Najma, Smita Patil is introduced in a cramped Mumbai flat, where she prepares to host Akhtar Hussain, Bharat Kapoor. He speaks of a heated argument at home: his father wants him to marry the daughter of a wealthy cement magnate, but Akhtar insists he will marry for love. He tells Najma that for a free union, he must first earn his own living. He also promises that a middle‑aged man named Shakir Khan, who works in the Gulf, will come to help them start a business. Najma frets about Shakir’s stay, but Akhtar explains that the flat has been provided by Shakir, and insists there is no other way. As the evening unfolds, Najma reveals letters from her family that she has kept unread for six years—letters she refuses to answer because her family once forced her into selling herself to earn money. They justify that “the pride of the Nawaabs” would be tarnished if she worked, so she chose a secret night’s work instead. Akhtar spends the night, and Najma reflects on a previous visit when he had promised to take her away and marry her soon.
The next day, Salim, a well‑known poet who has loved Najma for six years, visits. They share a long‑standing, easy friendship, and Salim reiterates that he could marry her now if she would allow it. He suggests that Najma is living a life of pretense, since Akhtar’s visits serve only to spend the night together, not to wed. Najma and Akhtar receive Shakir Khan at the airport; Shakir inquires about Akhtar and eyes Najma with a possessive interest. Najma reaffirms her love for Akhtar, while Shakir speaks of his own wish to help Akhtar settle and even to marry a woman from Najma’s Hyderabad home town. The notion unsettles Najma.
Shakir asks Najma to throw a party where he, in a separate aside to Akhtar, reveals his longing to marry a woman who will remind him of home. A flashback shows Shakir’s own troubled marriage—an abusive husband who is not welcome at home. He wants Najma to find him a bride from Hyderabad, which disgusts her, yet she agrees to continue the plan because it could unlock a future for her and Akhtar.
The action shifts to Hyderabad, where Sarju and Shabnam fall in love. Nasreen, who secretly loves Sarju, helps arrange a meeting with Shabnam, a friend of Nasreen. While this drama unfolds, Najma travels with the wedding party to Hyderabad, buying jewelry and other wedding necessities. A train‑side flashback revisits Salim’s past visits to Najma’s Hyderabad home, where she repeatedly refused him, insisting he should forget her and that they could only be friends if their paths ever crossed again.
In Hyderabad, Shabnam’s mother struggles to secure a suitable match for her eldest daughter as money constraints bite. Hajjan Bi, the matchmaker played by Shaukat Azmi, presses for a reasonable match. Najma takes on the task of locating a bride from the poorer segments of society, visiting crowded places where families auction their daughters for marriage money. Horrified, Najma questions her own role but for now continues the plan and reunites with her family, where she is drawn to Sarju, her childhood “younger brother” figure. She also encounters Nasreen again and wonders whether Nasreen might be the girl Sarju intends to marry.
A small gathering gathers the Mumbai wedding party with Sarju, Nasreen, and Shabnam as performers; Shabnam sings a haunting song that shifts the mood and draws Shakir Khan’s attention. He reveals again his intent to marry Shabnam, which shocks Najma because Shabnam is still very young. Akhtar pushes the plan forward, arguing that the poor families will be grateful for the match with a wealthy man, even if it means compromising their daughters. The party’s mood darkens as Salim drinks and voices his anger that girls are being sold off to the rich under the umbrella of poverty. He condemns the wedding as a form of human auction and questions the moral price being paid by everyone involved.
When Sarju confronts Shabnam’s parents about the hypocritical bargain, insisting that he and Shabnam love each other and that he is trying to work hard to marry her, he is rebuffed. Najma is torn between her guilt and her complicity, while Salim argues with her that marriage is a socially accepted way of buying and selling people, and that Najma will remain a mere toy until she stands on her own. Sarju, who discovers Najma’s role in arranging Shakir Khan’s life with Akhtar, confronts her with anger and guilt. She dissolves into apology, but Sarju’s interference only leads to a violent confrontation when Shakir Khan lashes out with a fierce blow.
Shabnam, feeling trapped, resists the arranged union but has little choice. She goes to a mazaar and unties the thread she had tied there, symbolically relinquishing the wish that Sarju would be her husband. The moment is heavy with loss as Shabnam’s hopes fade. Sarju and Shabnam meet one last time, sharing a sorrowful farewell as Nasreen assists. Shabnam ultimately marries Shakir Khan, leaving Sarju devastated. Salim decides to return to Mumbai, while Najma, having seen the consequences, chooses to stay and reject Akhtar’s earlier offer, recognizing that his willingness to “buy” her loyalty could trap her again.
The wedding night delivers tragedy: Shakir Khan’s new bride, Shabnam, is found dead on the bridal bed, a death later revealed to be a suicide by poisoning. Sarju is crushed by the news, and Najma, wracked with guilt, boards a train back toward Mumbai with Salim. She finally confesses her part in what has happened, acknowledging that she helped set events in motion that violated someone else’s life and happiness. The film closes on a hard, reflective note as Najma faces the consequences of choices shaped by poverty, desire, and a social system that treats women as commodities, leaving a wake of heartbreak and unresolved longing in its wake.
