Oxygen 2017

Raghupati is a village landlord who shares a sprawling family compound with his brothers Sripati, Chalapathi, and Ganapathi, along with their respective families. When the brutal murder of Sripati shocks the clan, Raghupati makes a protective, almost clinical decision: he arranges the marriage of his daughter Shruti to an affluent NRI named Krishna Prasad in the hope that a bright, cosmopolitan husband will shield the family from further danger. The background is murky and dangerous, and the motive appears to be safeguarding a clan that stakes its fortune on land and loyalty, but the plan also foreshadows a conflict that twists the family’s future in unpredictable ways.

What follows is less a simple arranged marriage and more a moral test for Shruti, who finds herself navigating the uneasy border between belonging to her natal family and building a life with her new spouse. Shruti initially grapples with leaving the only world she has known, yet she is drawn to Krishna Prasad’s quiet, cultivated demeanor, which appears to promise stability and protection. The couple’s growing bond complicates the family’s expectations, and the atmosphere shifts as Veerabhadram, the rivals’ entrenched nemesis, launches a violent assault on the household. Veerabhadram and his men unleash a brutal strike, and Krishna Prasad steps forward to shield the family, sending a warning that there will be no more targets on their heads.

In the face of danger, Shruti softens; she pleads for Krishna to leave his business behind and stay in the village, and he agrees to lay down his public life for the sake of their growing partnership. Yet danger follows them; the attackers return, intent on finishing what they started. Mahendra, Shruti’s brother, bravely confronts the threat, but the encounter escalates as Krishna reveals a chilling side to his protection: he decapitates Mahendra and, with the aid of the killers, dispatches others who threaten the family. The violence reaches its crescendo when Krishna captures [Shruti], but the true reveal comes as he discloses his real identity: [Sanjeev], a high-ranking officer, is the man behind the mask. The killers are none other than his colleagues: Captain Amith and Sathya.

The backstory deepens the drama. In a past arc, Ajay, Sanjeev’s brother, commits suicide after a battle with lung cancer tied to chain-smoking; this tragedy drives Sanjeev to uncover a larger conspiracy. He pursues the truth with the help of Geetha, a microbiologist whose devotion becomes a lifeline. Geetha helps him uncover a sinister link: a heavy dose of opium is secretly mixed into cigars manufactured by the Tiger Brand. Sanjeev and his superiors launch Mission Oxygen to destroy the tainted brand, but in the fallout, someone startles him by probing about his family. The investigation reveals that the real owners of Tiger Brand are Raghupati’s brothers, and the discovery triggers a brutal backlash that leads to the murder of Sanjeev’s parents.

Geetha’s sacrifice is brutal but decisive. To conceal their tracks, she leaks a gas-cylinder explosion that appears to erase the danger, but the killers survive and escape. Sanjeev learns of the betrayal by listening in on his phone, and the vengeance plot swings toward the present, where the deepening revelation—Raghupati’s power, the hidden opium, and the murdered parents—drives Shruti to cooperate with Sanjeev. She helps him recover the cigar formula, while they jointly recover black money stored in a safe and distribute it to the affected parties. The old guard’s empire begins to crack, and Raghupati collapses from a stroke as the truth about the formula and its holders comes to light.

A tense chase ensues as a CBI officer tries to arrest Sanjeev, but the operation plays out in a way that keeps Sanjeev free enough to act. He and his colleagues infiltrate the factory to retrieve the formula, while Shruti broadcasts a live feed of the operation to expose the conspirators in real time. In the ensuing battle, Captain Amith and Sathya fall, and Sanjeev is shot by Raghupati. The man who has been orchestrating the whole scheme—the actual creator of the formula—reveals that the mind is the real storehouse of the secret, hidden inside him through the live broadcast. Amid the chaos, Sanjeev’s resolve strengthens his cry to the public: the ultimate weapon is not the gun but the choice to quit smoking.

No Smoking for the last time.

The climax closes with a dramatic act of sacrifice: Sanjeev jumps into the fire alongside Raghupati, destroying the factory and delivering a powerful moral message to the community about the dangers of addiction and greed. The police close the case, declaring Sanjeev dead, yet the final twist confirms that he survives, living in Bombay and promising support whenever needed, a quiet rebirth that leaves the city’s skyline with the memory of a man who chose justice over vengeance. The story thus threads together personal loyalty, family duty, corporate corruption, and public health into a single, sprawling narrative that asks what a person will do to protect those they love—and what a society must do to resist the forces that threaten its future.