When Captain Amar (Rajesh Khanna) got transferred to Delhi, his father, the well-known freedom fighter, Ram Kumar refused to go there with him as he believed that Delhi had become a beehive of corruption. He only advised his son to be guided by his old comrades of Freedom struggle days. Mohanlal (Shafi Inamdar) and Wehshat Ansari (Ashok Kumar) who were the only two honest people left in Delhi.
Ram Kumar, Mohanlal and Wehshat Ansari are three friends, who were together during the days of freedom struggle. Together they went to jail and together they would have been executed if Independence had not been declared. After Independence Ram Kumar went back to his village to resume his duties as a teacher, Mohanlal converted his sacrifies to his benefit and became a business tycoon. Wahset on the contrary got broken into two- one half in Pakistan and the other half in India.
When Amar went to Delhi, a meeting took place between him and his friend Rafique (Raj Babbar) who was a gentleman thief. He brought him to the house of Mohanlal where he met his only daughter Sushma (Poonam Dhilon) with whom he fell instantly in love.
Mohanlal gets Amar fixed up as a P.A. with the Minister of Defence Purchases (On Shivpuri) whose Pilot son Surendra (Deepak Prasher) is another old friend of Amar. When Amar meets Colonel Zaidi (Nana Patekar) of Army Intelligence he learns that he was in fact called to investigate into the doings of a Spy Ring which was operating to the detriment of the country.
As the story progresses it comes to light that Mohanlal and Jagrattan besides other important persons are in fact at the back of the Spy Ring and their international link appears in the person of Princess Salomi (Manisha). To reach Princess Salomi and her foreign links Amar had to take the help of Rafique and Shabnam (Smita Patil) and discovers the presence of a transmitter.
When the Spy Ring gets threatened they kill Jagrattan. But before dying Jagrattan leaves a key with Shabnam meant strictly for Amar.
What is this Key? Does Amar find the secret of the key? Does he succeed in unveiling the plot to kill the Prime Minister? Does Mohanlal get exposed?
All these questions form the suspense of Awam.
(From the official press booklet)