Veteran thespian, Harish Mishra, is gravely ill. The stress of a film shoot have left the old man in a coma. His co-star, Shabnam, is wracked with worry, but their director, Siddharth, refuses to visit his ailing star. In flashbacks, their story emerges. Siddharth wooed Harish from retirement. He wins the trust of the aged performer, who rages against the modern world from his quiet study. Sporting a silver mane, Bachchan trumpets the superiority of Shakespeare over anything cinema can create. And yet, he agrees to act in the film. As the outsider in the cast, Harish has disdain for movie fakery. His theater skills are so much grander. Standing on a hillside, he teaches Shabnam to project her voice clear across a valley to the next hill.