Kakarla Sathyanarayana, the governor of Tamil Nadu, inaugurates a new open market in Madras. Unbeknownst to the crowd, Mallikarjuna, a bomb specialist, had planted a device the night before, and the market area explodes minutes after Kakarla leaves, throwing the state government into disarray.
Prabhu, the union chairman of a college, and his friend Vasanth invite Kakarla as the chief guest for the college annual day. [Prabhu] sees Shruti and instantly falls in love. Kakarla accepts the invitation and arrives on the function day with his wife and Shruti. [Prabhu] joins Shruti's dance school to get close to her. Shruti hates [Prabhu] for disrespecting classical dance.
[Prabhu] follows the advice of his father Kathiresan, a police constable, to impress Shruti by learning classical dance properly. He practices continuously for a month and becomes well-versed in the art. Shruti refuses to go to the Natyanjali festival at Chidambaram if [Prabhu] attends as he would insult the art. To disprove her, [Prabhu] secretly enters her house and demonstrates his dance skills, thus impressing Shruti. She agrees to attend Natyanjali, but Kakarla refuses to let Shruti attend Natyanjali due to fear of terrorism.
Unknown to anyone, Kakarla is an aide of the National ruling party and was paid heavily to topple the state government by horse-trading of MLAs. Kakarla instead chose to create law and order disarray and dismiss the legislature using Article 356 of the Constitution of India. He orchestrated the bombing at the market. Shruti escapes with [Prabhu] and [Vasanth] via motorbike, outwitting her bodyguards. Kakarla and [Malli] plan the next bomb blast at the Nataraja Temple, where Natyanjali is to take place.
Ajay, a commando, informs Kakarla that Shruti left with two men to attend Natyanjali. Kakarla orders [Malli] to remove the bomb, but he faces an accident on the way, resulting in a broken leg. Shruti realises [Prabhu]'s love for her and reciprocates his feelings. They reach Chidambaram as planned. Due to Malli's inability to remove the bomb, Kakarla secretly informs the police and his guards. [Ajay] and the squad reach the temple, remove the bomb and bring Shruti back by helicopter.
Kakarla doubts Shruti's virginity as she was with [Prabhu] for a night. Upset at this, Shruti meets with [Prabhu] and asks him to marry her, but [Ajay] and his commandos imprison [Prabhu] and accuse him of planting the bomb. The police order [Prabhu] to confess, but he refuses and is tortured. Shruti becomes embittered over his imprisonment and expresses her love for him to her parents. [Vasanth] informs all the students about the happenings and a strike is called by the students against Kakarla. Kakarla and Shruti reach an agreement: in exchange for [Prabhu]'s unconditional release, Shruti is sent to her paternal grandparents' house in Tadepalligudem.
Some weeks later, [Prabhu] and [Vasanth] reach Tadepalligudem and find Shruti. Shruti's grandparents support their romance and unite them. [Malli] sees [Prabhu] and informs Kakarla, which [Prabhu] overhears. [Prabhu] discovers evidence of Kakarla's attempts to blast the temple and learns about his plans to blast the Government General Hospital. After subduing [Malli], [Prabhu] and [Vasanth] escape with the evidence.
[Malli] informs Kakarla, who orders the police to find [Prabhu]. The police arrest [Prabhu] and [Vasanth] and Kakarla tells Malli to make the bomb detonate after his visit to the hospital to see the Vice President of India undergoing treatment there. They plan to dump an unconscious [Prabhu] and [Vasanth] in the hospital. However, the two escape and [Prabhu] informs Kathiresan about the bomb. Malli plants it, but Kakarla tries to kill him with a bomb radio. Malli survives and, in revenge, re-times the bomb to detonate during Kakarla's scheduled visit. [Prabhu] searches for the bomb, while [Vasanth] brings students to vacate the patients. After meeting the Vice President, Kakarla is trapped in a lift with his wife and Shruti. Shruti and her mother are helped out, while [Prabhu], having located the bomb, throws it into a river; the bomb detonates without killing anyone. [Prabhu] and Shruthi reunite, while [Malli] kills Kakarla with a live wire, and succumbs to his injuries.
