Plot

Kaala is about the life of Nellai / Tirunelveli based Tamils who live in large number in Mumbai.

Union minister Haridev called as "Hari Dhadha" Abhayankar, previously a gangster who had carried out many attacks in Dharavi, tries to evict the people and seize their land. Kaala, the leader of Dharavi, opposes it to protect the area and his people. Hari Dhadha's failed attempts to kill Kaala in order to take control of the area leads to the death of Kaala's wife and older son instead. And to take revenge on him and protect the people of Dharavi, Kaala decides to fight him.—Santhosh

Kaala (aka) Karikaalan is a representative of the people living in Dharavi, a big slum in Mumbai. When a political leader tries to grab the land they are living in, Kaala rises to the occasion and takes his people on a journey to resist the politician's plans, like a true leader.—Mathiazhagan D

Since the dawn of civilization, land has been the core of all wars throughout history. Even today, a human's status is measured by the land they possess. In the modern day, the poor occupy land in the cities in the form of slums. Urban planners call slums a blot on the city's beauty and a den of criminals. Slums are demolished and the dwellers are thrown out of the city, or given small apartments in compensation, where they live with large families.

In Mumbai, the people who had migrated from Tirunelveli District in Tamil Nadu are living in the Dharavi slum. Union minister Haridev "Hari Dhadha" Abhayankar (Nana Patekar), previously a gangster who had carried out many attacks in Dharavi, tries to evict the people and seize their land. By 2015, Dharavi becomes the central spot of downtown Mumbai. Over the years he becomes a minister and plans to clear the area to construct buildings using his construction company in the form of government scheme with the help of his supporter Vishnu Bhai (Sampath Raj).

But, Karikaalan "Kaala" (Rajinikanth), the leader of Dharavi, opposes it to protect the area and his people. Kaala lives in Dharavi with his wife Selvi (Eswari Rao) & sons Selvam (Dileepan) and Lenin (Manikandan). Selvam wants to be a leader on his own but has to forever contend with Kaala's shadow over him.

When Vishnu comes to demolish the Dharavi laundry area, Kaala arrives to fight them off. Kaala stipulates that Vishnu, and his builder would have to repair the damage to the laundry area and change the design of his project so that the livelihood of the 300 families living in the area is not impacted. Selvam was handling the laundry area issue, but then Kaala arrived and Selvam was sidelined completely. In the state elections, Hari's party sweeps the state but loses badly in Dharavi. Hari is running the Clean Mumbai project as a cover for his slum demolition agenda.

Kaala's ex-lover Zareena (Huma Qureshi) returns to her native Dharavi as the head of a non-governmental organization that hopes to improve the living standards in Dharavi who is not aware of Hari Dhadha's intentions.

In a flashback it is revealed that the struggle for land in Mumbai's Dharavi went back 30 years. Kaala & Zareena loved each other. But Hari Dhadha, a local goon back then, was in constant search for an opportunity to kill Kaala & his mentor Vengyi who did not allow Hari to put his foothold in Dharavi. Hari was frustrated at his failure, but the ruling political party backed him completely. Hari chose the opportunity of Kaala's wedding to Zareena to mount his attack, which led to the death of Vengyi and the separation of Kaala & Zareena (Whose parents took her to Nashik, away from the riots). Eventually Zareena went to the US for studies and from that day Kaala kept a beard that he never shaved.

Zareena supports a plan by the local builder to develop Dharavi in exchange for title rights to the land. Kaala opposes the plan saying that Dharavi residents get too little for handing over land worth Rs 40,000 Crores. Zareena is angry with Kaala for opposing the development of Dharavi. Zareena is working with Lenin to develop the plan and hence Lenin is angry too and leaves home. Lenin is fundamentally opposed to Kaala's idea that the builders should help Dharavi residents without any profit motive.

Meanwhile Kaala tries to explain to Zareena that Hari is using her NGO to get a foothold inside Dharavi. Despite many attempts by Hari's men, Kaala does not permit evacuation of the slum. Vishnu Bhai's men try to kill Kaala after Kaala visits Zareena. Vishnu Bhai kills the son of a Dharavi resident after the boy throws a stone at a poster of Hari. Kaala eventually kills Vishnu Bhai. This prompts Hari to visit Dharavi to warn Kaala. But Kaala humiliates him by blocking all exits of Dharavi and forcing him to ask for Kaala's permission to exit the locality.

Hari retaliates by getting Kaala arrested and forcing him to touch his feet in the lockup. But Hari has to release Kaala when the whole of Dharavi encamps outside the police station to demand his release. Hari Dhadha's assassination attempt on Kaala, in order to take control of Dharavi, instead kills Kaala's wife Selvi and older son Selvam. This also turns Zareena and Lenin against Hari, who no longer see him as their benefactor.

Kaala decides to take revenge on him and protect his people. Hari Dhadha threatens the people in Dharavi by creating a lot of problems (no water, no public toilets), but Kaala encourages the people to protest against the government in order to give up the scheme. Kaala and his people campaign through social media, and within two weeks, the State government cancels Hari's "Clean Mumbai Initiative."

Humiliated, Hari Dhadha creates a curfew in Dharavi by using the help of Superintendent of Police (SP) Pankaj Patil (Pankaj Tripathi), who is his supporter. Along with some policemen and Hari Dhadha's right hand man Sunil (Ravi Kale), the inspector carries out sudden attacks.

Kaala fights with Hari Dhadha's henchmen and the police. Kaala's younger son Lenin, his future daughter-in-law Charumathi "Puyal" (Anjali Patil) and his brother-in-law Vaaliyappan (Samuthirakani) also fight alongside him. Pankaj Patil gets arrested, after a video taken by a reporter (Ramesh Thilak) during the curfew provides evidence that the henchmen were brought into Dharavi to create problems with the police inspector's support.

The police believe that Kaala is dead after his Chawl is set ablaze and inform the media. But the people of Dharavi deny the news claiming that there is no death for Kaala. Hari Dhadha again enters Dharavi at a function for constructing a new building. Here Hari Dhadha begin to hallucinate the appearance of Kaala among the crowd behaves erratically. He is then killed by the people of Dharavi and the scheme is stopped by the government. With the success of Dharavi, many slums all around India start to follow Kaala's way of protest to protect their neighborhood.