Murari is the son of a tailor in Delhi who spends his days fantasising about becoming a hero in Hindi cinema. His father disapproves of his desires and wants him to become a tailor like him. A chance meeting with a junior artiste named Abdul convinces Murari to leave home and travel to Bombay. On the way he meets an aspiring lyricist named Dubey and the two strive to find work in films together. But work is difficult to come by as no one wants to give two unknown people an opportunity. One day as they are wandering around in the city they witness an old man getting robbed. Murari valiantly stops the robber and returns the man’s belongings. The man, David, turns out to be an owner of a guest house and he allows them to stay there out of gratitude.
In the guest house Murari meets David’s daughter Mary, who comes across as ill-tempered and strict, but is also sensitive to the plight of the struggling people staying there. He also meets a taxi-driver cum junior artist Peter who claims to be friends with Hema Malini. Abdul re-appears and reprimands Murari for breaking his father’s heart when he ran away. Through their contacts, Murari manages to get work as a junior artiste in films. He suffers an accident on his first day of shooting, but uses his money to buy Mary a gift for her birthday. This melts Mary’s heart and the two gradually fall in love.
Murari’s passionate performances in his small roles convince people to give him an opportunity to play a lead. His films are a big success and he soon ascends the ladder of fame to become a big star. Dubey, Abdul and Peter live with him in his mansion and act as his assistants. But Abdul and Peter have selfish desires and are leeching off of Murari’s success. They are also stealing the money and confiscating the letters he sends to his father in Delhi. Murari, who goes by his screen name Amit now, is regularly linked romantically with his co-stars in gossip columns. This drives a wedge in his relationship with Mary. His shooting commitments also keep him away from honouring his commitments to her. Finally an offensive caricature of Mary’s father and her published in the paper severs his relationship with her. David is incensed and forbids Amit/Murari from meeting Mary.
Murari is depressed by these events and unable to continue with his work. Meanwhile his father has arrived in Bombay looking for him and meets David at the guest house. When he goes to meet Murari in his mansion he is turned away from the gates by Peter. Murari, who had stayed silent about Peter and Abdul’s excesses, can no longer tolerate them and drives them out of his house. He learns from his father that Mary is about to be married and rushes to stop the marriage. Following many ups and downs, Mary and her father are finally convinced of Murari’s goodness and accept him back into their lives.
The film features special appearances from many major actors of the era playing themselves like Simi Garewal, Hema Malini, Dharmendra, Rishi Kapoor and Sanjeev Kapoor.