Chengumani is commander-in-chief in the 18th-century Coorg region of present-day Karnataka. He becomes the king's commander-in-chief after saving his life, but his life gets complicated when he falls in love with Poovi and marries her in disguise. The movie was dubbed in Telugu as Prachanda Bheri. This was also Rajkumar's first cinemascope movie.

Dr. Rajkumar
as Chengumani

Jaya Prada
as Poovi

M. P. Shankar
as Dodda Veerappa

T. N. Balakrishna
as Uttanayaka

Jayachitra
as Thanga

Vajramuni
as Bhima, Uttanayaka's son

Thoogudeepa Srinivas
as Nadathakka Subbaiah

Rajanand
as Chikkavira Rajendra

Shakti Prasad
as Mutthanna

Srinivasa Murthy
as Kalaiah