Plot

When mistaken to be a sage by some villagers, an ex-tour guide reflects on his past and lost love to search for spiritual wisdom to guide the villagers.

Raju is released from jail much before his term he decides to go back to his usual life of Guide.But changes his mind and reaches a small religious village where people mistake him of being a god men and call him Swami.Few months later his mother and lover Rosie come to jail on his actual release date but find he has left much before.Raju's mother hates Rosie as she believes she was responsible for his current state.Rosie tells her that being daughter of Devdasi nobody wanted to marry her and she had to marry a rich older man Marco.Rosie soon found Marco won't be able to give her a child and was more interested in research of caves and other women then her.During a tour Rosie and Marco met Raju and she would have frequent fights with Marco but being with Raju she found own identity and Raju also praised her for her passion of classical dancing.Raju once tells Rosie to rebel on Marco who ignored her following which he asked to leave the house.Raju and Rosie who were very much in love and Raju keeps her in his house against wishes of his mother and also gets in tiff with neighbors for talking about her.Raju then discovered passion of Rosie's dancing and made her a star but differences start between them due to their lifestyle and both decided to part ways.—alex.mjacko@gmail.com

After being released from prison for Forgery and Theft, multi-linguist Raju (Dev Anand) reflects on his life as a Guide; his meeting with the daughter of a prostitute, Rosie (Waheeda Rehman), who was unhappily married to Marco (Kishore Sahu) and wants to take up acting and dancing as a career. Rosie separates and moves in with Raju and his mother (Leela Chitnis). They both re-locate and with Raju's encouragement, she succeeds in an acting and dancing career resulting in both becoming very wealthy. He then succumbs to gambling and alcohol and forges Rosie's signature. He is arrested, tried in court, found guilty and imprisoned. Now discharged from prison, he changes his mind about returning home to his mother and decides to go elsewhere and start afresh - a decision that will alter his life and way of thinking forever.—rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

The movie starts with Raju (Dev Anand) being released from jail, and then the story runs in flashback. Raju was a freelance guide, who earned his living by taking tourists to historic sites. One day, a wealthy and aging archaeologist, Marco (Kishore Sahu) comes to the city with his young wife Rosie (Waheeda Rehman), the daughter of a courtesan. Marco wants to do some research on the caves outside the city and hires Raju as his guide. He discovers a new cave and ignores Rosie.

While Marco devotes himself to the discovery of the cave, Raju takes Rosie on a tour and appreciates her dancing ability and innocence. He learns about Rosie's background as a daughter of a prostitute and how Rosie has achieved respectability as the wife of Marco but at a terrible cost. She had to give up her passion of dancing since it was unacceptable to Marco. Meanwhile, Rosie tries to commit suicide by consuming poison. Marco, upon knowing the incidence returns from the caves to see Rosie and is furious with Rosie after seeing her alive. He tells her that her act of committing suicide was a drama, otherwise she would have consumed more sleeping pills so that she could really have died. Upon returning to the caves which were discovered, Rosie learns that Marco is spending time and enjoying the company of a native tribal girl. She is enraged at Marco and both indulge in a serious heated discussion, which conclude with Rosie leaving the caves, and she once again wants to end her life.

Raju calms her down by saying that committing suicide is a sin, and that she should live to pursue her dream. She finally says good-bye to the relation of being the wife of Marco. Now, she needs support and a home. Raju gives her shelter. Rosie is considered a prostitute too, by Raju's community (as classical dancing traditionally was related with prostitute at Royal court), which leads to many problems, including his mother and her brother insisting that Rosie be kicked out. Raju refuses and his mother leaves him.

