The film opens with D. Ragavan, a high-achieving computer science student who confesses his feelings to a classmate, only to be rejected because she prefers "bad boysThis single moment of adolescent heartbreak sets him on a path of self-destruction that spans years. He abandons his studies, accumulates 48 arrears, and transforms into "Dragon"—a campus terror who intimidates professors, fails spectacularly, and embraces a life of aimless rebellion
What makes Dragon interesting from the outset is that it refuses to romanticize this transformation. Ragavan is not a charismatic anti-hero; he is, by multiple critical accounts, "repulsive" and "insufferable" for much of the first half He mooches off his friends, lies to his parents about having a job, and financially exploits his girlfriend Keerthi (Anupama Parameswaran). When Keerthi finally breaks up with him for his shiftless existence, Ragavan instinctively attempts to choke her—a moment that several reviewers flagged as revealing the character's deep-seated violence and his pathological dependence on romantic validation
