Rakesh [Kamal Haasan] is a young man with an M.A. in philosophy who travels from Bihar to Delhi in search of steady work. He shares a cramped, dilapidated dwelling in a slum with his friend Amit [Karan Razdan], who hails from Bengal, and Tilak [Arjun Chakraborty], a newcomer from Punjab. The trio makes do with whatever they can scrape together, often going hungry, yet they stick together through thick and thin as they navigate the uncertainties of urban life.
One day, Rakesh crosses paths with Kusum, a small‑time stage actress, at a bus stop when the service to the railway station has shut down and taxi drivers are on strike. He offers to carry her luggage to the railway station, and though she pays him, he has no change. She chides him in Punjabi, assuming he won’t understand, but he calmly replies that he does know Punjabi. This small encounter marks the beginning of a chain of events that pulls all of them into a tangled web of ambition, pride, and affection.
Rakesh’s sense of justice is tested when he chases down a man who robbed him of fifteen rupees and follows him into a house. Kusum answers the door, and Rakesh discovers that the man is Kusum’s father, Jaggu [Nilu Phule]. The moment becomes a catalyst for Kusum to settle the debt by returning the money to Rakesh, revealing the family’s precarious present. Kusum’s life at this point is a balancing act between survival on stage and the realities of her home life.
As the story unfolds, Kusum reveals another side of herself: she is drawn to the stage and earnest about her craft. She brings Rakesh to meet her stage‑director, Pratap [Mazhar Khan], a man whose arrogance and temper match his fierce obsession with Kusum. Pratap’s controlling nature clashes with the growing closeness between Rakesh and Kusum, and his intolerance eventually drives him to eject Rakesh from the stage drama after an incident that leaves Rakesh frustrated and disillusioned. In a further blow to Rakesh’s prospects, he lashes out during a job interview, tearing up his educational certificates in a moment of defiance.
Meanwhile, Amit merely looks for a faster path to prosperity, following the dubious advice of a friend named Dilip, whose identity remains a mystery in Tilak’s eyes—Tilak has himself run away from home in search of that elusive Dilip. The plot thickens when Jaggu abandons his home for days on end, leaving Kusum unsettled and proactively seeking a future in the capital’s uncertain climate.
Kusum eventually arrives at Rakesh’s doorstep with her bag, and the two of them form a fragile household in the absence of any clear support system. Kusum finds work as a babysitter, but she is quickly fired after losing a baby she was watching—only to discover later that the baby she lost belonged to the same family she had been helping. Amit, ever the opportunist, kidnaps the child to extort a ransom, threatening to ruin Kusum’s chances at stability. When Kusum realizes the baby is the one she had been caring for, she retrieves it and returns it to the anxious parents. Rakesh lashes out at Amit, demanding to know who Dilip is, only to learn that there is no such person; Amit declares that Dilip is a reflection of his own negative mentality, and Rakesh promptly ejects him from their shared home.
In the midst of these upheavals, Kusum confesses her love for Rakesh, and she shares this with Arun [Arun Bakshi], a cheerful but somewhat simple artist they first encountered in a park. The couple’s fragile bond is tested when Pratap, driven by ego and possessiveness, attempts to strangle Kusum during a stage scene. That night, Pratap comes to Kusum’s home, offering a reluctant apology and declaring that he wants to marry her. Kusum agrees but imposes a condition: Pratap must secure a job for Rakesh through his industrialist father, Mohanlal Sharma. Mohanlal flatly reveals that Kusum is his son’s girlfriend and makes it clear that the job would be a sham if it served as a way to control Kusum.
Pratap, pushed to the edge, threatens to take his own life if Kusum refuses him, but she agrees only to be left with a heavy choice. Later, she sees Rakesh singing in a park while being chauffeured with Pratap, and she withdraws, telling him that she will follow whatever path he desires. Pratap, consumed by anger, walks away.
The final turn of the film follows the fates of the other characters: Amit marries a wealthy woman, while Tilak’s life deteriorates into that of a beggar, and he slips into mental illness. The story closes on a poignant note as Rakesh and Kusum share a quiet embrace in the park, their bond surviving the trials of poverty, pride, and competing loyalties. Pratap’s pride remains wounded as he hands the neck‑chain he had bought for their imagined engagement to a street beggar as a stark act of alms, underscoring the social gaps that shaped their lives.
