| Director | Vysakh, Vyshakh |
|---|---|
| Budget | ₹25 crore |
| Box office | ₹139 crore |
Murugan lives in Puliyoor, a small forest village that is vulnerable to man-eating Royal Bengal Tigers and frequent human–wildlife conflicts. When he was young, Murugan's mother died after his brother Manikuttan was born. Soon after, his father was killed by a tiger; in vengeance, Murugan traps and kills the tiger with the help of his uncle Balaraman. Years later, Murugan is a truck driver, who lives with his wife Myna, and has a daughter, Chakki. He hunts and kills rogue tigers whenever they invade the village. Acknowledging his skills in hunting tigers, the villagers call him Pulimurugan (tiger Murugan). Murugan is grateful to the villagers who cared for him after his parents's deaths, and is obsessively protective of Manikuttan, who is about to finish his MBA graduation in Mangalore.
One day, Kadutha, the village chief, meets a hooded stranger who asks the whereabouts of Murugan for a hunting assignment. Murugan has been away from Puliyoor for days and many people have been killed by the tigers. According to Kadutha, Manikuttan's friends Benny and Shiva had arrived at Puliyoor, sent by Manikuttan to see Balaraman. Shiva's father Daddy Girija owned a pharmaceutical company which was developing a drug to treat cancer and they need ganja (cannabis) from the forest. When the medical research succeeds, Manikuttan will be offered a job in the company, so Balaraman helps them. They made a contract with Ramaiya, an illegal ganja dealer in the forest; on their return to the village they encounter a tiger but were saved by Murugan, who kills it.
Meanwhile, Manikuttan returned home after his final examinations. The forest officials have found the dead tiger's carcass at Thookupara; its killing is a violation of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, a non-bailable offence. Forest ranger R. K. was assigned to investigate; R.K. has a four-year-old grudge against Murugan, when he had once tried to molest Myna, only to be threatened by Murugan. Taking advantage on the present scenario, R.K. prepared to file a self-witness F. I. R. against Murugan, who was forced to hide. Meanwhile, DSP Iyep Zachariah arrived at Puliyoor, apparently for Murugan. The ganja was loaded into Murugan's lorry for transporting to Mangalore.
Shiva and Benny hear that a confidant of Ramaiya was in police custody. Seeing a possibility of leaking the information, they are forced to transport it overnight. Shiva offered Murugan sanctuary in Kasaragod under Daddy's protection and deceived him that the police are in pursuit to arrest him for the tiger killing. A team led by Zachariya arrived at Murugan's home. Murugan with his family escaped to Mangalore in the transport and managed to escape the cops. He delivered the ganja and Manikuttan's job had been approved. Murugan impressed Daddy and earned his trust by helping in his business activities. Meanwhile, more people are killed by tigers at Puliyoor. In an encounter with Zachariya, Murugan learnt that Daddy was illegally producing hash oil and exporting it under cover of the pharmacy where Manikuttan was working.
Manikuttan co-operated with the cops to capture Daddy. Shiva caught Manikuttan extracting evidence of their activities and tortured him. Murugan rescued Manikuttan; in the ensuing fight, Shiva was accidentally killed by Murugan. The cops ambushed Daddy but he escaped. After narrating the events, the hooded stranger is revealed to be Daddy, who is seeking revenge for Shiva's death. Daddy assembles a group of assassins and ambushes Balaraman and Poongayi Sasi, where they take Balaraman and send Sasi back with severe injuries. Murugan returns home and learns about the events, where he heads to kill Daddy. A fight with the assassins ensues where Murugan kills them all, but gets attacked by Daddy. A fight ensues where Murugan saves Balaram from the tiger's den and defeats Daddy. Daddy gets killed and eaten by the tiger, when Murugan rescues Balaram and gets out of that den.