Functionalization of cymantrenyl hydrazone system with rhodamine based fluorescent tag led to the formation of a significant molecule containing both, a half sandwich and a rhodamine fragments, [(CO) (2)), with selective metal ion sensing, light responsive and molecular switching behavior. The molecule (1) was structurally characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction study. We have also explored Hg 2+ recognition and photosensing properties of compound 1 within a bacterial strain and THP-1 cancer cell lines to understand their potential in applications related to bioimaging, uptake and bioremediation activities. The study showed some significant intracellular metal recognition and imaging characteristics at different metal concentration.