The lives of Atmaram [Nazir Hussain] and his wife [Dulari] are turned upside down when they see their daughter, Malas [Aruna Irani] pictures in a magazine. They arrange for Malas marriage with the son of Ramlal [Agha]. Mala is opposed to marrying anyone who she has not met, and is at the same time thrilled that the two persons she trusted, one Sharma [Shatrughan Sinha], and the other Verma [Manmohan] had actually submitted her pictures to a magazine, and were now willing to sign her up for a Bollywood movie. Mala is not able to understand her parents opposition on her way to fame, and runs away from home with a lot of money and hands this money to Sharma and Verma. Greed overtakes Sharma and Verma, leading to the death of Verma. Mala, who witnessed Sharma kill Verma, now is on the run for her life. She boards a bus from Bombay which bound for Goa. Sharma soon overtakes her, and has one of his armed men on the bus to kill her. And then arrives Malas admirer Ravikumar [Amitabh Bachchan], who not only protects Mala, but also accompanies her throughout the journey. Mala starts to trust and subsequently fall in love with Ravikumar. The bus journey is adventurous with the passengers, a totally mixed bunch, from all over India, different religions, cultures, and faiths, all thrown together for this journey. The funniest is the character played by Amma and Appas [Mukri] son, who will do anything to get his hands on "pakoras". The bus is in the "control" of driver Rajesh [Anwar Ali], and conductor, Khanna [Mehmood].