A clean family entertainer, Gandana Mane revives a forgotten element: realistic, natural portrayal of a middle-class society. Perfect Man Raja (Shivarajkumar), is a BMTC bus conductor, who walks the talk, upholding values that are dear to the middle-class people specially. He meets Priya (Gowri), whose businessman father Seetharam (Avinash) thinks the poor are a burden to society. Priya falls for him and they get married.
Then begins her life in her Gandana Mane, where she has to shoulder the responsibilities of a large family. Initially, her husband is supportive, but a jealous stepmom-in-law brings in a rift between the couple.
There is nothing new in the storyline. But the director has paced the film in such a way that one will never realise the film is a hotch-potch of several others, old and new. With a subject as this, the director could have gone overboard with heavy duty dialogues and lots of tears. ‘Real’ dialogues and restrained acting from the lead pair make for some pleasant viewing. It is amazing to watch a heavy Shivanna dance and fight with vigour. Gowri has come a long way from Gopi in acting; she has put on some weight as well. Too many songs and protracted action scenes tend to drag the film a bit, but simple, clean comedy rescues the film. But what was Hema Chaudhry doing with that horrendous accent?