Young Shakti witness the wrongful killing of his father at the hands of the South Indian police after which he conducts his cremation then run off by killing the officer responsible. He is then rescued by Shankar Waghmare who takes him to Karim Baba in Bombay where he is provided with living quarters as well as a job. Shakti continues to witness police brutality especially at the hands of a corrupt and alcoholic police inspector, Ratan Singh. He visits a brothel with his friend, Shankar and is attracted to a prostitute named Neela. Then Karim Baba is found hanging in a prison cell with the police writing off his death as an act of suicide. Shakti then closes in on Ratan Singh and murders him in an open arena. Shakti then aids numerous slum-dwellers when they are made targets so much that he is respected by the masses. He gets marry to Neela and soon they are proud parents to two children, Sarita and Sooriya. Shakti gains full control of Bombay city when he murders his rivals as well as supports the helpless so much that he is nick-named, "Dayavan". His gangster like life starts dawning on him when his wife is killed, his daughter onus herself from him and marry a police inspector while his son Sooriya is killed in an accident.