He meets a final-year engineering student named Asha (Shraddha Srinath), who buys a laptop from him and later claims that he cheated her.

While fixing the job, Sakthi learns that the house belongs to the central Education-HRD Minister Devaraj (Super Subbarayan).

The students from financially weak families are unable to pay last-minute fees as the year end semester is nearing.

Sakthi uses his technological skills to expose Devaraj's bribe racket through social media and with the help of Balaji and an ally, Gopi ("Kabali" Hari Krishnan), who received a standing ovation for his project in electronics but ends up working as a waiter in a restaurant due to the antics of the politicians and society.

In August 2016, R. Kannan revealed that his next film would feature Gautham Karthik in the lead role and would be an "action-thriller" set in Chennai.

[3] The team initially considered Anupama Parameswaran to play the leading female role, but later opted for Shraddha Srinath, who would make her debut in Tamil films through the project.

Srinivasa Ramanujam of The Hindu wrote, Ivan Thanthiran A fairly engaging thriller that revolves around the lives of engineering students.

[12] Jyothi Prabhakar of Times Of India wrote 'We can willingly suspend disbelief for two hours of sharp and spiffy entertainment now, can’t we?

DC rating for the movie Ivan Thanthiran is 3.0/5 [14] Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion wrote "The director, R. Kannan, has no idea how to stage a scene and push our buttons.