Deewaar

Anand Verma leads a strike with the city’s laborers, hoping to secure concessions from owner Badri Prasad. As pressure mounts, Prasad kidnaps Anand’s family to force him to sign away the laborers’ rights. The workers discover what happened and curse him, unaware that his opposition was coerced.

The mob persecutes Anand's family, and some drunkenly capture Vijay and tattoo his left arm with 'मेरा बाप चोर है' and declare 'मैरा नाम विजय है और पुरा नाम विजय वर्मा है'. This public branding marks the family with stigma and fuels Vijay’s future resolve. The tattoo becomes a constant reminder of the past he must overcome.

Unable to bear the humiliation, Anand exits the town and abandons his principles. Sumitra relocates with Vijay and Ravi to Mumbai, taking up low-wage manual labor to survive. They find a home on the footpath beneath a bridge that shelters Mumbai's homeless, a stark symbol of their new life.

Vijay and Ravi grow up in the city's slums, with Vijay working as a shoeshiner and later in a shipyard to support the family. He sacrifices his own education so that Ravi can pursue studies. He also rejects temples, choosing to chart his own destiny rather than beg for divine aid.

As he grows older, DCP Narang promotes Ravi to police training, and he earns the rank of Sub-Inspector. He falls in love with Veera, Narang’s daughter, tying his personal life to his evolving career in law enforcement. He remains committed to fighting for justice though his brother's world complicates his duties.

Vijay refuses to pay weekly extortion demanded by Samant's henchmen and openly challenges their control. He thrashes several of Samant's men, earning a stern rebuke from Sumitra. The confrontation highlights the rift between his father’s legacy and his own stubborn ethics.

The smuggler Mulk Raj Daavar hires Vijay to guard his gold bullion, unaware of Vijay's hidden ambitions. Vijay secretly feeds information to Samant to help hijack the gold, then seizes the loot for himself and delivers it to Daavar. Daavar rewards him with a fortune that enables a lavish life for his family.

DCP Narang assigns Ravi to arrest Daavar and Vijay, revealing that his own brother is tied to criminal activity. Ravi wrestles with his duties as an officer and his loyalty to family, facing a painful choice between family protection and law enforcement. The tension sets the stage for a bitter feud between the brothers.

During a police action, Ravi shoots Chander, an impoverished boy who had stolen bread to feed his family, in the leg. Chander's mother accuses the state of colluding with criminals, while Chander's father defends strict punishment as a necessity to prevent anarchy. Ravi, shaken, resolves to take the case from Narang.

Ravi completes the crackdown by arresting many henchmen from Samant, Daavar, and Vijay’s gangs, including Daavar himself. The arrests deepen the rift between the brothers, as Vijay's world collides with Ravi's duty to uphold the law. The family is drawn further into the conflict.

Anand Verma's dead body is found in a train, and Vijay conducts his funeral. Around this period, Vijay begins a volatile relationship with Anita, a bar-prostitute, signaling a complex personal life amid his criminal world. The two strands intertwine as the plot advances.

Sumitra falls seriously ill, and Vijay cannot visit due to police presence around him. In a defining moment, he enters a temple for the first time to confront the deity about the punishment he and his family have suffered. Miraculously, Sumitra recovers, bringing relief to Ravi and Veera.

Vijay learns Anita is pregnant and resolves to abandon his life in the underworld, planning to marry her and surrender to the police. He asks Sumitra to come to the temple with him to seek blessings for the unborn child. The plan marks a bid for redemption, even as danger looms.

Samant and his remaining henchmen track Anita and brutally beat her, leaving her to die. Enraged, Vijay murders Samant and his men, sealing his fate as a criminal in the eyes of the law. The cycle of vengeance seals the tragedy of the Verma family.

Ravi learns of the deaths and confronts Vijay at the crime scene. He shoots Vijay in the arm and the heart, intending to stop him. Vijay escapes in a car, crashes into the temple wall, and dies in Sumitra's arms as Ravi arrives in despair, while the police later honor Ravi for pursuing justice.