Durga Singh (Raakhee) is a poor woman raising her two beloved sons Karan Singh (Salman Khan), the elder and Arjun Singh (Shah Rukh Khan), the younger.Arjun and Karan run home from where they work, they get some bangles for there mother who says she will give them to her daughter in laws.When Munim of an aging Thakur comes to talk to Durga, Karan and Arjun learn that their father is dead. Durga reveals that their father was the Thakur's son, who had married her against his father's wishes. Durjan Singh (Amrish Puri), a relative of Thakur, killed Durga's husband to prevent him, Durga, or their sons from inheriting the Thakur's estate. Karan and Arjun learn from her that the dying Thakur wants to give his estate to his grandchildren before dying as it is their birthright.

Durjan kills Thakur revealing to him that he had killed his son all those years ago and when he learns of his plans to sign over the estate to Karan and Arjun. He then brutally murders both Karan and Arjun by ambushing them with the help of his brothers-in law Nahar (Arjun) and Shamsher (Jack Gaud) in front of Durga. Durga cannot accept that her sons have died and prays to Goddess Kali to bring them back. Miraculously, Durga's prayers are heard and her sons are reborn, but into different families with no knowledge of their past lives – Durga is unaware of this miracle. For 20 years she keeps persuading the people of her village that Karan and Arjun will come back. Durjan and his family mockingly give her garlands to put on the picture of Karan and Arjun. Durga vows to place the garlands over their dead bodies.

Arjun is reincarnated as Vijay. He falls in love with the wealthy Sonia (Kajol), but neither knows that Sonia is to marry Durjan Singh's son, Suraj (Aashif Sheikh). Karan is reincarnated as Ajay. He soon works for Saxena (Ranjeet), Sonia's father and Durjan's partner in his illegal arms trading business. Karan and Arjun still have nightmares about their deaths in previous lives. On learning about Vijay, Suraj attempts to kill him, but ends up burning the farm of Arjun's Uncle. At Sonia and Suraj's engagement party, Vijay arrives and attacks Suraj. Ajay is sent to kill Vijay and the two start fighting.

Durga is given a sign of this when the photo of her sons falls. She rushes to the temple and prays to Goddess Kali. Vijay and Ajay suddenly stop fighting after a bolt of lightning strikes them. Saxena tries to shoot Vijay, but Ajay stops him whilst shouting for Arjun to run. This is something that Ajay had said to Vijay in their previous births when he was being attacked by Nahar. Ajay is sent to prison while Vijay escapes. Vijay is confused about the incident, mostly because he had dreamt of somebody saying those exact words to him. Sonia is forcibly taken to Durjan's house to marry Suraj. She writes to Vijay begging him to come and rescue her.

Vijay and his friend Linghaiyya (Johnny Lever) travel to save Sonia. Everybody who sees him is stunned and calls him Arjun. He finally remembers his past life and reunites with Durga, where he gets to know about his brother Karan, who is now Ajay. Vijay saves Ajay and explains the whole situation. Ajay refuses to believe, but when Durjan's brothers-in-law attack Durga, he remembers his previous life. Durjan hears about Karan and Arjun's return, but refuses to believe it, so his brothers-in-law attempt to bring them before him. In the process, they are killed by Ajay and Vijay in a similar way as they killed Karan and Arjun and Durga places the garlands over their dead bodies.

At the village temple of Goddess Kali, rituals are held for Sonia and Suraj's wedding. Karan and Arjun frighten Durjan by convincing him that they are back. Soon, Saxena and Durjan have a falling out, after which a fearful Saxena tells Sonia to run away with Vijay. Sonia meets Vijay, but just as everybody is helping them, Durjan and Saxena arrive, making them realize that it was a ruse. Ajay succeeds in creating a diversion, letting Vijay and Sonia escape. Vijay kills Suraj, upon which Durjan kills Saxena in a fit of rage.

