Much-loved village schoolmaster Deenanath Chauhan (Alok Nath) strongly opposes the plans of Kancha Cheena, an underworld don (Danny Dengzongpa) and his band of gangsters to set up a base for heroin smuggling. After being discredited in a set-up scandal and lynched by the manipulated villagers, his family is evicted and made destitute much to Cheena's advantage. Swearing revenge after his father's murder and the attempted rape of his mother Suhasini Chavan (Rohini Hattangadi) go unpunished, and with a burning desire to clear his father's name, his son Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) takes on the responsibilities of caring for his mother and sister Siksha (Neelam Kothari) that, by a strange twist of fate, cause him to become a gangster in his own right. Working his way up the ladder and attaining notoriety as an underworld kingpin, Vijay suffers an assassination attempt by fellow gangsters after he refuses to co-operate with their drug-smuggling operations. Left to die, he is discovered by Krishnan Iyer M.A. (Mithun Chakraborty) who transports him to hospital and saves his life, and who eventually finds employment as Siksha's bodyguard. During his time in hospital, Vijay is cared for by Nurse Mary Matthew (Madhavi (actress)).