Aadalarasu(Karthik) is an unemployed youth looking for a job. He is constantly taunted on this account by his father(Vijayakumar) while his mother(Sujatha) comes to his support. In Madras for a job interview, he stays with his father's friend(Mouli). He has run-ins with the friend's daughter Thilaka(Roja) and she develops a dislike for him. But she bows to her father's wishes and weds Arasu. Just when she starts liking him, he has to travel again. In the train, he meets Thirunaavukkarasu(Karthik again) who asks him for a favor. Instead of the usual comedy, the mistaken identity is then played for sentiments. With Thirunaavukkarasu dying and being mistaken for Aadalarasu, Aadalarasu's family thinks he is dead while he takes Thirunaavukkarasu's place and helps them. But he has to do so without arousing the suspicions of his wife Akalya(Kousalya) and the rest of his family.

The director's technique in introducing the double role and connecting it with something that happens early in the movie (at that point, the sequence has a completely different meaning) points to some good thinking. The showing of simultaneous but completely different situations that Roja and Kousalya go through (because of the same man) and the timing of Vijayakumar receiving news of his son's death and his reaction are other scenes where the director leaves his mark. Unfortunately, this is not evident at many other places in the movie. The movie is slow and dragging and at some points, even ridiculous. It takes its own time to touch upon the main story but once there, events become predictable. The climax (especially the behavior of the dead Thirunaavukkarasu's family) seems weak and forced.

Some smiles are contained in the initial encounters between Karthik and Roja. But beyond that, the movie slips into serious territory and never gets out of it till the end. But the director is unwilling to do this completely and uses songs and an unconnected comedy track to maintain the balance. Song sequences are forcibly thrust upon us with little concern to their relevance to the storyline. This is especially true of the two 'gana' songs. Vivek provides occasional laughter but is in serious danger of overexposure and repetitiveness. Here he initially induces laughs with spoofs on scenes from other famous movies. But his last two encounters, the spat with the beggar and the 'divine' encounter at the temple, are funnier.

Barring the look-alike situation, the latter half of the movie plays like VIP with Karthik setting right the company affairs. There is hint of some foulplay by 'Thalaivaasal' Vijay in the finances of the company but this is inexplicably never touched upon later. Karthik's relations with the others in the family(barring Kousalya) are never explored in any kind of detail leaving us with a feeling of incompleteness. Infact, natural depiction of relationships doesn't seem to be the director's strongpoint (surprising since Kannedhire Thondrinaal was based on relationships between lovers and between a brother and sister). Vijayakumar seems overly critical of Karthik initially and Roja's reversal of feelings for Karthik seems abrupt

Karthik is rather subdued compared to his usual ebullient self. With his father's tauntings, Roja's dislike of him and his attempts to maintain the secret of his taking another man's place, he rarely has time to smile or indulge in his usual, clownish behavior. He impresses in the second half when he tries to keep away from Kousalya. Roja has a meatier role compared to Kousalya but seems more at ease when showing her anger at Karthik rather than in the few romantic scenes. Kousalya has almost nothing to do until the climax where she attempts to show her mettle. Nasser is criminally underused. It is sadder since the little we see of him in the role of a rowdy serves to illustrate his versatility. Manivannan's state since Vivek became more popular is sadly evident in his small role. Same goes for Chinni Jayanth.