Lt Col. Santosh Kumar (Milind Gunaji) is a spineless, alcoholic soldier who embezzles army funds. His wife commits suicide, leaving their twin sons behind. Santosh Kumar promptly marries again but the new wife Jayanti (Kittu Gidwani) finds it difficult to deal with things. The twins, 12-year-old Abhay and Vijay also don’t take to her. Abhay, particularly, is driven beyond endurance and his hatred of his step-mother results in a psychotic episode. He murders Jayanti. Then follows a series of tragic events resulting in Abhay being incarcerated in an asylum. The grown-up twins (played by Kamal Hasan with great creative insight) are very different personalities. Vijay is a highly decorated National Security Guards commando, whose exploits are admired by a gorgeous NDTV newsreader, Tejaswini (Raveena Tandon). They fall in love, but before they get married, Vijay wants to visit Abhay who has been in the asylum for 22 years and take his fiancée with him… This chilling film is a voyage into the sinister spaces that exist in the mind of a psychopathic personality. Based on a hit novel, ‘Dayam’ penned by Kamal Hasan himself 17 years ago, the film is directed by Suresh Krishna and has music by Shankar – Ehsaan – Loy. Kamal Hasan has played a dual role in some 20 odd films and this one too captures his genius for characterization. Manisha Koirala features in a brief cameo as a film-star from Mumbai, with problems of her own, who supports Abhay.