- An overwhelmed Mr. Shrivastav is unable to shoulder the responsibility of raising and looking her his wife, two daughters, and one son, he leaves home, and decides to be a celibate hermit. The son, Ashok, is an unemployed alcoholic, unable to find employment, and prefers gambling, and living on the earnings of his sister, Sangeeta. His family had hoped that getting him married, would make him responsible, in vain though, and to make matters worse he gets intimate with his wife frequently, which results in her giving birth to children, who all add to the financial burden of this household. Geeta is the second daughter, who is widowed, and is now living with her family. Sangeeta is the only one employed, and carrying the responsibility of this family on her shoulders. When her father returns home, she hopes to resign from her job, and marry her sweetheart, Prem, but alas, the father again leaves them, and Sangeeta returns to her employment. Complications arise when Geeta falls in love with Prem, and Sangeeta decides to get them married. The family rent out a room to a struggling and unemployed young man by the name of Anand Bhatnagar, who is unable to pay any rent, and is secretly in love with Sangeeta. When Anand rescues Kalpana from killing herself, Sangeeta arranges their marriage. Unable to offend Sangeeta, Anand agrees to marry Kalpana. Things turn around for Sangeeta when Ashok finally quits drinking and gets a job as a waiter, and her boss, Kanwal, proposes marriage to her. Sangeeta is all set to resign from her job, get married, and live a comfortable life, not knowing that fate has something else in store for her.—rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)
- Sangeeta Shrivastav (Rekha) is a young, strong, and idealistic girl. She is 25 years old, but unlike her contemporaries, she is still not married. The reason for this is her being a member of a poor family. Her father left the family; Her mother Parvati (Sulochana Latkar) is an old homemaker; Her younger sister Geeta (Madhu Kapoor) is a young widow; Her nephews Radhika and Bablu must go to school while their father, her brother Ashok Kumar Shrivastav (Raj Babbar) is an inebriated and unemployed man, married to his wife (Kumud Bole). All the members of this family live in one little house. Anand Bhatnagar (Amol Palekar) is a paying guest who lives in a hut on the roof. Sangeeta is the only one who takes care of them. She is the only one who works to support the family. She is concerned for her nephews' future and makes her best to bring them up and educate them. Ashok borrows money from his acquaintances by promising them "get rich quick" schemes and then gambles the money away. Sangeeta confronts Ashok and throws him out of the house, but Parvati has feelings for her son and continues to shield him from Sangeeta. Ashok also forces his own wife to have sex with him, and the wife allows it because if she doesn't she knows Ashok will seek sex from other women.
An officer at her office Roop Kumar (Suresh Chatwal), dictates inappropriate letters to Sangeeta and harasses her. Sangeeta types the letter as dictated, and sends it to the boss of the company. On her recommendation, the boss Kanwal, lets Roop go with a written warning. Anand secretly loves Geeta and sings songs for her. Kalpana Malhotra (Simple Kapadia) is Sangeeta's friend and colleague at work. She comes from a modern and free home, and lives with her mother Sadhana Malhotra (Padma Chauhan). Sadhana is not very supportive of Kalpana's super modern ways. Kalpana tells Sangeeta, cheerily, that she has had an abortion after she kicked her latest boyfriend out of her life. Kalpana then has an affair with Roop Kumar. Roop also flirts with Sadhana in a department store, not knowing that she is Kalpana's mother
After several years, Sangeeta's dad, who had abandoned his family, writes that he is coming back home. Sangeeta and the entire house is overjoyed. Sangeeta quits her job as she wants to live like a daughter. But she is severely disappointed when she learns that her dad is a hermit and was in town only on his way to mount Kailash. She insults him as a coward and sends him on his way. She must go back to work and take her resignation back.
However, secretly, she dreams of the day when she could also have her own family, husband, and children. A man who is secretly in love with her, Prem Kumar Verma (Kanwaljit) follows her to her office every day. She reciprocates his feelings after she is unable to find him on the bus one day and this causes her to introspect. They start dating and she brings him home to meet her family. Geeta falls in love with Prem. When Sangeeta finds out about this (she hears Geeta speaking about Prem in her sleep and having dreams about him) she asks Prem to forget her and marry her sister indeed. He reluctantly accepts, for the sake of his love to Sangeeta, and they are married. Anand is devastated when he finds that Geeta is marrying Prem.
Meanwhile Ashok overhears Roop seducing girls at a cafe and poses as a big shot movie casting director associate. Ashok takes money from Roop, and promises an acting job to his girlfriend. Ashok also goes to Kanwal and says his mom has blood cancer. He borrows Rs 1000 from Kanwal for a supposed surgery of his mother. Soon, Sangeeta finds out but is powerless to stop Ashok meddling with her professional life. Roop flirts his way into Sadhana's home and seduces her. Soon, Kalpana finds that Roop is having sex with her own mother. Kalpana confronts Roop when he is in bed with Sadhana. Sadhana kills Roop and Anand saves Kalpana when she attempts to commit suicide. Kalpana later finds that Sadhana killed herself as well. Sangeeta encourages Anand to marry Kalpana. Sangeeta finds that Ashok has taken up a job as a waiter, without telling anyone. She is very proud of her elder brother.
Sangeeta goes to her boss to resign her job. Sangeeta's boss asks her to marry him. Her boss, Kanwal Pal Singh (Rakesh Roshan) offers Sangeeta's brother a job in his company (as a replacement for Sangeeta) and the family begin preparations for the wedding. However, on the day of the wedding Sangeeta's brother is killed by a goon he owed money to (he was one of the "get rich quick" scheme customers whom Ashok had been avoiding for a while now) and Sangeeta breaks off her marriage to continue living with her family to financially support them. Anand gets married to Kalpana in the same wedding pyre instead. The film ends on a tragic note with Sangeeta telling the bus conductor she used to make small talk with on her way to her office every day that a woman who has a mother, a widowed sister-in-law and three children to take care of and support cannot dream of a life for individual self.
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