son. Good intentions sure but the film is unlikely to change Hamsavardhan's fortunes for the better.

Mandhiran(Hamsavardhan) arrives in the city looking for a job and hooks up with three similarly unemployed guys. He begins staying with them and attracts the attention of their house owner's daughter Abhi(Sruthi). With no job in sight, the four guys start a fast food restaurant. During a scuffle with some local rowdies, Mandhiran ends up killing one of them. His friend takes Mandhiran to the local dada(Rajan.P.Dev), who shields him from the repercussions of the murder. Soon Mandhiran becomes the dada's right-hand man.

Mandhiran appears to be the result of Ravichandran having the outline of a story with a different ending in mind but being unable to translate the story into an interesting movie. The movie starts off with Hamsavardhan visiting a tombstone and makes us wait to find out who lies in the tomb and how they got there. To its credit, it doesn't end in a typical way and manages to spring a small surprise on us with the revelation. The final scene too is nicely done, in the spirit of not repeating the same mistakes.

But to get to the mildly surprising ending, we have to sit through a very familiar story that shows the transformation of a regular youth into a rowdy. There are no surprises in this route. From the choice of the fast food restaurant to the threats of the local rowdies to the actions once Hamsavardhan becomes a rowdy, the film treads a familiar path.

One of the areas where the film attempts something different is the depiction of the relationship between Hamsavardhan and Rajan.P.Dev. Unlike Thotti Jaya and Aaru, the film doesn't force a conflict by making the mentor and his protege clash with each other. But on the other hand, it does go overboard in showcasing their affection for each other. While all the father-son bonding seems OK, the scene where Hamsavardhan lies on Rajan.P.Dev's lap while discussing the future made me gag!

Hamsavardhan completely comes up short in almost all departments. He just isn't expressive enough during the strong emotional scenes and this lessens their impact. His dancing passes muster but his fighting seems slow and lacks punch inspite of all the slo-mo and the close-up shots of his supposedly angry eyes. Sruthi is adequate. To Ravichandran goes the credit of showing that even 'Delhi' Ganesh can overact!