Shakti and Shankar are two childhood buddies who grow up on the wrong side of the tracks, in a shanty town. Shakti becomes a sort of 'godfather' for the locals under the name of Dayavan. He falls in love and gets married to a young prostitute. However, their happiness is short-lived, as the gangster lifestyle begins to take its toll.

Madhuri Dixit
as Neela Velhu

Vinod Khanna
as Shakti Velhu / Dayavan

Feroz Khan
as Shankar Waghmare

Amrish Puri
as Inspector Ratan Singh

Anupam Kher
as Mr. Kohli

Aditya Pancholi
as Dayavan's son-in-Law

Aanjjan Srivastav
as Superintendent of Police

Amala Akkineni
as Sarita

Anuradha Patel
as

Aruna Irani
as