In order to seek justice for a man who exacts vengeance on a politician, who was responsible for his daughter's death, two rival reporters teams up to help him to prove his innocence.
Rival news-reporters, Ajay Bakshi (Shahrukh Khan), and Ria Bannerjee (Juhi Chawla) engage in a comic war to be the first to interview notorius M.K. Sharma (Bharat Kapoor), in which Ria succeeds. Then the two are thrust in a battle for their lives as they must decide whether to save an innocent terrorist (Paresh Rawal) from being hanged, or sacrifice their very lives themselves.—rAjOo ([email protected])
Ajay Bakshi (Shahrukh Khan) is an arrogant but successful reporter working for a reputed KTV news channel. His father (Hyder Ali) was a freedom fighter living on a measly pension. Ajay thinks that his father's ideal & sacrifices have given him nothing. He has no respect for his father's ideals, which his father still sticks to.Ajay believes that there is an "Indian" way of doing things, which is slow, inefficient, involves bribery and corruption, but eventually gets the work done.
Ajay is the star reporter for his channel and has the knack of reaching locations that no other reporter is able to access. Once he covers a bomb defusing operation live on TV. The disposal expert (Sanjay Mishra) cuts the wrong wire and Ajay has to jump 20 floors to a inflated mattress on the ground to escape. Shahid (Atul Parchure) is Ajay's assistant.The rival news channel Galaxy TV ropes in Ria Banerjee (Juhi Chawla) to bring him down and garner the highest ratings. Ria is antithesis of Ajay & uses her charm to get her work done.
The Chief Minister Mushran also uses Ajay to conduct scripted interviews for his party leaders like MK Sharma to improve their public image and divert public attention from the criminal cases pending against them.Ajay is attracted to Ria and tries to seduce her. But Ria is approached one of Ajay's ex-girlfriends Shalini who reveals that Ajay is a flirt and a cheat and changes girlfriends frequently. She tells Ria about Ajay's diary which has a list of all the girl's phone numbers and his schedule of meeting them. The next time Ajay meets her, Ria records the contents of his diary with a camera hidden inside her purse.
Ria contacts all the women to confront Ajay at the same time, and the takes Ajay's slot to interview MK Sharma. Ria finds that MK Sharma lives a life of opulence inside the prison. This expose explodes on the news channel and takes Ria's channel to the top of the ratings. Now, Ajay is under pressure to being his channel back to the top.
Pappu Junior/Choti (Johnny Lever) is a don who is soon to be ousted from his own gang, owing to his inability to make it big in the crime world. Ajay approaches Choti with an offer: arrange a fake attack on opposition leader Ramakant Dua's (Shakti Kapoor) brother-in-law Madanlal Gupta on national TV. Choti will earn respect & Ajay's channel will gain TRP. Little does Ajay know that the plan is going to turn too real.
Madanlal Gupta is gunned down by an assailant named Mohan Joshi (Paresh Rawal). When Ajay learns that he was not Choti's man, he panics. Ria learns about Ajay & Choti's deal, but they decide to help each other nevertheless. Mohan is arrested but does not open his mouth even once during police torture. To avoid any public unrest, the Police Commissioner (Anjan Srivastav) declares that Mohan is a terrorist working for unknown terror organizations. Minister Ramakant takes advantage of his brother-in-law's death to gain votes and sympathy; he also instigates a pogrom to ensure his position in the government.
Meanwhile, Mohan somehow escapes out of jail. As the news of the incident begins circulating around India, violent protests begin. Ajay and Ria both start covering the city's riots and start to get along with one another; Ajay's womanizing nature had previously turned off Ria and caused friction between them.
Ajay & Ria are fighting over the matter in their car, unaware that Mohan is hiding in the same car. Mohan accosts them, where Ajay accuses him of being a terrorist. Mohan has an angry outburst & tells him that he is not a terrorist. Mohan goes on to narrate his story. Mohan has an ailing wife Laxmi Joshi (Neena Kulkarni) & a now-dead daughter Kavita. Mohan says that his daughter went to an interview for a secretarial job at Madanlal Gupta's office, where the latter sexually assaulted her. She died from the trauma and as no lawyer was willing to fight the case due to the perpetrator's political power, Mohan was left helpless, running from door to door for justice. Hopeless and distraught, he took the law into his own hands and killed Madanlal.
Ajay & Ria are shaken by his confession & decide to help Mohan. Throughout their journey together, Mohan sees Ajay and Ria as his own children and feels genuine gratefulness towards them, returning the favor by helping them realize their love for each other. Eventually, Ajay and Ria reunite Mohan with his wife, who is extremely happy to see him.Ajay hands over the video tape of this confession to his boss Kaka (Satish Shah). Unfortunately, Ramakant Dua has joined hands with his rival Chief Minister Mushran (Govind Namdeo) as he fears that their secrets might come out if Mohan surrenders. Similarly, Ajay's boss forms an alliance with Ria's boss Shenoy (Dalip Tahil) after knowing about the tape. The ministers & channel heads come together and trick Ajay & Ria into giving the tape to them with no intention of giving it back, for their own selfish reasons.
Mohan gets found, and after being arrested, is sentenced to be publicly hung; Ajay and Ria suddenly realized they were tricked and conned by their bosses. Together with Choti, they work to get the tape back from the clutches of the minister. They successfully receive the tape, and Ajay succeeds in broadcasting the confession and story from Mohan just one hour before his execution. Ajay and Ria tearfully plead with the nation to stop this injustice and call on all Indians to rescue Mohan. They succeed, and the entire city, including Ajay's family, gathers to save Ajay from being tortured by the police and save Mohan.
Although the ministers and policemen are desperate to stop the protesters from entering prison grounds, the ACP's force is unable to shoot at the crowd due to them wielding India's flag; they are unable to stop the city from breaching the police barricades. In a blatant mockery and critique of the media's selfish obsession with ratings and views, Mohan is made to wear a shirt sporting the logos of sponsors and companies. Seconds before the execution, Ajay having stormed into the prison ground with Ria and the others, saves Mohan and the protesters beat up the politicians and chase them out, ensuring their careers are over.
Mohan thanks everyone and Ria proposes to Ajay, who accepts.
