Azad (Shah Rukh Khan) is the jailer of a women's prison in Mumbai who hijacks a Mumbai Metro train along with a group of six inmates: Lakshmi (Priyamani) (The mother figure), Eeram (Sanya Malhotra) (the medic), Ishkra (Girija Oak) (The artist), Kalki (Lehar Khan) (the munitions expert), Helena (Sanjeeta Bhattacharya) (the hacker) and Janhvi (Aaliyah Qureishi) (The composer). Azad negotiates with NSG officer Narmada Rai (Nayanthara) to ask the agriculture minister Murari Das (Naresh Gossain) to send Rs 40000 Crores in exchange for the passengers' lives. Azad has 376 hostages under his control. Azad says that on the minister's watch 10,281 farmers have committed suicide till date. Interest in farm loans is 13% and on luxury cars is only 8%. Kalee Gaikwad (Vijay Sethupathi), a global arms dealer, learns that his daughter Alia (Ashlesha Thakur) is also one of the captives and agrees to fund the deal.When Alia questions their motive, Azad reveals his plan of donating the money towards the loan waiver of 700,000 impoverished farmers in the country. Azad says that the government waived off Rs 40,000 Crore loan taken by Kalee. While Kalki's father (Omkar Das Manikpuri) was disrobed in front of his daughter for not repaying a Rs 40,000 tractor loan, as his crops were ruined due to erratic rain patterns. He commits suicide to get Rs Lakhs compensation that the government gives for farmer's death. Kalki murdered the bank collection agent and was jailed for it. Azad and his gang directly transfer the funds into the farmers' bank accounts and escape from the metro. Through Alia, Azad reveals his name as Vikram Rathore to Kalee. Kalee recognizes this name from his past.Meanwhile, Azad meets Narmada and her daughter Suji (Seeza Saroj Mehta) for a marriage proposal. Suji likes Azad and accepts her as her father. Eventually Narmada marries Azad as she can see that Suji really trusts Azad.Azad and his gang next kidnap the health minister (Ashwin Kaushal) and demand to introduce better infrastructure at every government hospital, in exchange for the Health Minister's life. 3 years ago, Eeram was a doctor at a government hospital where 60 children were admitted for respiratory disorder. The dean of the hospital refused to sanction Oxygen cylinders till his cut was paid. Eeram did everything she could, but could not get Oxygen for the kids, and they died. The court sentenced Eeram to life imprisonment as the dean proved that Eeram was high on drugs that day, and the cause of the children's death. Azad forces the dean to reveal the truth on national TV. The infrastructure is immediately upgraded in the list of 236 hospitals given by Azad. Azad and his gang escape again after a shootout between Narmada and her team. Narmada found Azad's location when he asked for a chopper for his evacuation.Soon after their wedding, Narmada finds out about Azad's true identity and confronts him, but Kalee's brother Manish (Eijaz Khan) and his henchmen capture and torture them. However, Azad is saved by his doppelganger, Vikram Rathore (Shah Rukh Khan). Vikram kills all of Manish's goons and shoots Manish in the face. Narmada finds out the identities of Azad's accomplices and confronts them by disguising herself as an inmate, where she learns about Azad and Vikram's connection. The flashback is narrated by Lakshmi.In 1986, Captain Vikram Rathore was a commando in the Special Ops unit of the Indian Army, who set out on an operation to hunt down the terrorist group responsible for attacking and killing 40 Indian civilians and 6 Indian soldiers. After facing several casualties (27 soldiers from Vikram's unit lost their lives) that were caused by malfunctioning weaponry, Vikram and his team successfully took down the terrorists. Later, Vikram filed a complaint against Kalee, who was the supplier of the weapons.Vikram proves in a military court that the guns provided are faulty, while Kalee argues that the soldiers did not study the manual properly and hence it is a human error and not a machine error. That night Vikram and his wife, Aishwarya (Deepika Padukone), were attacked by Kalee and his henchman, Murad (Sukhi Garewal). Kalee took Vikram on-board a plane and seemingly shot him to death. Kalee plants evidence at Vikram's house that he was selling state secrets to the enemy and sends 3 cops to harass Aishwarya and get her to sign a statement against Vikram. Aishwarya was sentenced to death for killing three cops, who were on Kalee's payroll.Afterwards, Vikram was declared a national traitor. Aishwarya was due to be hanged, but is found to be pregnant at the noose, and the death sentence is postponed till her child turns 5 years old. Aishwarya gave birth to their child, Azad, in prison. When Azad turned five, Aishwarya asked him to prove his father's innocence and provide justice to the oppressed, before she was hanged. Azad is adopted by jail warden Kaveri (Riddhi Dogra), who was sympathetic to Aishwarya.Unknown to the world, Vikram survived the attack but lost his memory. Vikram was found and rescued by a tribal group in northeast India and rehabilitated in their village. It has been 30 years since then.A hostage in the metro was an inhabitant of the northeast village and recognized Vikram's face in Azad. He tracked down Vikram's colleagues from the Army and brings them to the village. Vikram accepts Azad as his son, but says that due to lack of memory, he has no feelings for Azad.Back in the present, Narmada's subordinate Irani (Sunil Grover) is revealed to be on Kalee's payroll, when he tries to kill them in the prison. Lakshmi is killed in the resulting crossfire. Azad arrives at the prison and kills Irani in a stampede by opening the prisoner barracks. Vikram, Azad and his team attack Kalee's trucks, which contains money for the upcoming elections that will be used to boost Kalee's political ambitions. This money has been provided by the mafia, so that they can expand their illegal businesses in India after Kalee forms the next government. Azad and his team manage to steal the trucks, while Vikram and his old army team get captured by Kalee's henchmen.While Azad was stealing the cash, Nirmala and her forces were busy stealing the electronic machines to be used in the upcoming elections. Azad releases another video and states that he has stolen voting machines and demands to seal 53 factories in the country, responsible for air and water pollution. The factories are sealed by the government. Kalee learns about Azad's location in the women's prison. Kalee infiltrates the prison with insider information from Vikram and captures Azad. Kalee wants to know the location of his cash and a fight ensues, where Vikram finally recovers his memory (when Kalee fires on Vikram, but his gun wont work) and helps Azad by hanging Kalee to death.A few months later, STF officer Madhavan Naik (Sanjay Dutt), who helped Azad in the completion of his missions, assigns Azad a new mission targeting Swiss banks.