His friend and driver also falls out with him over Rosie. Raju loses his business and the entire town turns against him. Undeterred by these setbacks, Raju helps Rosie embark on a singing and dancing career and Rosie becomes a star. As she rises as a star, Raju becomes dissolute - gambling and drinking. Marco comes back on the scene. Trying to win Rosie back, he brings flowers and has his agent ask Rosie to release some jewelry which is in a safe deposit box. Raju, a bit jealous, does not want Marco to have contact with Rosie and forges Rosie's name on the release of the jewels. Meanwhile, Rosie and Raju drift apart due to Rosie's incomprehensible behavior when she tortures Raju by not obliging him a caring hug even and asks him to leave her room else she says she will have to go out. Before this, they also had a discussion about how a man should live when Rosie remembers Marco and tells Raju that Marco was probably correct when he used to say that a man should not live on a woman's earnings.

Raju retorts by saying that she is under a misunderstanding that she has become a star on her own and it was only because of Raju's efforts that she became famous. Later, Rosie learns of the forgery release. Raju is convicted of forgery, resulting in a two year sentence. Rosie does not understand why Raju indulged in forgery, when he could have easily asked her for money. It was not money, it was the loving fascination for Rosie which urged Raju not to reveal Marco's visit to Rosie so that she doesn't remember him again and to eliminate the probability of Rosie and Marco's togetherness, if at all, there was any little chance. On the day of his release, his mother and Rosie come to pick him up but they are told that he was released six months ago because of his good behavior.

Upon his release Raju wanders alone. Despair, poverty, rags, hunger, loneliness engulf him until he finds a wandering group of sadhus (holy men) with whom he spends a night at a derelict temple in a small town. He sleeps and one of the itinerant holy men places a shawl upon him. The holy men leave. The next morning, a farmer, Bhola, finds Raju sleeping under the orange shawl. Bhola thinks Raju is a holy man. Bhola is having a problem with his sister because she refuses to marry. Raju impresses the woman with the logic in taking a husband and she submits, which convinces Bhola that Raju is a swami (holy man). Impressed by this, Bhola spreads the news through the village. Raju is taken as a holy man by the village. The farmers bring gifts for him and start consulting him with their problems. Raju assumes the role of village holy man (Swami Ji) and engages in skirmishes with the local pundits. In telling a childhood story, Raju speaks of a holy man whose 12 day fast resulted in God's bringing rain to end a drought.

A drought and ensuing famine hit the region hard. Through miscommunication of a village fool, Raju's words are interpreted by villagers that he will fast for 12 days to end the drought. He finds himself trapped by villagers' belief. At first Raju opposes the idea, going as far as telling Bhola that he is just a human like any one of them and even worse a convict who has undergone trial and served a jail sentence over a woman. But even the confession was not enough for the villagers to give up on their belief who quote the story of robber Ratnakar who became Valmiki. He reluctantly begins the fast, although he does not believe that there is any relation between a man's hunger and rain. With the fast, Raju undergoes a spiritual transformation. As the fast goes on, his fame spreads. People by the thousands come to see him and take his blessings. An American journalist asks him whether he truly believes that his fast would bring rain, he smiles and says "These people have faith in me, and I have faith in their faith".

Upon hearing about his fame Rosie pays him a visit, so does his mother and his friend Gaffoor, who is Muslim. Bhola does not allow him to enter the temple on the grounds that he is of a different religion. Raju comes out and asks Bhola what is his religion. He tells Bhola that humanity, love and helping the others is his religion. Bhola begs excuse and sees them hugging each other sentimentally and his eyes becomes wet. Raju understands that he now has everything he has lost a long time back. His health starts falling, and he thinks about the meaning of his life. On one side there is Rosie, his Mother and a chance to get back to his past life and on the other side there is a noble cause to fast and hope for the rain. He gets enlightened by the concept that his past sins are washed away by his anguish and the Guide Raju he knew has died. And now the only thing that remains is the spiritual Raju, which is indestructible. He is reconciled with his mother, Rosie and the driver during his ordeal. He transcends this life. Amidst thunder claps and heavy downpour, his soul departs this earth while the crowd rejoices and his beloveds cry. The climax also teaches the Bhagavad Gita's principles: "Man does not die it is only body which dies. Soul remains forever."