Plot

Rajbir "Radhe" Mohan (Salman Khan) is a jobless rowdy, surrounded by a rough circle including Kanak (Darshan Kumar), Aslam (Sarfaraz Khan) and Chander (Gopal Dutt). He lives with his brother Ajay (Sachin Khedekar), his sister-in-law (Savita Prabhune), and their child. Radhe's brother is a decent, family man.

Radhe used to study at the local City college, but still controls the entire student politics by ensuring that his candidates win in the student body elections. Radhe is a violent man, but often performs apparently good deeds, such as beating up sexual harassers. Radhe is liked by the studious types in college as he keeps the criminal elements out of student politics and provides a safe environment within college premises. Ajay does not like how Radhe resorts to violence on behalf of other students at the college. Ajay wants Radhe to find a job and move on with his life.

Nirjara is a new student at the college who is attending classes from out of town. She comes to college daily by train. She has a single friend Indu (Indu Verma). Radhe meets Nirjara during her ragging session, which he conducts for all newcomers. Nirjara likes peacock feathers. Radhe also supports a mentally unstable beggar (Radhika Chaudhary). A local rival goon insults the beggar by dropping her skirt and embarrassing her publicly. Radhe takes offense at this and beats the rival goon mercilessly. Nirjara sees Radhe's violent side during this fight and is scared.

Radhe falls in love with Nirjara Bhardwaj (Bhumika Chawla), a BA student at his former college and the daughter of a poor temple priest (Saurabh Dubey). Radhe comes across Nirjara across many different social situations, and even at her father's temple. Radhe likes her innocent demeanor & helps her a few times (he stops the catcalls during Nirjara's poem recitation at college annual fest, gets her an exam admit card when she loses it), and she seems to like him.

One day, Radhe proposes to her and jokingly remarks that he would beat up her father if he doesn't agree to their marriage. Nirjara is too shocked to say much (and doesn't hear pretty much anything else that Radhe says to her including the actual proposal for marriage) and utters "Yes" when Radhe asks her if she was listening to him. Radhe interprets this as her acceptance of the proposal. Later, he and his friends intimidate Nirjara's fiance Rameshwar (Ravi Kishan) who is a junior priest at the temple and a very docile person. Rameshwar was dropping Nirjara to college on his moped when he was spotted by Radhe. Radhe tells Rameshwar that he is going to marry Nirjara and warns him to stay away from her. The next day, Radhe brings Nirjara a gift, but she tells him that she does not love him and calls him a goon and yells at him publicly. A heartbroken Radhe subsequently tries to talk to her, but she refuses to engage in a conversation.

Nirjara has a sister Mamta (Indira Krishnan), whose husband Atmaram (Dinesh Kaushik) is demanding Rs 2 Lakhs from her & her dad for her to be with her son Rahul. Since Mamta or her father don't have that kind of money, Mamata is thrown out of the house and is living with Nirjara and her father. Atmaram used to ask for Rs 20-30K, but now his demands have become more and more outrageous. Mamta tries for a bank loan but has no physical assets for a guarantee.

Radhe's friends suggest that he give up rowdyism and violence to impress Nirjara. Radhe tries to control his violence whenever he is in front of Nirjara. Aslam admonishes Radhe when he fails to defend his own friend Chander in front of a rival goon, because Nirjara was there. This leads to a fight between Aslam and Radhe and cause a friction in their friendship. Later, Radhe apologizes to Aslam and Chander. One day, Radhe roughs up a brothel owner who has opened up a brothel in the middle of a Brahmin society and is polluting the social atmosphere. Nirjara's elder sister Mamta, who is in need of money, is nearly tricked into prostitution, when she visits the brothel to meet a man who promises her a loan. Radhe, who does not know that she is Nirjara's sister, visits the same brothel to find a brothel customer who was harassing random women outside the brothel.

He saves Mamta from being arrested during a police raid. She tells him that her husband Aatmaram has evicted her and is demanding money to give her the custody of their son. The next day, Radhe beats up Aatmaram, forcing him to take her back and to stop harassing her.

Rameshwar sees this and tells Nirjara that Radhe is a good, selfless man, who truly loves her. Unaware of this conversation, Radhe abducts Nirjara so that she would listen to him express his feelings for her. Nirjara initially feels intimidated, but ultimately falls in love with him.

Subsequently, the brothel owner (Mahendra Verma) and his goons attack Radhe to take revenge on him for trying to shut down their business. Radhe suffers from brain damage during the attack and loses his mental balance. His family admits him to a religious institution for mental patients, as Nirjara and his friends pray for him. At one point, Radhe's mental state returns to normal, but the wardens do not understand this and beat him up. Nirjara visits the institution and sees him in a pitiful condition while he is sleeping.

Convinced that Radhe is not going to get well, Radhe's brother asks Nirjara to forget him and marry Rameshwar. On the day of Nirjara's wedding with Rameshwar, Radhe escapes from the institution, and arrives at her home, only to find that she has committed suicide. Radhe then allows himself to be taken back to the institution despite his family and friends trying to persuade him otherwise.

The epilogue shows Radhe, now old and still in the institution, tying peacock feathers in Nirjara's memory.