Trama

A corporate go-getter sees his priorities shift when a personal tragedy brings him face-to-face with political corruption.

Satyagraha is the story of a son who yearns for a father. Of a father, who grieves for his lost son. Of a young woman who fights so hard with life that she has forgotten to love. Of an ambitious rabble-rouser, for whom action is the knee-jerk mantra. It is the story of how these four discover one another, and come together to raise hell, shaking the powers that be to their very roots! But, Satyagraha is also the story of an influential power-hungry despot who will stop at nothing to destroy them. Satyagraha: The revolution has begun!—Official site

Retired teacher Dwarka Anand (Amitabh Bachchan) is an idealistic man. His engineer son Akhilesh's friend Manav (Ajay Devgan) is an ambitious capitalist. Manav meets Dwarka before Ahkilesh's wedding, & declares his intentions to go abroad to study & then return to start his own company. Dwarka does not care for his capitalist ideas & calls them greed. Manav is also against the socialist mindset of Dwarka & both enter an uneasy silence. Dwarka then kicks Manav out of the house after he hears Manav try to persuade Akhilesh to give up his Govt job, put his marriage on hold & to come with him to US & to secure both their futures.

3 yrs later, Manav is a successful Telecom entrepreneur & sits with highly influential people in business & politics. He manipulates people at a national level to get things done for himself. Yasmin (Kareena Kapoor) is a journalist who does Tehelka type stings to expose the dirty secrets of the same influential folks.

Manav cherishes his friend - who suddenly dies in a highway accident. At the time Akhilesh was also investigating the cause of a bridge collapsing that was sanctioned by the Highway minister Balram Singh (Manoj Bajpai). Akhilesh is the chief engineer & in charge of construction.

Manav reaches Akhilesh's town to console Sumitra. While return, he finds the highway blocked by farmers who are agitating for their land. Manav finds that the Govt has ordered that the farmers be cordoned & not to be allowed to march till Delhi (which was their plan). Manav finds Yasmin there covering the story. Minister Balram Singh (Manoj Bajpai) announces compensation which Akhilesh's wife Sumitra (Amrita Rao) cannot get despite daily applications in government offices. Sumitra wants to use the money to build a local school, which was Akhilesh's dream. Incensed, Dwarka slaps an arrogant official and gets imprisoned.

Arjun Singh (Arjun Rampal) is a dropout from Dwarka's school & now is a local goon who fights the government for local causes. He tries to help Dwarka, but he refuses any help from him on principle.

Manav returns to the town & starts a campaign to free him, using social media, roping in Arjun Singh (Arjun Rampal) and journalist Yasmin (Kareena Kapoor). Arjun uses his local muscle to put together 1L people on the streets & Yasmin covers the story to make it national news in a fight against corruption. The chief minister urges Balram to act (who is the local MLA as well), & Balram frees Dwarka the same day. Balram also offers him the check to clear Akhilesh's compensation dues, but Dwarka refuses the payment & gives Balram 30 days to clear the dues of each & every petitioner in the district. Dwarka is obliged by Manav's efforts to free him & he announces that he feels he has found his son back.

While this going on, one day Yasim uses Akhilesh's computer at home & finds his resignation letter types mentioning some confidential report. She mentions to Manav but they decide not to pursue. Now Arjun, Manav & Yasmin join hands to gather the records of all the claims submitted in the district. Manav devises the strategy & Arjun puts together the manpower to execute the same. The campaign is massively successful & Balram panics. He orders Lathi-Charge on peaceful gatherings organized by the Dwarka camp. He also arrests Manav & tells him that he has exposed his corrupt business dealings & next time Manav will be shipped out dead.

This expose kills the Dwarka campaign as public loses all trust in Manav & hence Dwarka. In response Manav sells his company & returns the money to his shareholders & returns to Dwarka & apologizes for using incorrect means to grow his business. The campaign goes back on track & gathers steam. The chief minister & Balram invite Manav & Dwarka for talks.

During talks Balram takes Manav aside & tells him that the bridge that collapsed had a design fault & Akhilesh was responsible for it. Manav investigates by accessing Akhilesh's work computer & finds that days before his accident, Akhilesh had written a report to the Chief Minister implicating Balram's brother Sangram Singh for the collapse of the bridge as the contracting agency by using cheap and substandard material. He further investigates & finds that Sangram Singh was directly involved in the truck accident that killed Akhilesh. It wasn't an accident, Akhilesh was killed.

Manav approaches the Home Minister who advises Manav to drop the Chief Minister from his complaint to allow him to take action against Sangram. SAngram is arrested. But Govt still refuses to take action on clearing the claims & dues, so Dwarka decides to go on hunger strike. The hunger strike forces the Chief Minister to invite Manav for talks, but Balram is no mood to compromise. He refuses to support any anti-corruption ordinance & his 8 MLAs who support the Govt are crucial to its survival. As Dwarka continues his hunger strike, he gets sick. In response some of his supporters kill some policemen. In response, Balram sends in the CRPF forces. Now Arjun cordons off the entire town from within & refuses entry to central forces. as the town descends into chaos, Balram orders the killing of Dwarka. Manav is also shot while trying to save him. Dwarka dies, Balram is arrested & Manav & Arjun join hands to launch a political party to change the system from within.