One morning in 1992 Bombay, Baskhar Kumar Dulquer Salmaan is suddenly taken by CBI officials to the Colaba branch of Magadha Bank for interrogation about an alleged embezzlement tied to securities fraud. The real story unfolds through a series of flashbacks, with Baskhar frequently addressing the audience directly, breaking the fourth wall as he recounts how his life spiraled into greed and risk.
Three years earlier, Baskhar works as a cashier in Magadha Bank, one of the few private banks left in India after nationalisation. He also helps illiterate people fill out cheques and banking forms for a small fee. He shares a cramped but hopeful life with his wife Sumathi Meenakshi Chaudhary, who left her affluent family to be with him and dreams of launching a home‑based food business, their young son Karthik Rithvik, and Baskhar’s father Prahalad, a former chartered accountant who was paralyzed and rendered mute after being bamboozled by a bad deal. The family’s finances are strained, and Baskhar owes money to several creditors.
One day, a top creditor seizes his scooter and his hard‑won promotion seems slipping away. Humiliated and desperate, Baskhar steals two lakh rupees from the bank’s deposits and passes it to Anthony Ramki, a smuggler, to help push illegally imported televisions out of the port after his previous financiers pull out. With Samba [Rajkumar Kasireddy], a bank peon and friend, they manage to move the TVs and pocket double the money, letting them replace the stolen cash and turn a profit. More shipments arrive in the following months, enabling Baskhar to pay off his debts and improve his family’s life.
Anthony plans one last shipment before leaving the trade for the USA, this time three foreign cars and a hefty payment of ten lakhs. Baskhar hesitates at first, but his son’s happiness sways him toward taking the risk. A raid on the original buyer derails the plan, forcing them to relocate to a dealer in Goa over the weekend. Posing as government cars and using fake politicians performed by beggars and an exotic dancer, they dodge government checkpoints and pull off the score. Baskhar manages to return the money again but discovers that the bank managers have already been arrested for their own fraud, clearing a path for his promotion and a higher salary. Samba continues in the smuggling business while Baskhar steps away.
As assistant general manager, Baskhar learns that Harsha Mehra uses the cash to manipulate the share market and has paid off the bank to keep quiet. He makes a deal with Katari Bank’s broker and Mehra’s aide Suraj [Maganti Srinath] to clear the receipts in exchange for a cut and stock tips. Using the stock gains and an unscrupulous hawala agent, Baskhar legitimises his income, first through a winning lottery ticket and later by setting up Sumathi’s home foods business. This windfall enriches Baskhar but also hardens him, driving a wedge between him and Sumathi, who eventually confronts the fraud with anger. Prahalad breaks his silence and warns him about the perils of greed, a warning that resonates as Baskhar begins to see the consequences of his ambition.
Sumathi learns the business is a front when she overhears a confrontation, and she shuts him out; Baskhar eventually redeems himself by becoming more humble and reconnecting with her. He also reevaluates his life after bailing out Samba, who is arrested and loses all his earnings.
Baskhar uncovers that Harsha forged bank letters from Katari Bank to secure larger sums, triggering the death of Katari Bank’s general manager Hariharan from a heart attack in his office. This revelation pushes Baskhar to sever ties with Suraj, despite pressure from superiors who want to keep him as a client, and to report the fraud to the Reserve Bank of India. When the general manager threatens him to sign off on the remaining transfers, Baskhar reveals that he had already closed his account, rendering the transfers invalid and tipping RBI investigators toward Mehra’s empire and the Magadha leadership.
In the end, Baskhar and his family depart the country, having previously bought a hotel in Boston to secure an American investment visa with help from Anthony and Prahalad’s contacts, and they continue to live a life of luxury abroad.
