Zubeidaa is the story of Riyaz's (Rajit Kapoor) search to understand his mother, who is not known to him, as he was brought up by his maternal grandmother in the absence of his mother. His mother's name was Zubeidaa (Karisma Kapoor) and she was the only daughter of a filmmaker named Suleman Seth (Amrish Puri). Zubeidaa acts in films secretly, but when her father finds out he forbids her to carry on and quickly arranges her marriage to Mehboob Alam (Vinod Sharawat). Things seem happy for her when she gives birth to Riyaz. However, a disagreement arises between Suleman and Mehboob's father, and Mehboob divorces Zubeidaa few days after she gives birth.

Heartbroken Zubeidaa then meets Maharaja Vijayendra Singh of Fatehpur (Manoj Bajpayee). Vijayendra is already married to Maharani Mandira Devi (Rekha) and is the father of two children. Nevertheless, he falls in love with Zubeidaa and they get married, but there is continuous turmoil in their relationship. Riyaz learns through Zubeidaa's journal that though she loved Vijayendra dearly, she was unable to follow the stifling customs of the palace. She was also uncomfortable because of her brother-in-law Uday Singh's sexual advances towards her, and his demands of her to have an extra-marital affair with him.

Riyaz travels to Fatehpur and asks many people about his mother. However, all except Mandira, whom Zubeidaa called "Mandy Didi", either deny that his mother ever existed, or say that she was a horrible woman who seduced their king and caused his death in a plane crash.

On reading the journal, Riyaz finds out that Vijayendra had become a politician, and was about to go to Delhi for an important meeting. Zubeidaa felt frustrated that whenever her husband needed help he looked to Mandira for support, and at the last minute she insisted that only she will accompany him for the meeting. The plane crashes, killing Zubeidaa and Vijayendra. It is indicated that Uday Singh probably had the plane sabotaged to kill Vijayendra and Mandira so that he could get both - Zubeidaa and the kingdom.

In the end, Riyaz gets the missing tape of his mother's only film, from Mandira. The movie ends with he finally getting to watch the film with his grandmother shedding tears of happiness, watching Zubeidaa dancing happily as the spirited soul that she truly was.

• Karisma Kapoor … Zubeidaa
• Rekha … Maharani Mandira Devi
• Manoj Bajpayee … Maharaja Vijayendra Singh
• Rahul Singh … Raja Digvijay "Uday" Singh
• Rajit Kapoor … Riyaz Masud
• Surekha Sikri … Fayyazi
• Amrish Puri … Suleiman Seth
• Farida Jalal … Mammo
• Shakti Kapoor … Dance Master Hiralal
• Lillete Dubey … Rose Davenport
• Ravi Jhankal … Girivar Singh
• Smriti Mishra … Sardari Begum
• S M Zaheer … Sajid Masud
• Harish Patel … Nandlal Seth
• Vinod Sharawat … Mehboob Alam

The soundtrack was released in 2000 and contained eight tracks, all composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Javed Akhtar. Lata Mangeshkar collaborated with the musician again for couple of tracks. Other singers, Kavita Krishnamurthy and Alka Yagnik walked away with all accolades for their renditions in their respective tracks.

• National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi
• Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress – Karisma Kapoor

The jewelry worn by Karisma Kapoor and Rekha in the film actually belonged to the Jaipur royal family. Both actresses were told to be very careful when wearing it.^[6]