In the old city of Hyderabad, a tottering feudal mansion houses a young man Akhtar Hussain and a girl- Najma. In answer to his proposal of marriage, Najma elopes with her lover to Bombay. Instead of marrying Saleem an improvident poet and the voice of her conscience.
Six years of an insecure life with Akhtar in Bombay finally point towards change when his friend Shakir Ali jets in from the Gulf. In return for a young bride, Shakir Ali promises Akhtar an apartment, thus securing a future marriage for the still unwed lovers. Najma, silently rebellious but helpless, agrees to accompany the entourage to her hometown in Hyderabad in search of an untouched, virginal bride for Shakir Ali.
Caught in this web of wickedness are the innocent Shabnam and her lover Sajid-a brother of sorts of Najma.
Their idyll is destroyed presently with the arrival of the bride seekers. Values come into conflict. On the one side a dying feudalistic society living with outmoded norms, on the other side a sick consumer society in which human beings are reduced to commodities saleable in the market. And, in the market place of life the cheapest object to be sold is-the women.
In this conflict, how many loving hearts break, how many dreams turn into ashes, how much innocence is destroyed, as we stand mute spectators-helpless, dumb, ‘BAZAAR’ is the mirror of us all.
(From the official press booklet)