'Shanghai' is a thrilling political drama set up in the city 'Bharat Nagar', which is going through the transition of becoming the future 'Shanghai', if the ruling party's promises are to be believed. While leading the local opposition against this ambitious infrastructure project, social activist Dr.Ahmedi (Prosenjit Chatterjee) meets with a fatal accident. His student and love interest, Shalini...

'Shanghai' is a thrilling political drama set up in the city 'Bharat Nagar', which is going through the transition of becoming the future 'Shanghai', if the ruling party's promises are to be believed. While leading the local opposition against this ambitious infrastructure project, social activist Dr.Ahmedi (Prosenjit Chatterjee) meets with a fatal accident. His student and love interest, Shalini (Kalki Koechlin), is convinced that it was a planned attack and decides to voice her dissent. Shalini finds able support from unexpected quarters in Joginder Parmar (Emraan Hashmi), a video journalist/pornographer, who claims to have evidences that could nail the government. Shalini and Joginder rally around T.A. Krishnan (Abhay Deol), a South Indian bureaucrat brought in for investigation. 'Shanghai' is about how the lives of these three different people are entwined by circumstances and sees them to explore a dark secret, which leads them to realize that there's more to the government's plan than just what meets the eye.