Handlung

The future of those in the dystopian city of Kasi is altered when the destined arrival of Lord Vishnu's final avatar launches a war against darkness.

During the Kurukshetra war Ashwatthama is cursed by lord Krishna to attain immortality and witness humanity during Kalyug.His redemption can occur by protecting mother of Kalki the last reincarnation of Lord Vishnu. Six thousand years later in the futuristic world deserted city of Kasi is ruled by an evil Yaskin.His complex is run by Commander Manas whose team is working on Project K for Yaskin.They capture fertile women and their serum is used to increase life of Yaskin but hardly any female survive beyond 120 days of fertility.Sum 80 (Sumati) suppresses 150 days and is about to meet the same faith as others.But manages to elope with help of few rebels,Ashwatthama realizes that Sumati is the woman he is there to protect and comes to her aid.Yaskin and Manas are desperate to find Sumati but Ashwatthama stands between them. A confusion arises when Bhairav comes to save Sumati where he and Ashwatthama clash mistaken themselves as either to be enemy of Sumati.—alex.mjacko@gmail.com

Following the Kurukshetra War, Ashwatthama (Amitabh Bachchan) attempts to kill Uttara's (Malvika Nair) unborn child. For committing the act, Krishna (Krishnakumar), the 8th avatar of Vishnu, curses him to roam the earth as an immortal and witness humanity's misery as a result of societal and moral deterioration during the Kali Yuga. His divine gem is also taken from his forehead, and his redemption is destined to occur only by protecting the mother of Kalki, Vishnu's 10th and final avatar, towards the end of the Kali Yuga, which will marked by toxic air and the river Ganga devoid of any water.

In 2898 AD, 6000 years after the events of the Kurukshetra War, Kasi stands as the last known city in a post-apocalyptic world dominated by Supreme Yaskin (Kamal Haasan), a 200-year-old totalitarian god king. The river Ganga is dry now and a bright star in seen in the sky which was last seen 6000 years ago.

Yaskin rules from the 'Complex', an inverted-pyramid mega-structure that floats above the city. His authority is enforced by Commander Manas (Saswata Chatterjee), Counsellor Bani (Anil George), and an army of soldiers who guard against threats, particularly rebels from the hidden city of Shambhala, who believe in the prophesied arrival of Kalki.

In this dystopian society, fertile female refugees in Kasi are forcibly taken to the Complex for Project K, an experiment aimed at producing a secretive serum for Yaskin through artificially inseminated fetuses. However, the serum does not become potent until after a 150-day gestation period, and none of the fetuses have survived for that long (the longest has been 91 days), nor do the pregnant women survive the extraction procedure. The scientists working on the project say that none of the wombs are strong enough to carry the formula which is too strong. The fetuses carried for 150 days yield a serum that will grant Yaskin youth and power.

Raia (Keya Nair), a young girl disguised as a boy, narrowly escapes conscription into Project K with the help of Shambhalan rebels led by Veeran (Pasupathy). Veeran is protecting Divya (Mrunal Thakur), whom he assumes to be the mother of Kalki. Veeran finds that Divya is not the woman he is searching for as a lamp is supposed to light in the presence of Kalki, which is does not in Divya's presence. Veeran and Divya are captured by soldiers and Divya is killed by Manas when Veeran would not divulge the location of Shambhala. Veeran is also shot dead when he warns Manas about Kalki's coming.

Bhairava is a bounty hunter who wants to earn a million units to gain entry into the Complex. Bhairava was orphaned during the war and was brought up by Pilot (Dulquer Salmaan). One day Pilot sold him to gain entry into the Complex and that day Bhiarava decided to be selfish and lived only for himself. Bhairava sold out the Pilot instead. Roxie (Disha Patani) is Bhairava's creditor and love interest. Roxie has a job at the Complex. Bhairava accompanies Roxie to the complex. Bhairava and Roxie are assigned to work at the generator complex. Together, Bhairava and Roxie leave their post and go out to explore the Complex which is full of luxuries. Bhairava is eventually discovered and kicked out.

