Mandakini is a youth-centric film which focuses on the equality between men and women. Debutante director Ramesh Surve has tried to bring out his view that both men and women have the same rights as human beings.

The movie revolves around the story of a teenage girl, who moves from her village to the capital city, Bangalore and finds things strange and entirely different from her village. Here she encounters four men with different natures. How the innocent girl from a rich family responds on meeting people of different character forms the rest of the story.

The movie casts Rashmi (who zoomed into the limelight with her first film Duniya) in the title role. Chetan, Suresh Rai, Ashwini and Sangamesh Upase play the male leads. The movie also casts Srinath, Jayanthi, Dodanna, Sharat Lohitashva and Pavitra Lokesh. Produced by B.N. Srinivas, the movie has the music by K. Kalyan. P.K.H. Das cranks the camera.

The major highlight of the film is the eight-minute song, shot in 20 districts and 40 taluks of the state.