Two brothers get separated when fleeing from their village and reach Mumbai. Raju is led to a crook and becomes a pickpocket under his tutelage. The elder one, Shankar becomes a crime-boss. Shankar is popularly known as Kumar in his circle and is married to Roma, who is pregnant with their child. Roma is unaware of his criminal activities. He runs a hotel as a cover for his criminal activities and is mostly involved in smuggling gold and diamonds. Kamini is an orphaned girl, living with her crook uncle. For a dance show she arrives at Mumbai with her troupe and is robbed of her purse by a pickpocket. Raju retrieves her purse only to steal her expensive necklace. Kamini's uncle owes 1 million rupees to another criminal, Ranjeet. In order to pay his debt he advises Ranjeet to marry Kamini, so that he can inherit her wealth worth 5 million. Kamini runs away from her home. In order to trace her, Ranjeet advertises in a newspaper that Kamini has run away from home with jewellery worth 1 million. Raju is the first one to trace her and entices her to an isolated bungalow. Here, Kamini confesses her love for Raju, but he is indifferent and pretends to love her in return. He secretly checks all her baggage for jewellery and is disappointed to find that she has none. Shankar is able to trace Raju and trades Kamini for 10,000. Kamini is heartbroken with the reality. Ranjeet pays off Shankar for Kamini, while Kamini slips past his custody just in time. Coincidentally, she seeks shelter at Shankar's home and Roma comes to know everything about Shankar. She is shocked and tries to commit suicide. Shankar assumes that she has committed suicide, but is saved by Raju in the nick of time and takes her home. Since she is pregnant, the doctor advises her to rest. Shankar is heartbroken and vows give up all his criminal activities. He also gives shelter to Kamini and keeps her at his home. Kamini respects Shankar for his gesture and treats him like an elder brother. He returns the money to Ranjeet, which infuriates him and he wants revenge. Meanwhile, Kamini has a change of heart towards Raju when she learns that Raju has given up his pickpocketing and wants to lead a dignified life with her. Ranjeet decides to use Raju as a pawn to exact revenge. Through Raju, he manages to get Shankar arrested in an attempt to smuggle gold (his old commitment and final job), but Shankar somehow manages to hide the gold before being arrested. In order to create a rift between Kamini and Raju, he tells her that Raju got Shankar arrested. Kamini straight away goes to his home to find the truth and comes across Roma and her newborn baby. Kamini tells Roma that Shankar is truly sorry for his acts and has given up all his criminal activities. Kamini inform Shankar that Roma is alive and has their baby. Ranjeet manages to kidnap Kamini and desires to marry her. Kamini reveals that she has not inherited any wealth and her uncle was lying to him. Ranjeet then plans to trade her with Shankar for the smuggled gold. Shankar escapes the prison to see his wife. He encounters Raju and Raju is able to nab him and tie him up. Raju trades Shankar for Kamini and returns home with the purse he had pocketed of Shankar. At home, when he checks the contents he comes to know that Shankar is his long lost brother and goes to save Shankar. The film ends with a typical Bollywood climax, where Raju is able to save Shankar and Ranjeet is killed in the ensuing fight.

Peene Wale Ko Peene Ka Bahana is about the play Devdas with Randhir Kapoor as Devdas and Hema Malini as chandramukhi. Lyrics were penned down by Gulshan Kumar Mehta with his pen-name, Gulshan Bawra. ^[5]