The film stars Kiron Kher, Amrish Puri, Rajit Kapur and Rajeshwari Sachdev.

This film focuses on the complex portrait of family relationships, generational and sexual politics as well as social mores in India.

When a young reporter covering the funeral, Tehzeeb Abbasi, discovers her father among the mourners, her curiosity prompts her to investigate further.

The reporter Tehzeeb finds the life of her aunt intriguing and exciting, having an opinion that is totally opposite to her father Jabbar.

He also narrates how the younger Sardari turned rebellious in order to pursue her passion for singing when it was not approved by her father.

Although he is married, he keeps attending gatherings led by courtesans (primarily at Ittan Bai where Sardari used to perform.

Meanwhile, Fateh Khan who plays sitar and other musical instruments at Ittan Bai's court was highly impressed with Sardari's talent.

After he leaves Ittan Bai, he continues to support Sardari Begum in her future concerts at Hemraj's house and later in Delhi.

Initially, Sardari does not react to his feelings but slowly when she realizes that Hemraj only lusts for her and does not respect her singing talent, also not want her to grow as an artist, she starts to fall for Sadiq.

She feels cheated by her husband as he exploited her talent, passion and money for his own investments and purposes and was never cared for her otherwise.

Mr Sen was also in love with Sardari, At one visit he asks her to sing some ghazals and ultimately proposes her for marriage.

At the same time, Sardari Begum's popularity goes down as a singer and she stops performing for record labels and singing functions.

The situation comes to a point where Sardari has to make money through arranging marriages of unknown couples to run her household.

Now the film comes to the present where Sardari is practicing her singing when she hears a ruckus and goes out to witness and suddenly a stone thrown from the agitated mob hits her hard.

Inspired by her aunt's story, Tehzeeb sends the article to a different newspaper for publishing which she reports to her lover editor.

At the end, Sardari's daughter Sakeena is seen practicing singing thus signifying that she would continue to live with mother's legacy as a great singer.

Penned by Javed Akhtar, the songs of the film are composed by Vanraj Bhatia and Ashok Patki.