The film popularized the now familiar Bollywood theme of siblings separated by fate. Gangland killers assassinate an honest man who defied them, killing his wife as well. The couple's three sons flee the massacre and lose contact with each other. They grow up in entirely different circumstances and are re-united only when one of the sons, sings the song that their mother taught them at their father's birthday at the hotel.

Shankar (Dharmendra), Vijay (Vijay Arora), and Ratan (Tariq Khan) are three brothers. On their father's birthday, their mother taught them a song titled Yaadon Ki Baaraat which they held dearly to their hearts. As fate may have it, one day, the boys' father witnessed a robbery by Shakaal and his henchmen. To protect their identity, Shakaal decided to kill the boys' father before he could go to the police. So one night, he and his men storm into the boys' father's room and kill both their mother and father. Shankar and Vijay witness the act and flee. They make their way to a passing train, where Shankar is separated from Vijay.

Several years pass by and the boys have grown up. Shankar is haunted by the memory of his parents' murder and is now joined by his friend Usman on a crime spree around the city. Vijay was adopted by the groundskeeper to a wealthy man, and he falls in love with the rich man's daughter Sunita (Zeenat Aman), and Ratan, was raised by the boys' maid, and changed his name to Monto. With his new identity, Monto started a band and does gigs at hotels for a living and is also in love with a co-singer (Neetu Singh).

The brothers meet several times, yet do not recognize each other. However, when they finally do, they cannot contact each other. Shankar gets caught by his boss, who is the real murderer of his parents. As the movie progresses, Shankar finds out the truth and leaves Shakal to die, while his foot gets caught in the changing lines of railway tracks. Shaakal is killed by the coming train and the brothers unite.

Nasir Hussain's nephew Aamir Khan who went on to become one of the successful actors in Bollywood made his acting debut as child artist at the age of eight with this film appearing in the title song.^[10][11]

The music and soundtrack of the film was by R. D. Burman, with lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri. The opening lines of the hit song, Chura Liya Hai Tumne have slight resemblances to the English song, If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium from the soundtrack of the 1969 film of the same name.^[12] Apart from the title song, the other best remembered numbers are "Lekar Hum Deewana Dil" and "Meri Soni Meri Tamanna".^[13][14]

Track listing

Box office

The film became a box office hit. It was one of 1973's top five highest-grossing films in India, grossing ?5.5 crore.^[15] This was equivalent to $7.1 million in 1973,^{[n 1]} and is equivalent to US$39 million or ?255 crore^[17] in 2016.

Accolades

21st Filmfare Awards

• Best Actor – Dharmendra – Nominated
• Best Music Director – R. D. Burman – Nominated