Raia finds refuge in a cave where she encounters Ashwatthama. She unknowingly brings him his divine gem, which had inadvertently come into her possession during her escape. After placing the gem in his forehead, Ashwatthama becomes aware that a woman is pregnant with Kalki. Together, the duo set out to find her. Out in the desert, Counselor Bani discovers Arjuna's Gandiva buried inside the ground. Yet, no mortal nor machine can even touch it without its permission.

Meanwhile, at the Complex, SUM-80 (Deepika Padukone), a Project K subject hiding her 150-day pregnancy, is outed and forced to undergo the extraction procedure. SUM-80 had tested negative in every seeding procedure, but still became pregnant. Manas extracts a single drop of serum from her fetus before she is rescued by one Shambhalan rebel named Lilly inside the Complex, who passes her on to her colleagues outside the Complex. As the Shambhalans ride away they rename her Sumathi. The Shambhalans include Veeran, Ajju (Ayaz Pasha) and Kyra (Anna Ben). They do not know Lilly saved this particular person. En route to Shambhala their transport is ambushed by bounty hunters and raiders, but they fend them off. Kyra sacrifices herself to save Sumathi. Bhairava (Prabhas), finds out about the escape of a high profile prisoner from the lab, and starts his pursuit with his AI super-car, Bujji (Keerthy Suresh) (Bionic User Josen Intelligence). Bhairava believe this single bounty would be enough to get him inside the Complex.

Soldiers from the Complex corner Sumathi and the rebels. Ashwatthama and Bhairava arrive and defeat the soldiers, before fighting each other for the custody of Sumathi, who is revealed to be the mother of Kalki. Despite Bhairava's best efforts, Ashwatthama subdues him, and the party reaches Shambhala, where the tree of life blooms in Kalki's presence. Meanwhile Bani realizes that Ashwatthama is protecting the mother carrying the God in her womb. And Gandiv has appeared since the God is going to appear in the world. In a few days all the planets will align and that would be a rare eclipse, the darkest day in 6000 years. Bani knows that the birth of this child needs to be stopped at all costs.

Ashwatthama reveals to Raia that his walking stick is a dormant weapon, the Vijaya Dhanush, that belonged to his friend Karna (Prabhas), a warrior from the Kurukshetra War. The weapon is more powerful than the Gandiv, but only worked in Karna's hands. Meanwhile, Bhairava makes a deal with Manas to capture Sumathi in exchange for entry into the Complex.

Bhairava tricks a rebel Luke (Harshith Reddy) (whom he had captured earlier for bounty) into taking him to Shambala, then disguises himself as Ashwatthama and convinces Sumathi to flee Shambhala with him but is intercepted by the real Ashwatthama. As they fight, Manas and his soldiers reach Shambhala and breach its defenses.

Shambhala's leader, Mariam (Shobana), attempts to protect Sumathi, but she is killed by Manas, while his soldiers overwhelm the Shambhalan rebels. Ashwatthama and Bhairava save Sumathi during the ensuing chaos, but a distrustful Ashwatthama knocks Bhairava unconscious. Aswatthama is then captured and restrained by Manas. Ashwatthama's walking stick and a leaf from the tree of life subsequently falls into the unconscious Bhairava's hand, which reawakens both the weapon and Bhairava, revealing him to be a reincarnation or descendant of Karna.

Empowered by Karna's bow, in a trance-like state, Bhairava effortlessly defeats the invading soldiers and kill Manas. Snapped out of the trance by Bujji, Bhairava returns to his former self and takes Sumathi away to deliver her to the Complex, as Ashwatthama looks on (he was captured by weapons fired by Manas and was unable to break free). In a flashback, Bhairava is shown to be the exact look alike of Karna.

Yaskin uses the drop of serum extracted from Sumathi's fetus on himself, partially gaining the power of the unborn Kalki and becoming a youthful superhuman. He picks up Arjuna's (Vijay Deverakonda) bow, Gandiva, and pledges to personally capture Sumathi and her child to reshape the world.