Muthuvel Pandian (Rajinikanth) is a retired police officer who lives in Kodambakkam with his family. Muthuvel's son, ACP Arjun (Vasanth Ravi), is investigating Varman (Vinayakan), an eccentric gangster who smuggles idols of gods and sells them to buyers overseas, operating from his base of operations in Arakkonam.Vijaya (Ramya Krishnan) is Muthuvel's wife, while Swetha (Mirnaa Menon) is Arjun's wife.Arjun has seized a container full of Varman's stolen idols from temples all over the country. Varman is livid and sends his henchman Seenu to deal with Arjun.Arjun confronts Varman's henchman, Seenu (Saravanan) and demands him about the whereabouts of Varman. Seenu abducts Muthuvel, but Muthuvel ends up thrashing the goons instead. Arjun arrests Seenu and beats him to get Varman's location. The whole department is worried that Arjun's actions will wake a sleeping devil.Seenu is released from police custody.As Arjun gets closer to nabbing Varman, he suddenly goes missing and the police department spreads word that he may have committed suicide to cover up that he was probably killed by Varman.Grieving the loss of his son and partly blaming himself for raising him to be honest and fearless, Muthuvel goes after Seenu and murders him, disposing of the body with the help of a local taxi driver Vimal (Yogi Babu).Varman's men make an attempt on Muthuvel's grandson, Rithvik (Rithvik), despite Muthuvel convincing Varman to leave him and his family alone. Varman vows to kills Muthuvel's entire family to set an example for his men.Enraged, Muthuvel decides to fight back. Muthuvel brutally beheads the 2 men sent by Varman to attack his grandson. He then shifts his family to a mental hospital for their safety.Muthuvel visits Narasimha (Shiva Rajkumar), a reformed criminal living in Mandya, who loans him four of his sharpshooters.With the help of Narasimha's men, Muthuvel blackmails and humiliates Varman. Muthuvel hijacks one of Varman's trucks which was full of stolen idols headed for the overseas markets. Varman was about to attack Muthuvel's family at the mental hospital, when Muthuvel informs Varman that he has knowledge of all his smuggling routes and vows to destroy his entire business if his family is not left alone. Muthuvel asks Varman to beg for Rs 10 from his family, as a price to release his hijacked truck.Muthuvel brings his family back home.Varman then has a Bihari gangster, Kamdev (Jackie Shroff), send people to kill Muthuvel and his family at his home, only for them to be gunned down. Muthuvel reveals his truth to his family that he is a vicious killer when needed.After discovering Varman's target to be Muthuvel, Kamdev reveals to him that Muthuvel was once the ruthless and charismatic jailer of Tihar prison, who was also known as "Tiger" Muthuvel Pandian. He disciplined the criminals harshly but also helped them reform, gaining a massive network of allies, including Kamdev.Muthuvel corners Varman in his base, but he reveals to him that Arjun is still alive and threatens to kill him. Both of them ultimately arrive at a compromise: Varman will release Arjun in return for a famous antique crown that is currently secure in a temple in Mangalagiri, Andhra Pradesh.Muthuvel plans a heist involving the Telugu actor, Blast Mohan (Sunil), who is a trustee of the temple where the crown is held. 10 gangs have tried to steal the crown so far, and all of them ended up in jail.Blast Mohan is making a film with actress Kamna (Tamannaah) and Muthuvel goes to the sets to meet him. Mohan is in love with Kamna and buys a Rs 1.5 Crores ring for her. But he sends the ring via his director Balu (Sunil Reddy). Balu tells Kamna that he is in love with her and the ring is from his side.Muthuvel blackmails Balu to change the story and include a scene that involves the stealing of the Mangalagiri temple crown.With various deceptions and with the help of a smuggler in Mumbai named Mathew (Mohanlal), Muthuvel executes his plan to steal the crown. He shoots a footage of Blast Mohan stealing the crown and uploads it to the CCTV footage of the temple camera. The CBI believes Blast Mohan stole the real crown. They bring it out of safe keeping and decide to transfer it for even tighter security. Muthuvel launches an attack on the convoy that transports the crown.Muthuvel eventually comes into possession of the crown and sends it back to Varman. It is later revealed that the crown he sent was a fake. Even the entire convoy encounter was a fake, only executed to convince Varman that the real crown had been stolen.Varman frees Arjun, who reveals himself as a corrupt police officer that wants to be cut in on Varman's operations, willing to kill his own father for money. However, the fake crown also conceals a hidden camera, and their entire conversation is recorded and seen by Muthuvel.He attacks Varman's hideout with Kamdev, Vimal, and his allies, killing Varman and his men, while Narasimha protects Muthuvel's family and Mathew destroys Varman's smuggling operations.Muthuvel gives Arjun one last chance to surrender; however, he refuses and attempts to kill him. Arjun is instead shot and killed by Narasimha's men, while Muthuvel solemnly walks away.