| Director | Singeetam Srinivasa Rao |
|---|---|
| Budget | ₹22 crore |
Pratap Mannem, a former convict, arrives in Kuberapuram, an arid mining village, to claim his share of the gold mines left behind by his late father, Uday Mannem. Upon arrival, he discovers that Uday's former business partner, Brahma, along with Brahma's daughter, Renu, have usurped control of the mines and intend to sell it to an international businessman named Swahili. Pratap intervenes, asserting his rights over the mines, and proposes digging deeper into an unstable region to extract the remaining gold.
However, the excavation stalls because of a massive tree standing at the center of the land, which is the last surviving piece of greenery in the village. Gauri, a fiery young woman who lives within the hollow of the tree, vehemently opposes cutting it down, treating it as the village's final link to the nature. However, Renu proceeds to bulldoze the tree with the support of Gauri's father and the other villagers. Heartbroken and enraged by the villagers' greed, Gauri falls into a hidden subterranean cave near an altar of Kubera, the village's guardian spirit. In her despair, she prays for a curse on the village, asking the deity to strip the village's residents of their normal speech since they refused to speak when it mattered.
Kubera grants her plea, casting a divine spell that causes every resident to lose the ability to speak normally and forces everyone to communicate exclusively through song and melody. While the townspeople desperately try to break the curse, Pratap paints a deceptive mural by the deity's statue, tricking the miners into offering gold to lift the curse so they will keep digging. Further, Renu promises them a share of the mining profits. Eventually, Pratap falls in love with Gauri and discovers the truth about his past through her eccentric grandmother, Basavamma.
In a flashback, Pratap's mother, Sailaja, is a devout environmentalist who fiercely opposes Brahma's gold-mining plans. Consumed by greed, Uday allies with Brahma and bribes Basavamma to fabricate medical complications during Sailaja's pregnancy, forcing her to move to the city for childbirth. While she is away, Uday exploits the villagers and manipulates them into consenting for mining. Upon her return, Sailaja discovers the destruction and confronts Uday inside a mine, where she dies in a tragic cave-in. Guilt-ridden, Uday leaves the village with the newborn Pratap.
In the present, Pratap experiences a change of heart. He turns over the land deeds to the village workers, motivating them to abandon mining, plant trees and seek redemption. However, Renu reignites their avarice, enticing them back to digging the gold. As the villagers turn on one another in hysteria, the curse's effect escalates, causing people to turn into golden statues upon physical touch.
Horrified, the survivors attempt to flee the village through a secret underground mine shaft. During their escape, a pregnant widow goes into labor. Moved by her misery, the villagers cast aside their selfishness and form a protective human shield around her to block the collapsing cave ceiling, willingly petrifying into a golden dome to save her and her unborn child.
Witnessing this selfless sacrifice, Pratap, Gauri, a reformed Renu, and the other survivors sing in emotional unity, expressing genuine remorse for their past greed. A torrential rainfall dissolves the curse, washing over the village and restoring the golden statues back to living humans alongside restoring the villagers' voices, just as the woman gives birth to a girl child.
Years later, the villagers live in harmony with nature. A wealthy business mogul arrives and attempts to bribe the townspeople into reopening the mines. Ignoring the warnings, he deliberately steps on a plant, crushing it. Instantly, the curse reawakens, forcing the mogul into an involuntary dance as the laughing villagers walk away.