Plot

A labourer rises through the ranks of a red sandalwood smuggling syndicate, making some powerful enemies in the process.

Pushpa a labor works for small sum but dreams of living a life of king. But he is always let down by his step brothers for being an illegitimate child of their father. He gets chance to work in dense forest of red sanders where red sanders are smuggled to other countries. The labors are always under the scanner of DSP Govindappa but Pushpa dares to go against everyone creating hurdles for DSP. Pushpa manages to save a smuggling consignment worth crores under the eye of DSP and becomes known to Reddy Brothers. (Konda Reddy, Jakka Reddy and Jolly Reddy) known to do smuggling of red sanders. Pushpa manages to smuggle red sanders often with his tricks by bluffing DSP and his team and becomes close side of Konda Reddy. Pushpa changes his lifestyle and decides to marry Srivelli but his step brothers disclose his mother's relationship with their father thus calling of the marriage. Pushpa who now decides not to stop in reaching heights and finds that Mangalam Sinu, a syndicate member is giving Reddy's gang much lesser share than they deserve and asks Konda Reddy to hike profit. Konda Reddy asks Pushpa to take thing sin his hands as his involvement will lead to war between the two gangs.A fearless Pushpa decides to take control of things leading to disagreements between two gangs.—alex.mjacko@gmail.com

Pushpa Raj is a self respecting young man who takes pride in his work. He works at a mill, but leaves it when his owner doesn't like his attitude outside of work. Pushpa goes for Red sanders cutting in the forest. Pushpa lives in a village with his mother Parvatamma, and is the illegitimate son of a local rich man. He had an affair with Parvatamma, but refused to give up his existing family, once she got pregnant.

Set up in 1998, Pushpa Raj (Allu Arjun) is a coolie who works to smuggle red sanders, a rare wood that only grows in the Seshachalam Hills of the Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh. When DSP Govindappa (Shatru) raids them in the forest, Pushpa hides the stock in the trees and openly challenges Govindappa with the might of his 60 wood cutters, who are armed with axes. The police backs down, but Govindappa assembles a large forces and again surrounds the wood cutters. This time Pushpa is cornered, but he has the presence of mind to escape with the truck laden with the red sanders stock. Pushpa hides the truck in the jungle before surrendering himself to Govindappa. Pushpa is beaten up badly, but refuses to reveal the location of the sanders.

Pushpa gains the trust of his employer Konda Reddy (Ajay Ghosh). Konda has 2 brothers Jolly (Jolly is a womanizer and sleeps with all brides on the night of their marriage) & Jakka Reddy (Shanmukh) (the accountant). Konda lost his right arm in a gang fight many yrs ago. Konda send Jolly and Jakka to recover the Sanders. Pushpa forces them to bail him out, and then gets paid Rs 5 Lakhs to reveal that he hid the truck in a lake. With the help of novel ideas to smuggle the red sanders (Put them in fuel tankers, milk trucks etc The trucks are full of liquid but only in top half, and the bottom half contains the red sanders), Pushpa quickly rises through the ranks and becomes Konda Reddy's partner. Pushpa makes a deal with Konda for 4% of the value of smuggled goods.

Govindappa figures out how Pushpa was smuggling sanders right under his nose. He confiscates the milk truck and forces Pushpa's men to work for him.

Mangalam Srinu (Sunil), a merciless dealer who manages the red sanders syndicate entrusts Konda Reddy to keep 200 tons of his stock safe. As Konda's younger brother, Jolly Reddy (Dhananjaya) is deemed incompetent (due to his womanizing ways), Pushpa is given the job. Govindappa (who knows the location as he had bribed Pushpa's men with rs 50 Lakhs) attempts to raid them but Pushpa throws all the logs into the river, saving it from being seized. Kesava races ahead to the dam and bribes the official to close the gates to stop the logs from floating away. At a party, Pushpa overhears that Srinu is selling the wood at a much higher rate than what they're paid (Srinu pays Rs 25 Lakhs per ton, but sells it for Rs 2 Crores per ton). He asks Konda to demand a fair share but backs down as going against Srinu seems risky.

Pushpa meets Srivalli (Rashmika Mandanna) and instantly falls for her. Srivalli ignores Pushpa for the longest time till Pushpa's friend Kesava (Jagadeesh Prathap Bandari) bribes her friends with tickets to a Chiranjeevi movie, to ensure she smiles at Pushpa the next time she sees him. Pushpa is offended when he finds out, but then asks Kesava to offer her Rs 5000 to kiss him. Srivalli's friends force her to meet Pushpa, but she cries to Pushpa saying that she wanted to kiss her husband only. Pushpa decides to marry her in order to reclaim his Rs 5000. On their engagement day, his half-brother Mohan (Ajay) denies Pushpa's lineage because he was born out of wedlock while his mother Parvatamma (Kalpalatha) is injured in the ensuing scuffle. This angers Pushpa, which motivates him to rise higher in life. The next day, he smuggles the wood to Chennai and meets Srinu from whom he demands Rs1 Crore per ton as their share. Srinu refuses and his men attack him but Pushpa overpowers them. He then goes to Chennai himself and cuts a deal to sell the wood at Rs 1.5 Crore per ton, which Konda and Pushpa agree to share equally.

Jolly blackmails Srivalli to spend a night with him while holding her father captive. Srivalli goes to Pushpa to save her honor. Enraged, Pushpa badly beats up Jolly, temporarily paralyzing him. Konda, finding out that Pushpa is responsible for his brother's condition, tries to kill him but Srinu's men ambush them. Amid the confusion, Pushpa manages to counterattack them. Konda is killed but Pushpa saves Konda's brother Jakka Reddy. He also captures Srinu's brother-in-law Mogileesu (Raj Tirandasu) and kills him. MP Bhumireddy Siddappa Naidu (Rao Ramesh) arranges a truce between Pushpa and Srinu and appoints Pushpa to manage their syndicate (after Pushpa reveals that he can sell the sanders directly to smugglers in Chennai, Bombay, Delhi and Calcutta. Rate can be as high as Rs 2 Crores/tonnes). After 6 months, Pushpa becomes an influential person. Due to Srinu's inability to avenge his brother-in-law, his wife Dakshayini (Anasuya) slits his throat which injures him, but he survives. Jolly and Daksha bide their time to take their revenge against Pushpa.

While Pushpa is at his prime, a ruthless police officer Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat (Fahadh Faasil) takes charge as the district's SP. Pushpa offers him a bribe of Rs 1 Crore. Shekhawat, however, intimidates and ridicules Pushpa for his lineage and not giving respect by addressing him as "Sir". Pushpa gets angry by this insult and fists his fingers. Shekhawat threatens to shoot his hand if Pushpa doesn't unfold his fingers. In a desperate situation, Pushpa backs down and leaves the station. Pushpa spends the next few weeks doing whatever Shekhawat asks him to do. On the night of Pushpa's wedding, Pushpa and Shekhawat drink together. Expressing contempt on how he was ridiculed in their first meeting, Pushpa takes Shekhawat's revolver and shoots himself in his hands. He pressures Shekhawat to get undressed while he also does the same. Pushpa says that his stature as that of a syndicate boss remains the same nonetheless while Shekhawat is nothing without his police uniform to the extent that even his dog would not recognize him if he is naked. Pushpa leaves for his wedding while Shekhawat goes back home semi-naked. As predicted, his dog barks at him. In a rage, he kills the dog and burns the bribe money given by Pushpa.