Plot

A filmmaker kidnaps the daughter of a movie star, and while the star searches for his daughter the director films the desperate search in real time for his next blockbuster movie.

Anurag Kashyap and Anil Kapoor haven't worked together since their shelved film Allwyn Kalicharan in 2003. They get into a tiff at a talk show when Anurag spills water on Anil's face in front of the whole media. Laer, Anurag decides to apologize to Anil, and on his birthday he visits his film set and tries to convince him to take the lead role in his new film. Anil is not willing, but Anurag has pre-planed everything by kidnapping his daughter Sonam and he must find his daughter before sunrise--while Anurag's camera rolls on him to get that realistic feel according to the script.—alex.mjacko@gmail.com

An aspiring filmmaker, Yogita, is filming Anurag Kashyap for a documentary. Kashyap and Anil Kapoor are interviewed by Sucharita Tyagi for a MAMI event. Anil wants Anurag to do a film together, but Anurag is non-responsive and dismissive to Anil, since Anil ignored Anurag when he was a big star and Anurag was just starting out. Now Anil, is a has been, while Anurag is hot property. After an audience member asks if the director or the actor is more important, they start arguing about the question and insulting each other's careers, culminating in Kashyap throwing a glass of water in Kapoor's face. This becomes a major scandal for Kashyap, with other film personalities cutting ties with him and backing out of his projects. The story started in 2007 when Anurag offered the movie "Allwyn Kalicharan" to Anil, and he refused, and Anurag never forgot that. As Anurag sits in his bedroom enraged, Yogita gives him an idea.

Later, on Christmas Eve and Kapoor's birthday, Kashyap visits his set along with Yogita and pitches him a new story about a mad director who kidnaps the daughter of an aging actor. Anil keeps Anurag waiting for 3 hours before he meets him. Kapoor is initially uninterested as he believes that this is a prank. Anurag says that the movie has started, which Yogita is shooting, Anil is the hero and Anurag is the villain. Anil realizes that his daughter, Sonam, has actually been abducted by Kashyap, who wants to capture his real reactions during his search. Anurag has Sonam's phone. Kashyap tells him that he has ten hours (until sunrise the next day, which is now 10 hours away) to find her and sets four rules: he can't get anyone else involved, no calls to the police, all phone calls must be on speakerphone, and Yogita's camera must always stay on. Anurag says that if Anil harms him, the same treatment will be don't to Sonam as the video is being transmitted live to the hostage location.

Kapoor first tries going to a police station, but Kashyap and Yogita convince the police inspector that this is just a rehearsal for their film. Kapoor is desperate and begs the police for help, but they clap at what they believe is his brilliant acting. Kapoor is still somewhat unconvinced that Sonam was really abducted, so Kashyap shows a live feed of her being held by a masked man with a knife.

After talking to his son Harshvardhan, Kapoor learns from her driver that she was last seen at a hotel. Sonam was supposed to participate in a fashion show, but the show manager says that Sonam left after the rehearsal and didn't show up for the show. Anil bribes the hotel manager there with an endorsement to see the CCTV footage and spots the getaway driver's face; however, his search on the streets of Mumbai (asking the cab drivers if they recognize the getaway driver found in the hotel video) returns little success.

Kapoor goes home where his wife has held a Birthday party for him. Brother Boney is also there. Anil stealthily texts Harshvardhan at the dinner table saying, "help me find Sonam", but Harsh's confused reaction alerts Kashyap, who confronts Kapoor upstairs. Anil pulls a gun on Kashyap. Harsh wants to do a movie with Kashyap and comes into Anil's room to pitch his idea to Kashyap. It takes some time for Anil to get rid of Harsh. While Anil & Anurag fight, the masked man severs Sonam's finger, so Kapoor relents. Anil is willing pay Anurag, but Anurag sticks to his script and says Anil has 7 hours left to find Sonam and prove to the world that he is still the big Hero that he claims to be.

Anil resumes his search for the cab driver, asking all cab drivers he can find on the streets. With 4 hours to go, eventually, a cab driver directs him to a Christmas celebration (in exchange for Anil's Rolex that Harsh had gifted him that very night), where Kapoor finds the driver, Javed, through the viewfinder. Kapoor chases him through and around Mumbai Central before a car hits Anil. Bloodied, Kapoor breaks down in front of the camera, regretting his absence as a father and begging Yogita for any information. Kashyap, having slowed down due to his asthma, finally arrives to taunt Kapoor and make him continue. At another Christmas celebration, Kapoor has to dance for the crowd until someone tells him where Javed lives, where they finally capture him.

Javed directs them to where he was told to take Sonam; however, Kashyap insists that Javed is lying and that his own house was not part of the script. They end up arriving at Kashyap's house with 2 hours to sunrise, where another video-call shows Sonam is in his DVD room. When they get in, Sonam is gone and Kashyap's parents have also been abducted. After a struggle between the trio (Anurag hits Yogita to find out what is going on), Anurag receives a video call with Sonam and his parents as hostages. Now, Anurag is warned with the same 4 rules that he gave Anil. Kashyap reveals the original hostage site (United Mills in Byculla), and they go there. A mysterious masked man with another camera shows at the mill, but they don't find anyone else as the sun rises and time runs out.

Although Kashyap repeatedly claims that these events weren't in his script, Kapoor discovers a copy and forces him to read it, which states that Kashyap intentionally diverted him, then planned to take a gun from his bag and force Kapoor to choose between killing himself or Kashyap with it. Kapoor interrogates an increasingly agitated Kashyap with the aforementioned gun and accidentally shoots him.

The perspective shifts to the third person as Kapoor and Yogita drive Kashyap to the hospital. Sonam and Kashyap's parents are later found in the basement of Kashyap's society, with Kashyap being charged for their kidnapping. The media speculates that Anurag wanted to force Anil to work in his movie, as Anurag had not delivered a hit for many years. As he lays in his hospital bed, Kapoor reveals that he had actually planned everything: angered at Kashyap's comments, he convinced Yogita after the panel show to help frame Kashyap in exchange for a break into the industry and conspired alongside his family to make most of the dramatic turns happen, with Harshvardhan having purposely hit him with the car. Kashyap is sentenced for 8 to 15 years in prison, and Anil is deemed to have shot him in self-defense.

Months later, the resulting film (Once Upon A Time in Bollywood) nets some Filmfare Awards for Yogita (as director) and Kapoor, while a deranged Kashyap plots vengeance from a mental asylum