Akhtar Hussain saves the life of Nawab Salim and earns his gratitude. Salim invites Akhtar to come to his palatial home, and Akhtar does so. On the way, he meets beautiful Sultanat and falls in love with her. On arrival at Salim's house, Akhtar is treated with utmost respect, provided employment, and a place to live. Akhtar meets with Saltanat and both plan to get married. Unknown to them, Salim also loves Saltanat, but Saltanat rejects his advances, and proposal, leaving him heartbroken. Soon Saltanat and Akhtar get married and settle down. Saltanat soon gives birth to a son. Salim is very affectionate with this child and the child to grows to like Salim. Akhtar, meanwhile, has fallen in bad company, drinks alcohol, and romances a courtesan. When Saltanat finds out about this affair, she is outraged and asks Akhtar to improve, but instead, Akhtar divorces her, leaving her and her child alone, homeless, and with nowhere to turn to. Salim offers to assist her, but Saltanat thinks that Salim is to blame for the current situation, as he may have had a hand in bringing ruin upon herself and Akhtar just to get even for her not marrying him. Only time will tell who the real culprit, as the drama slowly unfolds over the years.

• Raaj Kumar as Nawab Salim
• Mala Sinha as Sultanat
• Jeetendra as Akhtar Hussain Akhtar
• Laxmi Chhaya
• Indira
• Zeb Rehman
• Surekha
• Johnny Walker as Pyarelal Bedar
• K.N. Singh as Hakim
• David Abraham
• Manorama

The film score was by duo Shankar-Jaikishan with lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri . Classical Raga Darbari Kanada was used for the fast-paced Kathak dance number, "Jhanak Jhanak Tori Baje Payaliya" sung by Manna Dey. Dey later won the National Film Award for the song. Another song, "Rukh Se Zara Naqab Utha Do Mere Huzoor" was set on a train, hence the music directors added train whistle and rhythms of a moving train into the song. The muslim social film set in Lucknow,^[4] had the song "Rukh Se Zara Naqab Utha Do Mere Huzoor" sung by Mohammed Rafi and classical-based dance number, "Jhanak Jhanak Tori Baje Payaliya" sung by Manna Dey, which won him the 1968 National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer.^[5]