Our masala heroes definitely have a 'forever young' mindset, continuing to pair up with actresses several years younger than them. In this setting, Sarathkumar, who has done his share of larger-than-life, masala roles, not just acting his age but also appearing as Shriya's dad is definitely a step in the right direction. But the weak, ineffective script that takes the story of father-daughter bonding and renders it ineffective by smothering it in masala ensures that the film remains a small step rather than a giant leap.

Jagannathan(Sarathkumar) is a brave, conscientious cop whose personal life is in disarray since he is still thinking of his wife Ilavarasi(Srisha), who left him 21 years ago and is living in Australia. When Ilavarasi dies in a road accident, Jagannathan learns that he has a daughter. He goes to Australia but soon realizes that his daughter(Shriya) hates him. So he decides to stay on as her guardian, which turns out to be a good thing since he soon understands that her life is in danger.

The father-daughter relationship and interaction doesn't possess much depth here. Shriya's wild introduction makes it seem like Sarath would have his hands full, having to correct her apart from winning her love and affection. But her behavior is explained away soon enough and so he just has to protect her, which makes him like any other regular Tamil cinema hero. Shriya, for her part, starts off with strong feelings against her dad but for someone in whom the feelings have been entrenched since childhood, her transformation isn't charted in a believable fashion. There is no gradual change and so when the transformation finally happens, it doesn't have much of an impact.

So it becomes clear pretty soon that the film is more a simple action film than a drama but the action isn't very thrilling or exciting either. Its roots are in a masala-ish story involving undercover cops, bank lockers and stolen property and the action never rises above that. There is a nice sequence in the mall where Sarath keeps some goons at bay without Shriya noticing but the rest of the action is rather pedestrian. The climax is suitably large-scale and caps off the movie well though.

Seeing Koundamani as a customs officer tells us the tone that the flashback is going to take and the jingostic scene at the Australian airport starts things off in amateurish fashion. The segment takes a rather convoluted route to explain Sarath's separation from his wife and his lack of knowledge about his grown-up daughter but the elements here - like him going undercover as well as his romance - are handled quite perfunctorily.

Sarath looks the part of the washed-out cop and the affectionate father trying to connect with his daughter. Shriya parades around in miniskirts and microminis for the most part. She looks good in them but it looks odd when she wears those for funerals too. She also goes a bit over-the-top whenever she tries to play the spoilt brat and ends up being irritating rather than cute. Srisha makes a good debut while Kiran makes a rather inauspicious comeback as a club dancer who is pining for Sarath.