The Police Commissioner, Advocate Sinha and Police Inspector Vikram Singh arrive at the Central Mental Hospital to speak with an inmate, Arun Saxena. They hope to get Vikram to befriend Arun so that they could unravel the mystery as to why Arun ended up romancing wealthy Sapna, then getting involved with Jyoti, and subsequently killing her. Arun is arrested, confesses to the the homicide and is sentenced to be hanged. This news unsettles Arun to such an extend that he becomes mentally unstable and is institutionalized. Vikram hopes to befriend Arun, get him cured and medically discharged, and ensure that he is hanged.
En 1840, une jeune fille nommée Amiran (Bansree Mandhani), âgée de 8 ans est enlevée à sa famille par leur voisin, Dilawar Khan (Vishwajeet Pradhan) et vendue à Madam Khanum Jaan (Shabana Azmi), propriétaire d'un kotha où elle forme des courtisanes. Amiran, qu'on renomme Umrao Jaan, apprend dès lors à lire, à écrire, danser, chanter et charmer les hommes.Umrao Jaan (Aishwarya Rai), devenue adulte et célèbre dans la région pour son charme et sa finesse séduit Nawab Sultan (Abhishek Bachchan), un puissant nawab. Mais ses charmes agissent également sur un autre homme, Faiz Ali (Sunil Shetty), un bandit notoire.
Dubai-based criminal don Uday takes it upon himself to try and get his sister Sanjana married - in vain, as no one wants to be associated with a crime family. Uday's associate Sagar Pandey finds a young man, Rajiv, who lives with his maternal uncle and aunt - Dr. and Mrs. Ghunghroo. Through extortion he compels Ghunghroo to accept this matrimonial alliance. But Rajiv has already fallen in love with young woman in South Africa. When the time comes to get Rajiv formally engaged to this woman, he finds out that Sanjana and she are the very same. With no escape from this predicament, the wedding is planned, with hilarious consequences.