The film is directed by Santhosh Souparnika and produced by M. G. Sreekumar under his production house MG Sound & Frames.

[1][2] Manjula (Manoj K. Jayan), is a transgender hijra;[3] her male physique and female behavioural traits lead to ridicule and snide remarks from her brother and others.

The feminine charms and effeminate ways of the boy are ridiculed by many barring this one person, who promises to marry him once they are grown up and ready to face the world.

The realization that their distinctiveness renders them the cynosure of public attention is something that they eventually learn to live with, but the scars that are meted out to them in the process remain unhealed for life.

[6] From the few films that have earlier had effeminate men playing the lead roles, 'Ardhanaari' is singular in that it doesn't make its hero fall in love with a girl.

An older hijda (Maniyanpillai Raju) falls sick and as she is carried over to her pyre, lessons on the dangers of unsafe sex are put forward on a platter.