Synopsis:
John (John Abraham) is an assassin who works for mob boss Captain (Bharat Dhabolkar) who decides to quit and start a life without bloodshed with his wife Shalini (Priyanka Chopra). However, this is not as easy as it seems. Captain is facing a major threat from a rival don Yunus (Vishwajeet Pradhan), and after an attack on his life he decides to teach the city a lesson. His plan is so big in scope that it could never be predicted. To fulfil it he needs John and so he kidnaps his wife and holds her hostage. John now has to kill five targets in the next 36 hours with Mumbai's toughest cop Wagh (Shiney Ahuja) on his trail. A game of cat and mouse, Karam is the quest for one man's redemption set in a high-octane emotional thriller. (taken from indiandvdwala.com)
THE "SHORT AND SWEET" SPOILER:
The movie is a flashback with Shalini talking about John.
We find out John wanted out because he helped kill an innocent family, including a little girl. Only one daughter survived. John completes the 5 kills. He escapes with a pregnant Shalini and John has a showdown with Captain. John kills Captain and is shot by the cops. He dies in Shalini's arms.
Back to the present, we see Shalini with their infant son on her lap and Diya, the one member of the innocent family that survived, is playing next to her.
THE FULL MOVIE SPOILER:
The movie starts out with Shalini on a beach, talking about John and how she loved him. The story is told through a flashback.
John is sent out to perform a hit. He and his two associates, Kaif (Murli Sharma) and Bull (Rajesh Khera) go to a vacationing family's apartment to snipe from. John has the target in his sights when suddenly the family return early from their vacation. The mother enters first and Bull, taken by surprise immediately shoots her. John kills his target then runs to see what has happened. The father pushes his oldest daughter behind a folding screen, unseen by anyone. He then grabs a gun and starts shooting. John reacts and starts shooting back a gunfight ensues. During the fight, the father runs behind the screen and out the other side. John follows him with his gun and is shooting the whole time. The father stops and looks down, horrified at something behind the screen. John stops when he sees this. Then Bull shoots the father dead.
The screen then falls and the oldest daughter is standing, staring at John, with a fatal wound in her stomach. She falls dead as John catches her. Unbeknownst to anyone there, the youngest daughter Diya has hidden herself on a ledge outside the apartment window. The cop Wagh who arrives at the scene later, discovers her and takes her to the police station where she later gives a description of John to the police sketch artist.
The incident shakes John and he goes to pick up his wife at a club. When they are home, she notices something is wrong and when she sees a news report about the shooting, John tells her everything. He then says he will quit and they will go away together.
Captain calls John in and tells him he wants him to kill 5 people. They are Yunus and his supporters. John refuses, saying he is out. Captain tells him that earlier he would have let him go, but not now. He needs him for this. John still refuses. Bull talks to John afterwards and tries to convince him to just do it and then he can leave. John still says no.
When John arrives back home, Shalini is not there. The phone rings and it is Captain calling him saying that they have Shalini. John goes to see Captain and demands Shalini. Captain hands John a phone and Shalini is on the other end. At this point she has no idea she is being held prisoner. She is confused and John lies to her saying that he needed her to be in a safe place while he gets them passports so they can leave. Captain says unless he kills the 5 men in the next 2 days, he will kill Shalini.
John leaves, but instead of making a first kill, he breaks into the hideout of one of Captain's associates and demands to know where Shalini is. The associate calls Captain and informs him that he won the bet - that John came there instead of doing his job. Captain warns John again.
John goes to kill the first target. He gets him in his sights, but the face of the eldest daughter he killed comes into his head. He is unable to kill the first man. Captain gets very angry and sedns John Shalini's finger that has been cut off to get him in line.
John is determined now not to fail again. He goes to a club the first target is at. He has painted his face up to fit in as a waiter. Wagh, following leads, shows up at the club and locks eyes with John, then continues on. John successfully kills the first target.
Afterwards, Wagh shows the composite sketch of John to Diya. She tremors and Wagh knows it is correct. He suddenly stops and then with a pen colors the face like John had painted his face at the club. Wagh then knows he had come face to face with the killer.
After the kill, John talks to Shalini. Earlier she had tried to escape, but they caught her. In the struggle, glass was broken. She is very upset at John for lying to him. She tells him she cried out when they cut her finger not out of pain, but because he deceived her. If he had been honest, she says, she wouldn't have cried out at all. After the conversation, she picks up a piece of glass and slits her wrists. She wants to kill herself so that John would have no reason to continue killing. However, she is discovered by one of Captain's men and is taken to the hospital where they save her life.
John then gets the next 2 guys on the list to arrive at their bank at the same time. Wagh, sensing something strange as these 2 men are both going to the same bank, arrives. John manages to kill one of the men, but Wagh foils the attempt on the other. Wagh shoots and kills Kaif in a shootout. As the other man is being escorted out, John manages to kill him too.
Shalini in the meantime starts to wake up and overhears the doctor saying that she is pregnant. She escapes from the hospital and convinces a pedestrian to let her use their cellphone. After a few attempts, she gets John on his cellphone. She tells John where she is and he goes to pick her up. When John arrives, he is on the other side of the street as her. He gets out to go to her, but before he reaches her, a car pulls up and she's kidnapped again. Then a limo arrives and John and Bull get in. Captain is inside and once again tells John what to do. John then realizes that Bull informed Captain where they were going to pick up Shalini. John shoots Bull. Captain then leaves John to finish off the last 2 men.
John calls Wagh and tells him to meet him. Wagh is waiting for John with a fellow cop perched out of a window in a nearby window to provide cover. John arrives and says they both need each other. John needs Wagh to help free Shalini and in return he will bring him evidence against Captain. Wagh is relunctant and threatens to arrest John but John says he can't arrest him and motions to the window where the cop is no longer there. (John had tied him up and gagged him.) Wagh agrees with John's plan.
John then goes to Yunus' house and suggests they work together. He will bring Captain there so they can kill him and in return, he needs a favor from the cop Patil who is also there (and also on the death list). Yunus agrees. Wagh and his men free Shalini and when they bring her outside, Patil is waiting and take custody of her. He tells her he is bringing her to see John.
Shalini and John are reunited. Yunus then tells John that until he brings Captain there, Shalini will remain with them. John kills Yunus and Patil and flees with Shalini.
They wind up in an abandoned building for the big showdown. Captain and his men show up. John fights with them and finally fights with Captain. John winds up killing Captain. Then Wagh and his men show up. John looks and sees one of Captain's men who is about to shoot a cop. John raises his gun to shoot him, but the cop thinks John is shooting at him. John shoots the bad guy and the cop shoots John. Shalini runs to him and he dies in her arms.
The movie then goes back to the present where you see Shalini holding their son and to the side of her playing is Diya.
