A poor man, Ali Baba lives in the town of Gulabad (Dharmendra), somewhere in Central Asia, with his mother (Sofiko Chiaureli) and elder brother Qasim (Yakub Akhmedov), who owns a small, petty shop. Ali Baba's father, Yousuf (Zakir Mukhamedzhanov), is a merchant in a faraway land who has not returned to Gulabad since his departure after Ali Baba' birth. Ali Baba makes a living out of selling timber cut from the hills. Gulabad is terrorized by a band of 40 bandits. They hide their loot in a magical cave in the deserted hills. When the bandit leader Abu Hasan recites the magical spell, it opens (Open Sesame), and when he says another spell, it closes (Close Sesame). A young girl named Fatima (Zeenat Aman) has a score to settle with Abu Hassan. Fatima and her father (Madan Puri) were travelling in a caravan some time ago, when Abu Hasan attacked it. Abu Hasan realized that Fatima's father knew the secret to gun powder which was a revolution in the battlefield in those days. Abu Hasan captures Fatima's father to learn the secret of the gunpowder. Ali Baba and Qasim rejoice when they receive letter from their father Yousuf that he is on his way to Gulabad and is bringing a lot of merchandise with him. Unknown to the brothers, Fatima is working as a spy for Abu Hasan and tells the thieves the location of Yousuf's caravan. Fatima is also used as a courier to buy all the raw materials needed for her father to make gunpowder in captivity. Abu Hasan and his men attack the caravan and destroy the dam that supplies water to Gulabad. The Qazi of the region announces a reward for the capture of notorious bandit Abu Hassan (Rolan Bykov). He also plans to dig wells all over Gulabad where people will be able to buy water. But the poor people know that they will not be able to afford the water and want the dam to repaired. Ali Baba finds that his father has gone missing and finds the sacks from his shop at the dam site, indicating that Fatima knows something about the attackers. Marjeena's father, the King of a nearby Kingdom, had found Yousuf near death and gave him shelter and nursed him back to health. The King had found carrier pigeons with Yousuf and sent a message that Yousuf was safe and their location. The message was received by Ali Baba. His mother gives Ali Baba a family ring to help recognize Yousuf who had the exact same ring. Unknown to them, that ring had been stolen to Abu Hasan. Fatima's father knows that she will never be freed till he is a hostage. He gives Fatima a letter, which she opens after she is sent again to gather supplies. Her father had said that he will commit suicide and asks her never to return to Abu Hasan's cave. Ali Baba goes to the Kingdom and not only finds his father (but they both do not recognize each other as Yousuf did not have the ring on him) but also rescues princess Marjeena (Hema Malini) from the guards of the usurper Shamsher (Prem Chopra) who murdered her father to become the new King. Both Marjeena and Ali Baba fall in love with each other. They hide within a caravan to escape Shamsher, while Yousuf distracts Shamsher's forces. The caravan leader Mustafa (Frunzik Mkrtchyan) has his eyes on Marjeena and when she resists his lust, she is taken captive, along with Ali Baba. As Ali Baba is about to be killed, Yousuf intervenes and vouches for Ali Baba. Yousuf finds the signet ring on Ali Baba and reveals that he is his father (he says that his own signet ring might be with Abu Hasan). During their reunion, the caravan is attached by Abu Hasan and his forces. Yousuf is injured while Marjeena is taken captive by Mustafa. Ali Baba takes Yousuf to Gulabad, where he dies. Yousuf tells Ali Baba to rebuild the dam for Gulabad. Now Qasim recognizes Fatima in Gulabad since she had come to his shop to buy supplies. Qasim wants Fatima to reveal the location of Abu Hasan's cave, which is filled with treasure. Fatima decides to expose herself in Gulabad, knowing that some of Abu Hasan's spies are bound to recognize her. She and Qasim lie in wait to be attacked. But Fatima is attacked by Ali Baba instead (who had also recognized her as the girl who bought supplies from Qasim), who believes that Fatima is part of Abu Hasan's gang. As Abu Hasan's men attack, Ali Baba is forced to fight them, while Qasim escapes with Fatima. Qasim did not want to share his secret with Ali Baba. After burying Yousuf, Ali Baba finds out that Marjeena is being sold in the slave market, he borrows 1000 Dinars from Qasim (who makes him sign a paper declaring that Ali Baba has sold his share of Yousuf's property to Qasim) and uses that to pay for Marjeena. Qasim wants complete control, and as a result, decides to evict Ali Baba from their family home. Ali Baba and his mother leave the home, along with Marjeena. Qasim now hides Fatima in his house, but Fatima does not agree with his actions. Shortly, thereafter Ali Baba was cutting trees in the mountains when he discovers the secret hideout of Abu Hassan and its magic spells to open it. He takes some gold and jewelry from there, which he distributes among villagers to rebuild the dam and diverting some water to their parched land. Ali Baba's greedy brother Qasim lures Ali Baba into telling him where the cave is and what the magic spells are. Out of greed, Qasim takes so much gold jewelry and coin, as a result of which, he forgets the spell to reopen the door and gets stuck inside. When the bandits find him, they kill him. Ali Baba doesn't trust Fatima and captures her, but she escapes. Marjeena goes after Fatima but is found by Mustafa and Fatima helps to rescue Marjeena and this wins Ali Baba's trust. Fatima narrates her story and pledges her support to Ali Baba in killing Abu Hassan. Ali Baba then informs the Qazi about Abu Hassan's hideout. What Ali Baba does not know is that the Qazi and Abu Hassan are the same person, and that the Qazi has given instructions to his men to ensure that Ali Baba is killed, so that no one can get their hands on his treasure. Ali Baba is captured by Abu Hasan and his men. Abu Hasan tortures Ali Baba to reveal Fatima's location. But Marjeena helps Ali Baba to escape and return to Gulabad. Back in Gulabad, Ali Baba sees that Qazi is wearing Yousuf's signet ring and realizes that Qazi is Abu Hasan. Qazi claims publicly that he has killed Abu Hasan, and the 40 urns contain his wealth which will be distributed to the public. Abu Hassan hides the forty thieves in large urns to kill Ali Baba. Ali Baba kills them all with the help of Fatima. Ali Baba brings to light the startling truth in front of the public. Abu Hasan kills Fatima, before Ali Baba chases him back to the cave and kills Abu Hasan.
Read more →
