Considering increasing number of director-turned-actors recently in Tamil cinema, Karu. Pazhaniappa turning hero in his own film is not a big surprise. But the genre of the film definitely is. Though he has made feel-good, clean family films like Parthiban Kanavu and Pirivom Sandhippom, he picks a more serious, mature and darker story for his acting debut. The movie starts off with the promise of an intriguing clash between its leads but softens into a more familiar and predictable story midway.

Kathir(Karu. Pazhaniappan), an architect, lives life on his own terms. He drinks, smokes, has a prostitute for company on most nights and has no place for sentiments. But he is good at what he does and the most important projects at work are entrusted with him. On one such project, he runs into Nandhini(Meenakshi), a sales executive at a Honda car showroom and falls for her. He thinks that she loves him too but gets an unpleasant surprise.

The protagonist in Mandhira Punnagai is quite flawed. While he has quite a few vices, its his forthrightness, disregard for social acceptance and complete lack of sentiments and emotions that really make him stand out from other heroes. His tendency to speak his mind with no concern for where he is or who is around him leads to a few funny sequences while his curt response to a dying family member's last wish reveals his heartlessness. The script is quite sharp in these places as his logic for his behavior in the situations does make sense. But flawed heroes, even if uncommon, are not unusual in Tamil cinema. The real surprise here is the characterization of Meenakshi. As a woman who helps her colleagues open beer bottles at a bar and isn't averse to using her sexuality to sell a car, she comes across as a bold, confident woman.

With two such interesting and strong characters, the stage is set for a character-driven story focusing on the clash between these two liberated individuals. Their initial meetings don't exactly proceed on those lines though. The film resembles a regular romance as Pazhaniappa discovers feelings he has never felt before while Meenakshi admires his frankness and outspokenness and begins to fall for him. Still, the intermission point delivers a strong surprise and makes an interesting clash a much stronger possibility. As Pazhaniappan faces a situation which he dislikes but cannot speak up against without seeming like a hypocrite, it poses an interesting dilemma.

But the film cheats us after that as the way things actually turn out after that big surprise is completely anti-climactic. There are a few nice surprises even after the film's route becomes clear but the story takes a cliched turn as it delves into psychological territory. The flashback isn't much of a surprise and Meenakshi's character loses all the spunk it showed earlier as her behavior towards Pazhaniappan doesn't make much sense.

Karu. Pazhaniappan is adequate considering its his first time in front of the camera and deserves credit for taking on a complicated character. But he isn't too expressive and that is a problem when playing such a complex character since he is unable to express the conflicts he is feeling inside. Meenakshi is good, both when she is feisty initially and later when she mellows down. Pazhaniappan tries to create a comedy track similar to Vivek's in Parthiban Kanavu with Santhanam. But his scenes with his wife aren't as funny and he has more luck with his now-familiar comments(many of which are quite adult) at Pazhaniappa and the other workers at the construction site. Satta Sada Sada... is a nice number that is also interestingly picturized. Anbillaama... does a good job of illustrating Pazhaniappan's state of mind while Megam Vandhu... is a typical slow Vidyasagar melody.