John Abraham’s ex-army officer Major Abhimanyu Kanwar turns mentor for Sharvari Wagh’s Vedaa, a lower-caste oppressed woman, to help her seek justice in the trailer of Vedaa, dropped by the makers on Thursday.

Touted as “a story of bravery, of the power of one”, the three-minute-10-second-long trailer introduces us to John’s Abhimanyu, an ex-army soldier from 11 Gorkha Rifles, who was court-martialed. We also get to see Sharvari’s Vedaa who wants to be independent and is looking for a mentor. John’s voice-over reciting slokas from the Mahabharata plays throughout the action-packed video featuring Vedaa’s intense training sessions.

Abhishek Banerjee plays the antagonist, a man in power who inflicts pain on the poor. While Tamannaah Bhatia plays John’s love interest, Mouni Roy appears in a dance sequence in the trailer.

“Why are untouchables associated with feet? Then why are we taught the law? Why are we made to swear by the constitution? Why don’t they simply explain the arrangement instead?” says Sharvari’s character in a monologue, following which Abraham breaks it to her that she can either reconcile or wage a war. The trailer ends with high-octane action scenes featuring John and Sharvari.

“It is the story of an uprising, of challenging a draconian system. It is the story of a young woman who fought back, steered and championed by the one man she believed was her saviour, who became her weapon. It is the story of a man who found himself in helping Vedaa find justice,” the description of the trailer shared on YouTube reads.

Directed by Nikkhil Advani, Vedaa is written by The Buckingham Murders and Mission Majnu writer Aseem Arrora. Produced by Zee Studios in collaboration with John Abraham, Monisha Advani, Madhu Bhojwani and Minnaskshi Das, Vedaa is slated to release in theatres on August 15.