DCP Shiv Kumar [Sunil Dutt], a steadfast and principled police officer, quietly diffuses a tense hostage situation and returns home to his wife, Sheetal Kumar [Rakhee Gulzar], and their young daughter Guddi, announcing that he has been transferred to Mumbai. His news sets the stage for a sprawling tale that blends high-stakes crime with family loyalties and a gang’s slippery sense of justice. In Mumbai, Shiv’s two younger brothers—Vijay Kumar [Amitabh Bachchan] and Ravi Kumar [Shashi Kapoor]—are bright and capable, yet they drift through life chasing schemes that skitter along the edge of legality. Their clever con games pull in unsuspecting marks, and soon their misadventures braid with the lives of others in unpredictable ways.
One such scheme ensnares a corrupt hotel manager, who is convinced that Vijay has stolen diamonds worth ₹2.5 lakhs. The manager cuts a deal to buy the diamonds for ₹10,000, while Ravi, who briefly acts as a policeman in the ruse, demands a bribe of ₹5,000 as a pretense of arrest. The plan collapses when the law and mischief collide, and the criminal world’s price is paid in trouble. The brothers’ paths cross with Renu [Bindiya Goswami], a young woman who owes money to a shrewd creditor known as Chacha [Johnny Walker]. Renu offers a Porsche as collateral to cover her loan, a vehicle Vijay and Ravi purchase for ₹30,000 after overhearing a threatening deadline. The twist comes when the car is revealed to be stolen and the brothers find themselves back behind bars.
A legless beggar named Abdul [Mazhar Khan] helps them reconnect with the truth, guiding them toward the people who can repay the debt they owe to society. Abdul’s information and a shared sense of purpose push Vijay, Ravi, and Renu toward a new, more ambitious plan: to join forces with Chacha and Renu to outsmart a broader network of con artists. Their next target is a diamond necklace belonging to Maharani of Kamalpur [Bindu Desai], who attends a glittering hotel party. But fate has its own timing—Sunita [Parveen Babi], a glamorous thief, seizes the necklace first, slipping away with it in the swirl of the crowd. Vijay finds Sunita hiding the gem in his pocket and escapes by tucking the necklace into his walking stick, sparking a volatile attraction between love and risk as Vijay falls for Sunita and invites her to join the enterprise.
This trio of con artists—Vijay, Ravi, and Sunita—along with Renu and Chacha, implements a bold ruse that pretends to bend the will of higher powers through two godmen walking on water. The plan collapses when DCP Shiv Kumar reads the posters advertising a sensational scheme and arrests his own brothers. Yet Shiv’s stern judgment is tempered by mercy, and he later releases the reformed Vijay and Ravi, hoping they will turn away from crime and embrace a more honorable life. The story’s tension deepens when a mysterious marksman named Rakesh [Shatrughan Sinha], who once hid a dark secret behind a flawless aim, steps forward. Sheetal immediately recognizes him as the man who twice tried to shoot Shiv, but Rakesh reveals a grimmer truth: Shakaal had kidnapped his wife Roma [Padmini Kapila] and forced him into murder, letting Roma die in a catastrophic crash when a failed braking system released her to fate.
United by grief and a newfound resolve, the trio—Vijay, Ravi, and Rakesh—team up to strike at the heart of Shakaal’s empire. Abdul, who has paid the highest price for seeking truth, provides them with information about a contraband warehouse that serves as a base of operations in Mumbai. They blow the warehouse to ruin, but Shakaal answers with brutal vengeance, targeting Sheetal and Guddi on a remote bridge. Rakesh’s quick thinking and the steadfast care of a few loyal horses at a nearby farmhouse save them, and a complicated romance between Sheetal and Rakesh hints at a future they might choose together. Abdul’s death at the hands of Shakaal’s men ignites a fierce, personal anger in Vijay, who storms the illicit bar of Shakaal’s henchmen and fights his way back to the truth.
Shakaal, a sadistic mastermind who operates from a fortified island, makes his death wish clear: he will destroy anyone who challenges him. He ensnares Shiv's allies and moves to crush the resistance in Mumbai. The trio—drawn further into the fight—hatches a daring plan to infiltrate the island fortress. They are aided by Jagmohan [Mac Mohan], a mercenary who has endured Shakaal’s wrath for past failures, and who agrees to help when the opportunity arises. Posing as a dance troupe, the group, joined by Sunita and Renu with Chacha in tow, infiltrates the island fortress. Shakaal’s traps are brutal and cunning, but the invaders press forward, fighting through a gauntlet of villains to reach the heart of the operation.
Inside the island, the fight culminates in a confrontation where Shakaal uses every trick in his playbook—from sentry dogs to a poisonous gas chamber. The three heroes—Vijay, Ravi, and Rakesh—fight with skill, courage, and a shared sense of justice, taking down Shakaal’s remaining henchmen and finally facing the crime lord himself. Sheetal’s intervention at a crucial moment reminds them of why they fight—not merely for vengeance, but to uphold the law and protect those they love. In a dramatic last stand, the trio is forced into a life-or-death decision when Shakaal tries to shoot them, leading to a fatal confrontation in self-defense that ends the villain’s reign once and for all. As the island detonates in a self-destructive blaze, the group—along with their girlfriends and Chacha—escapes on a helicopter, battered but victorious, certain that they have shattered Shakaal’s empire and found a measure of peace at last.
