An upright ex-army man, Jai fights a solitary war against corruption and injustice. With a simple mantra to pay forward, he starts off by helping one person and forms an ever growing circle of people helping each other.

Sultan (Shakti Kapoor) adopted an orphan and named him Badshah (Akshay Kumar). Badshah grows up to be a criminal and his life was made difficult by Inspector Pradhan (Ashish Vidyarthi). Badshah’s sidekick is Abdul (Ashutosh Rana). The only hope in Badshah’s life is Sapna (Karisma Kapoor), whom he incidentally met. But circumstances lead Badshah to commit murder in public. During this experience, a child clangs to him and he took the child to Sapna. Before he could explain anything, Pradhan gets there and Badshah had to escape. He changed his name to Babu Lohar and becomes a blacksmith and loving father, to give the child a good future. However, after 7 years, he sees Abdul and Sultan again. Pradhan is still after him. When the child’s parents find out about him, they ask Babu to return their child. Will he let the child go? Will the child go with his parents

After a below average Mohenjo Daro. Bollywood’s favorite historian, Ashutosh Gowarikar makes a good comeback with Panipat. Like his previous films he has given a detailed description of the events that were prevailing at its time. Small artistic liberties were taken to show Peshwas in a good light but still it was engaging to watch the film till the very end showing their valor in the battle despite their limited resources.. The action scenes though not on par with Hollywood films, were effective when compared to the over-top action scenes shown in films Manikarnika or Bajirao Mastani.

When the trailer was released many had compared it to Bajirao Mastani & Padmavat, but the similarity between Bajirao Mastani & Panipat was found because it was set in the same kingdom i.e. Marathas, due to this comparison between both these films was inevitable and its casting was heavily criticized.