Surya, Naga Chaitanya Akkineni, is drawn into a brutal and tangled world that stretches from a train at night in 1973 to the volatile streets of Autonagar, Vijayawada, years later. A couple is murdered by Kotalingam after he tries to silence a girl who knows too much, and the crime is covered up by bribing the Railway Police. The young Surya watches this horror and grows up with a deep fear of Kotalingam haunting every train and every shared memory of that night. Three years slip by, and in Autonagar his life takes another turn when his maternal uncle Bharani, who bears a grudge against his sister’s inter-caste marriage, casts Surya out and leaves him to fend for himself. A neighbor, a skilled mechanical engineer named Sitaramaraju, takes Surya in, sheltering him and treating him like a son as the boy learns to love engines and problem solving.
In 1984, Surya reemerges with astonishing talent. He and his friends—Kicha, Bunty, and others—unveil a remarkable feat: constructing India’s first Diesel engine and presenting it to the community in Autonagar. This triumph comes under the watchful eye of Bharani, whose daughter Sirisha, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, harbors a crush on Surya. The brilliance of Surya’s workshop draws the attention of Jeeva, a gangster who offers a shady job. Surya’s defense of himself and his friends ends in self‑defense killing of Jeeva, and he is arrested for murder, serving five years while earning his mechanical engineering degree under the unlikely tutelage of the Jailer. Meanwhile, Indra—a powerful gangster turned corporator who has toppled Sitaramaraju’s workshop—uses force to push Surya’s friends out of work and replaces them with his own crew.
By 1989, Surya walks free and finds Autonagar completely transformed, now aligned with diesel engines and a rising tech ambition. He reconciles with Sirisha, who remains a constant source of support, and sets his sights on a bold new dream: an electric vehicle battery project. But Autonagar is ruled by Indra, whose iron fist is backed by the mayor and the mafia connected to Kotalingam. Bharani, now a reluctant gatekeeper of the local union, refuses Surya’s membership, and Indra tries to manipulate the association to his advantage. Surya seeks legitimacy with the help of his friends, including Kicha, and navigates a tense negotiation with Indra that reveals a broader scheme involving smuggled spare parts. When Surya rejects the corrupt deal, the alliance splinters into two factions—the old guard led by Indra and the new vision led by Surya.
The story threads onward as Surya discovers that Sitaramaraju has fallen into despair and alcohol after the assault on his workshop. Surya steps in to rebuild their bond and support him as they push forward with the battery project, financed by Bhagwan, a private investor who harbors a grievance against Indra. With the prototype taking shape, Surya officially proposes to Sirisha, and she accepts, cementing personal and professional stakes in Autonagar’s future. Yet the struggle intensifies as Surya crosses paths with Giri, a trusted aide to Indra, and faces the charge of monopolizing the market. He secures a public auction win for a government vehicle, challenging Indra’s repeated bids and exposing the deeper corruption within the union.
As tensions escalate, Surya questions the union’s integrity and exposes Bharani as a pawn controlled by Indra. Undeterred, Surya broadens his base by aligning with the weaker union members and exposing the corrupt schemes supported by the mayor and Indra. When a crackdown by a compromised commissioner threatens to crush Surya’s new enterprise, Surya and his allies resist and counteract the move. In a brazen move, Surya kidnaps Indra’s son, Bharath, to force concessions and reveal the truth about the union’s corruption. Indra concedes on several fronts, and Surya demonstrates that there was no hidden involvement by Bharani, even as he repays Bharani for past mistreatment and helps him regain honor.
The conflict culminates in a bid to cast Autonagar’s autonomy into law, with Surya challenging the mayor’s grip on power. The mayor retaliates by abducting Bharani, triggering a riot that costs Bunty and Sitaramaraju their lives. Enraged, Surya defeats Indra and Giri, and Autonagar rises up against the mafia, exposing the union scam to the wider state. Bharani, overcome by guilt, apologizes and accepts Surya as his son-in-law, sealing a fragile reconciliation. In a tense private moment, the mayor offers Indra’s old seat to Surya, only to reveal that his motives are far from simple—a test of Surya’s resolve rather than a compromise. The mayor warns that this isn’t personal vendetta but a struggle between the oppressed and the oppressors, and he predicts that Surya will rise to the challenge.
The story leaps to 1991, where Surya organizes a political rally in Autonagar. The Mayor’s gang strikes, abducting Kicha, who then blindsides Surya by betraying him to favor Indra’s position. A deadly pursuit follows to a warehouse, and in the ensuing fight, Surya defeats the Mayor with a hard‑won line: > You believed him and lost your friend. > This victory proves costly for the mayor, and he dies as Surya pins down the truth with conviction. Surya’s final act is to secure a more democratic, just system for Autonagar, ensuring that power rests with the people rather than with a corrupt few.
Throughout this sweeping arc, the film blends high‑octane action with personal redemption and political grit. The key relationships—between Surya and Sirisha, Surya and Bharani, and Surya and his steadfast allies—form the emotional core, while the city itself becomes a character: a place where ambition, loyalty, and the desire for a fair society collide with the stubborn realities of power and interference. The performances, especially by Surya and Sirisha, anchored by a strong ensemble, give texture to a story that moves from intimate tragedy to nationwide upheaval, all driven by a young man’s insistence on building a better Autonagar.
