During the British Raj in 1920, Governor Scott Buxton and his wife Catherine visit a forest in Adilabad, where they abduct Malli, an artistically talented young girl from the Gond tribe. Enraged, the tribe's guardian Komaram Bheem embarks for Delhi to rescue her, disguising himself as a Muslim named Akhtar. The Nizamate of Hyderabad gets sympathetic to the Raj and warns Scott's office of the impending danger. Undeterred, Catherine enlists A. Rama Raju, an ambitious Indian Imperial Police officer to quell the threat. Raju and his uncle Venkateswarulu attend several pro-independence gatherings where he feigns to support independence.