Rangavva, a widow, her beautiful daughter Savanthri, and the latter’s lover Byadara Manja form the triad around which Avva revolves. The movie is based on P Lankesh’s novel Mussanjeya Katha Prasanga.

Rangavva, played by Shruthi, belongs to a dominant community in the village. Fiercely independent, she is bitterly hated by those who have taken loans from her at a high rate of interest.

Her character is rendered vibrant by her spontaneous and ingenious verbal abuses, which she hurls at those who have not repaid her loan. Moreover, she is known as Aane Baddi Rangavva.

Savanthri, played by newcomer Smitha, is refreshing. Manja (Vijay), belonging to a backward community, is in love with Savanthri. Against this backdrop, the various characters in the village unravel themselves. Bharmanna, played by Rangayana Raghu, who runs a flour mill lends the devious angle to the plot with his futile plans to defame Rangavva. Bharmannna shares an interesting relationship with his wife and Kariya, a village kid, played by Master Rakesh.

Politicking, gossiping and back-biting interspersed with folk songs bring the movie alive to an urban audience.
At one level the movie can be interpreted as revolving around a bold widow who single-handedly runs her home in a village full of exploitative men. On another plane, it can be seen through the eyes of Kariya, who drops in and out of school often and runs errands for everybody: reading out to Rangavva the love letter written by Manja to Savanthri and squealing on Manja’s activities to Bharmanna. Kariya’s screen presence is dominating.

Though the boy provides the much-required comic relief, he is the barometer for the degeneration of the village and the foibles of humanity. The depravity of the village is reflected in the gradual corruption of Kariya’s mind.

The contrast etched between Rangavva’s action oriented behaviour and lukewarm, armchair intellectualisation of Udupanna,  played by Suchendra Prasad is striking.