
The demon then decides to oppose Lord Shiva, so he kills the saint known to Mahi's family, impersonates him and convinces Malli, Mahi and others that Saambayya is not a good person by faking his death at the hands to Saambayya. He challenges the Lord, to which he replies that it was his duty to protect his devotee.

This infuriates the demon, who feels that Lord Shiva has not kept his promise. He also tires to kill Malli and Mahi, on their way to a temple, but Lord Shiva intervenes by sending his divine vehicle, Nandi who saves Malli. The demon also paralyzes Mahi's father, when he comes to know the truth about him. The demon, now in Rahul's form, enters Mahi's home, and kills 3 dogs who guard Mahi. On his arrival to the airport, Andhakaasura kills Rahul in the washroom and takes his form. This advice is given by saint known to Mahi's family. Then, Mahi's parents decide to get Mahi married to a relative, Rahul (Ganesh Venkatraman), who is to arrive from US. Malli rescues Mahi from the Kaapaalikas and Mahi's parents entrust Malli to take care of Mahi. Maheshwari as his target for the sacrifice and prevents the Kaapaalikas (who arrive to the temple) from having access to Mahi, on the first solar eclipse day. Lord Shiva calls himself as Saambayya, befriends Malli and goes to his home. Then, on one occasion, Malli questions Lord Shiva for his condition and drives away in his car, only to meet with an accident. There are many scenes where the atheist Malli forces the people of his colony who include Rudraksha (Brahmanandam), Ringu Raja (Raghu Babu), President (Krishna Bhagavaan) and others, not to worship, on account of his childhood tragedy. Maheshwari (Anushka Shetty) on a visit to the hospital where his sister is being treated. The story then shifts to Malli (Nagarjuna), now an adult whose motive is to help people and take care of his bedridden sister. This will render the demon matchless and a master over all the 5 elements. The demon is advised by his aged friend Maayi (Jeeva) that the sacrifice must be made in a month having 2 solar eclipses, in such a way that he has to marry the girl and sacrifice her before the solar eclipse ends. Lord Shiva blesses the demon that he will not interfere in the latter's attempt to sacrifice a virgin girl in order to obtain complete rulership over the 3 worlds. We see him performing a severe penance to obtain the boon of Lord Shiva.

Meanwhile, the scene shifts to the focus of a demon named Andhaka asura (Ravi Shankar). This disaster makes Malli to become an atheist. This incident leaves his younger sister, Sailu (Abhinaya) paralyzed from the waist and hence renders her lame (Sailu had a talent for dancing before this incident). During his childhood, Mallikarjuna faces a great tragedy as his parents and grandparents are killed by a huge feline creature when they are returning from Kashi.

The protagonist of the movie is born with a divine grace of Lord Shiva (Prakash Raj) and the boy's parents are advised to name him as Mallikarjuna as he is destined to accomplish a great work.
