Chandrahaasa
Table of Contents
Quick Facts
Plot
Chandrahaasa is a heartwarming family drama set in North Karnataka, about the bond between childhood friends Soma and Chandra. Harish Hiriyur plays Soma, an irresponsible young man who marries his uncle’s daughter Sridevi, played by Chayashree Umesh, and then falls into cricket betting and debt. His childhood friend Chandra, played by Ningaraju Mandya, stands by him through the mess, and the story follows Soma’s slow journey from carelessness to responsibility, through family struggles and the journey into fatherhood.
The film blends comedy, friendship and emotion against the backdrop of middle-class life, drawing its characters from familiar, everyday experiences rather than larger-than-life situations. It is a story about ordinary people: their debts, their families, their friendships, and the moment when a man realises that being loved is not the same as being responsible. The makers sum it up simply: life becomes more memorable when you have a friend named Chandra by your side.
Performance
Harish Hiriyur, known to Kannada audiences from the comedy show Comedy Khiladigalu, makes his mainstream lead debut as Soma, and the role plays to his strengths. He brings natural comic timing to Soma’s irresponsibility, and a convincing sincerity to his later growth, making the character easy to like even when he is making poor choices. It is a promising debut as a hero.
Chayashree Umesh gives Sridevi warmth and patience, while Ningaraju Mandya, as Chandra, is the film’s emotional anchor: the friend who protects without preaching. Santosh Keri and Suryakala fill out the family world with familiar, believable performances. The ensemble works because it feels like a real community, not a collection of types.
Screenplay and Direction
Director Anand Shivappa Kalakabandi, also making his directorial debut, builds Chandrahaasa around a simple idea and characters he has seen in real life. The screenplay stays close to everyday North Karnataka life, letting humour grow out of situations rather than forcing it, and letting the emotional beats arrive naturally. The film’s strength is its sincerity: it believes in its characters, and it asks the audience to believe in them too.
The film received a mixed critical response on release, with reviewers noting its heartfelt intentions while finding some stretches uneven. But its core, the friendship between Soma and Chandra, is genuinely affecting, and for audiences who enjoy slice-of-life family dramas, Chandrahaasa offers warmth and recognition in equal measure.
Music
Poornachandra Tejaswi composes the music, and his songs won the hearts of music lovers even before the film’s release. The melodies suit the film’s middle-class world, mixing folk colour with gentle, hummable tunes, and the background score supports the comedy and the emotion without overwhelming either.
For a family drama, music is often the thread that holds the feelings together, and Tejaswi’s work does that well here. The songs feel like they belong to these characters and this place, and they are one of the film’s most reliable pleasures.
Themes
Chandrahaasa is about friendship as a form of responsibility. Chandra does not lecture Soma; he simply stays, protects and waits, and the film suggests that this kind of loyalty is rarer and more valuable than any advice. Soma’s journey is from taking that loyalty for granted to understanding what it costs the people who love him.
It is also a film about growing up late. Soma’s debts and his gambling are not villainy but irresponsibility, and the film treats that distinction seriously: becoming a father and a husband means learning that your choices now belong to other people too. That gentle moral, delivered without preaching, is what gives Chandrahaasa its heart.
Conclusion
Chandrahaasa released in cinemas on 30 October 2026, marking the mainstream lead debut of Harish Hiriyur and the directorial debut of Anand Shivappa Kalakabandi. It is a film for viewers who enjoy family dramas rooted in North Karnataka life, and for anyone who values a story about friendship over spectacle.
Watch it for the warmth, the humour and the friendship at its centre. Note: no verified official trailer YouTube link was available for embedding at the time of writing, though the film’s trailer was released ahead of its theatrical run.