Yash Chopra

Vijay is the illicit son of a business tycoon named Raj Kumar and his first love, Shanti. Years after being abandoned by his father, he resurfaces to exact revenge on Raj Kumar and his family for the injustice his mother suffered at their hands.

The movie tells the story of two brothers, Vijay and Ravi Verma, who follow different career paths: Vijay is a smuggler and Ravi the policeman who is asked to hunt Vijay down. Vijay Verma (Amitabh Bachchan) and Ravi Verma (Shashi Kapoor) are the sons of a trade unionist, Anand Verma(Satyen Kappu), who was defeated and disgraced by the management of his firm using his family as a bait. Unable to bear the public disgrace father deserts the family, and the sons are raised by their mother(Nirupa Roy)who brings them to Bombay City, who suffers the trials and tribulations of a poor single mother.

Lala Kedarnath Prasanta (Balraj Sahni) has three sons whose birthdays are on the same day. Lala Kedarnath has a Kashmir carpets & dry fruits business and fate has been kind to him that he got rich and earned a lot of respect and fame in society. On the occasion of their birthday celebration, they are visited by a well-known astrologer Pandit Uday Shankar (Badri Prasad), who advises Lala Kedarnath not to be proud for his past achievements and to not be too optimistic about the future as fate (Kismat) plays a key role in life. Lala Kedarnath ignores the prediction and is busy making plans for an even wealthier future. He says that his eldest son will become a barrister, the middle one Ravi will join him at the shop, and the youngest would be an engineer. Later that night as he is proclaiming his grand plans for the future to his wife (Achala Sachdev), there is a sudden earthquake and the whole town crumbles. When Lala Kedarnath regains consciousness, his house has been destroyed and his family is gone. The oldest son, Raju (Raaj Kumar), ends up in an orphanage, while middle son, Ravi, (Sunil Dutt) is found on the road by a rich couple who take him to their home to raise him as their own son. The youngest son, Vijay (Shashi Kapoor) who is still an infant, is with his mother Laxmi (Achla Sachdev). A family friend tells Laxmi that he saw an iron beam fall on Lala, and he might not be alive anymore. Unable to find the rest of the family, Laxmi and Vijay live in poverty. Lala Kedarnath traces Raju to the orphanage but finds that he has run away because the orphanage manager (Jeevan) beat him up. The manager was very corrupt who took the government grants and spent it on his own luxury and comfort rather than provide the basic amenities to the kids. When Raju protested, he was severely disciplined. Frustrated, Kedarnath kills the manager and is jailed. As the police drive away with Kedarnath. Raju grows up as Raja, a sophisticated thief, who works for Chinnoy Seth (Rehman). Raja falls in love with Meena (Sadhana) and decides to give up the life of crime. Once Raja had stolen a necklace that belonged to Meena and then decided to return it to her as a present on her birthday. That day Raja fell I love with Meena. Raja claims that the thief dropped the necklace inside his house while escaping. Chinnoy is livid that Raju returned the necklace to Meena and says that he got Raju from the streets and made him what he is today. Raju refuses to let Chinnoy own his personal life. Ravi is a lawyer now and his father and Meena's father are good friends. Ravi's father had asked Meena's father to arrange for Ravi's internship. Ravi is loved by his foster parents who never told him that he is adopted. He has a sister named Renu. Meanwhile, Vijay has completed his BA but cannot find a job. Renu has been in love with Vijay since their college days together (Vijay is also in love with Renu), but Vijay has not been able to find a suitable job in Delhi despite having a BA degree. Laxmi has been diagnosed with cancer. Vijay takes Laxmi to Bombay for her treatment at the Tata Memorial Hospital. Vijay cannot find any job in Bombay and has no other option but to be a driver employed with Chinnoy Seth. Lala Kedarnath is released from prison after completing his sentence and decides to find his kids. Kedarnath finds from his old friend Hardayal (Hari Shivdasani) that Laxmi is alive and stays in Delhi. When Kedarnath reaches the address, he finds that Laxmi had shifted to Bombay. Renu and her parents also come to Bombay for a vacation. Renu finds Vijay as a driver working for her father's friend Chinnoy Seth, when he comes to visit them. Renu still loves Vijay, but now Vijay is very reserved and knows that the gap between their social status is too huge. Raja continues to pursue Meena, but a vivacious Ravi arrives in her life and sweeps her away. Raja finds that Meena is spending all her time with Ravi. Gradually, Meena and Ravi fall in love with each other. To Raja's dismay he realizes that she however intends to marry Ravi, who is a family friend. On the night before their engagement, Raja decides to kill Ravi only to realize that he is his long-lost brother. However, he cannot tell Ravi about his parentage and in the meantime Meena's parents (father (Manmohan Krishna) and mother (Leela Chitnis)) decide to break off the engagement on discovering that Ravi is of unknown parentage and religion. Heartbroken, Ravi leaves his home after an argument with his foster parent's (father (Surendra Nath) and mother (Sumati Gupte)) daughter Renu (Sharmila Tagore), whom he considers a sister, over the fact that he had objected to her affair with Vijay who is working as a driver for Chinnoy Seth. Raja learns about Ravi's problem and decides to reveal the truth about their relationship at a party organized by Chinnoy Seth. However, Chinnoy Seth's employee Balbir Singh (Madan Puri) drunkenly misbehaves with Meena at the party and Raja manhandles him. Later that night, the drunk Balbir gets into a fight with Chinnoy Seth and in self-defense, Chinnoy Seth ends up stabbing Balbir fatally with his dagger. To cover up his crime, he decides to frame Raja and drags the body to Raja's house, hiding it in his closet. Vijay happens to witness this but is shut up with the promise of money for his mother's treatment. Raja is arrested and asks Ravi to defend him as an advocate, while Vijay initially testifies falsely and then recants his statement after being confronted. Lala Kedarnath also appears in court as the witness who found Raja being caught by the police. Raja is ultimately proved innocent and Chinnoy Seth is convicted after he blurts out the truth in court (as Ravi uses his smarts to prove that Raja could never have attacked Balbir from the angle that Chinnoy proposed and that it was Chinnoy who was in the right position to attack Balbir), thanks to Ravi. Afterward, Laxmi arrives in the court to make sure Vijay did the right thing. Lala Kedarnath sees her in the courtroom and has an emotional reunion with her and Vijay. Raja then overhears Lala Kedarnath narrating his orphanage incident to Laxmi and introduces himself and Ravi as Lala Kedarnath and Laxmi's remaining two sons. The entire family finally reunites. In the end, Lala Kedarnath and the rest of the family build a new home where they, Meena's family, and Renu's family live together.