Plot

In a crime-infested town, Kannan bhai and his gang are the reigning powers. To combat this reign and seek revenge, Inspector Shahul tactfully plots the return of the 'King', leading to a transformative turn of events.

1996: CI Shahul Hassan is transferred to a fictional crime-infested town called Kotha, which is situated near the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border. Shahul inquires more about the town and learns that the citizens, especially teenagers, are addicted to narcotics. While investigating about the background of the narcotics, Shahul learns about Kannan Bhai, a dreaded gangster who rules Kotha. Shahul meets Kannan Bhai at his hideout along with SI Tony Titus, where he is humiliated by Kannan. Shahul inquires about Raju from Tony as Kannan earlier mentioned the name, where Tony reveals Raju's past.

1986: Raju is a merciless gangster and Kannan's best friend who rules Kotha. Tony and Kannan are a part of Raju's gang and football team called "Winners Kotha". Raju is always at loggerheads with Ranjith Bhai, who is the head of the neighboring town Gandhigram, but Ranjith never harms Raju out of respect for Raju's father Kotha Ravi, who was also a dreaded gangster in the past. Raju meets Tara and falls in love with her. Kannan tries to get Raju and his gang to deal with drugs, but Raju disagrees as Tara's brother committed suicide due to drug overdose. Raju does not share a good relationship with his parents as his mother Malathi hates him for being a gangster and also blames his father for Raju's upbringing. Malathi also abuses Raju's gang members, where Kannan learns about this and provokes Malathi.

Ravi sees this and interferes in between them. Kannan tries to stab Ravi with a knife, but ends up stabbing himself. Upon knowing this, Raju gets angry and tries to beat up Ravi, who defends himself. One day, Ranjith sends photos of Tara hanging out with a Bombay-based journalist, where Raju breaks up with Tara and starts drinking heavily. Blinded by his greed for wealth and power, Kannan decides to partner up with Ranjith and agrees to transport drugs into Kotha. Knowing this, Raju gets enraged and confronts Kannan, who refuses to reveal anything about the drugs. Raju gets into a fight with Kannan and ends up partially blinding Kannan in the right eye. A few days later, Malathi realizes that Raju may not live for long if he continues to be a drunkard where she advises him to leave Kotha and never come back. Raju leaves Kotha on the night of the FIFA World Cup Finals and later goes missing.

1996: Shahul tells Tony to inquire about Raju with the Uttar Pradesh police force, where he gets a fax from the Lucknow police station about "Raju Madrassi", who is a retired assassin. Shahul sends a telegram to Raju, saying his sister Rithu is in danger. Kannan's brother-in-law Jinu, a drug addict, is in a relationship with Rithu. As they are sitting in a restaurant having ice cream, Tony arrives with his force and takes away Jinu for being in possession of narcotics. Rithu later cuts all ties with Jinu. After getting released, Jinu goes to Rithu's house to talk to her, but is kicked out by Ravi. The next day, Jinu tries to set Rithu on fire by dousing her in petrol, but she manages to escape as Tony arrives at the scene. Jinu gets killed by Raju, who has arrived back in Kotha after receiving the telegram from Shahul.

Jinu's sister Manju learns about this and decides to kill Raju. It is also revealed that Kannan killed Ranjith in order to make Manju his wife. That night, Kannan meets Raju at the bar and learns that Raju has become more dangerous after going to Uttar Pradesh. Manju sends men to kill Raju, who beats and sends them back after a fight, which Manju herself witnesses. The next day, Shahul makes an offer to Raju to kill Kannan but he declines the offer, stating that Kannan is still his friend. That night, Raju and Kannan meet up and have a few drinks in Raju's hotel room. After leaving, Kannan sends up a contract killer Suitcase Leslie to kill Raju, but Raju kills Leslie and sends his remains to Kannan. Kannan gets agitated and arrives at the market with his men, where they fight against Raju. Raju beats all of them up and kills Kannan's right-hand man Erilan by stabbing him in his heart, thus avenging the death of his friend Rafi.

That night, Raju goes to Tara's house to invite her for Rithu's birthday, but Kannan arrives and stabs Tara. As Tara is rushed to the hospital, Raju gets a call from Kannan, where he rushes to a site and finds his father killed. Kannan's mother promises to bring Kannan to Raju so that Raju can kill him. As he goes to finish Kannan, it is revealed that this entire plot was planned by Kannan so that he could kill Raju. Kannan stabs Raju after which Manju arrives. Raju discloses that he has known Manju since her childhood and that Jinu was actually her son who was born after she was assaulted by her stepfather in her childhood. Manju leaves the place humiliated and Raju escapes after the police arrive at the scene. Three weeks later, Raju is missing and the townsfolk believe that he is dead due to the stab wounds sustained after Kannan's attack.

However, Raju is still alive and was planning his attack on Kannan all the while, where he sends a letter to Shahul saying that he has accepted the offer that Shahul had made earlier. Raju offers the entire town of Kotha to Kannan's henchman Peelan in exchange for killing Kannan. Peelan accepts the offer and switches sides. Raju goes to Kannan's hideout to confront Kannan, who brings a group of contract killers to kill Raju. Raju kills all of them and incapacitates Kannan. Raju tells Kannan that he cannot kill him as he still considers him as a brother, where he brings Ranjith's son to kill him. It is also revealed that Ranjit's men helped Raju escape from the place where Kannan had stabbed him earlier. Ranjith's son kills Kannan and hands the gun over to Raju, who kills Peelan, telling that Kotha doesn't need an heir anymore.

1998: Raju is living with Tara and Rithu happily in Shimla, where he receives a call from a gangster sent by Manju to kill him.