Raja was born and brought-up in Purani Basti, a large group of slum-like tenements in Bombay. Here he has been taught to sell and distribute locally brewed alcohol to all his crippled dad's, Bheema, clients. Raja's attempts to educate himself are frustrated by his uncle and the local school-master. Years pass by, Raja has now grown up to be a local gangster and alcoholic. When Inspector Suraj Singh gets assigned to Purani Basti, he finds out that the entire region is under the control of Nagar, a gangster, who has political influence all the way to Delhi. Every attempt to reign in Nagar is frustrated. There is one bright spot though - Suraj's friendship with Raja - which is short-lived when Suraj finds out that Bheema killed his father, Inspector Dharam Verma. How will this affect Suraj and Raja's friendship? With the two taking it out on each other, this leaves the field clear for Nagar and his gang to carry on doing what they have doing for years. Two of this movie's songs have been censored/banned from the Government-run All India Radio and Doordarshan ("Aaj peene ki tamana hai, main piyuga behisaab, kal ki kal soochoga, jab hoga gunaoh ka hisaab.... "sung by Mithun. This movie made history when cuss words were used in a song sung by Kishore Kumar "Khali botal ki tarah, aadmi hai khali, apni bhi kya koi zindagi hai saali...saali...".