After all his henchmen are killed, Durjan attempts to kill Karan and Arjun. They overpower him. He runs to Durga and begs her for forgiveness. However, she orders her sons to kill him for revenge. They do so and Durga places the garland over his dead body, fulfilling the promises she made to him. Later, at Goddess Kali's temple, Arjun marries Sonia and Karan marries his love Bindiya (Mamta Kulkarni), after which Durga places the bangles her sons gave her on her daughters-in-law's wrists, as she promised Karan and Arjun 20 years ago and the family is finally reunited.

• Shahrukh Khan as Arjun Singh/Vijay
• Salman Khan as Karan Singh/Ajay
• Rakhee as Durga Singh
• Kajol as Sonia Saxena
• Mamta Kulkarni as Bindiya Singh
• Amrish Puri as Thakur Durjan Singh
• Ranjeet as Mr. Saxena (Sonia's dad)
• Johnny Lever as Linghaiyya
• Aashif Sheikh as Suraj Singh (son of Thakur Durjan Singh)
• Ashok Saraf as Munshiji
• Jack Gaud as Shamsher Singh
• Arjun as Nahar Singh
• Gavin Packard as Fighter with red pants
• Ila Arun as Rajasthani Dancer (segment "Gup Chup")
• Kishore Bhanushali as The Guy who wanted to marry Bindiya
• Suresh Chatwal as Girdhari (Vijay's Father)
• Salim Khan Ding-Dong as Fight Organiser
• John Gabriel as Peter
• Dinesh Hingoo as Pestonji
• Raj Kishore as Jugal
• Anil Nagrath as Fight Organiser
• Ghanshyam Rohera as Bindiya's Father
• Babbanlal Yadav as Father of the guy who wanted to marry Bindiya

The casting of the film brought together Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, two prominent actors of that time. Hrithik Roshan became an assistant director, assisting his father Rakesh Roshan in his first major contribution to Bollywood.

The whole film was shot in Rajasthan. More specifically, the village which is portrayed in film is one of villages of Alwar District of Rajasthan, named Bhangarh.

The Durga temple where Karan Arjun pray in the song is located at Pushkar near Ajmer.

Sariska Palace was used as Thakur Durjan Singh's house.

Ajay Devgn was originally offered the role of Karan, but he turned it down due to scheduling conflicts. Sunny Deol was considered with Ajay Devgan for Karan and Arjun's role.

Aamir Khan was also offered a role in the film, but he declined the offer.

Juhi Chawla and Raveena Tandon were offered Kajol and Mamta Kulkarni's roles respectively.

Karan Arjun was the second-highest-grossing Indian film of 1995, after Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, which also starred Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Amrish Puri. Domestically in India, Karan Arjun grossed ?52 crore (US$16.04 million) in 1995,^[2] equivalent to ?516 crore (US$77 million) in 2017.^[b] Overseas, the film grossed ?1.58 crore (US$500,000).^[9] Worldwide, the film grossed ?53.58 crore (US$16.54 million) in 1995, equivalent to ?532 crore (US$79 million) in 2017.^[c]

Filmfare Awards

• Best Action – Bhiku Varma
• Best Editing – Sanjay Varma
• Nominated—Best Movie - Rakesh Roshan
• Nominated—Best Director – Rakesh Roshan
• Nominated—Best Actor – Salman Khan
• Nominated—Best Music Director – Rajesh Roshan
• Nominated—Best Performance in a Comic Role – Johnny Lever
• Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Comic Role – Ashok Saraf
• Nominated—Best Supporting Actress – Raakhee
• Nominated—Best Performance in a Negative Role – Amrish Puri

Screen Awards

• Best Music Director – Rajesh Roshan
• Nominated—Best Actor – Salman Khan

The music and background score were composed by Rajesh Roshan and lyrics for all the songs were penned by Indeevar. The music rights were originally bought by Time Magnetics (now Tips Music).

Additionally, the themes from The Terminator 2 and The Last of the Mohicans were featured throughout the film, especially during fight & jail scenes.