Unemployed man Rangan and another man share a rented house in
Delhi, both are
Tamils (
Telugus in Telugu version). Another Tamil (Telugu in Telugu version), Thambu, subsequently joins them for the purpose of searching for a job. Rangan is a straightforward person who does not tolerate anything which involves impersonation and deceit. Hence, he cannot secure any job which tests his attitude and patience. The three share everything they get to eat and suffer from poverty and hunger on most days. Rangan meets Devi and offers to carry her luggage until the
railway station. On reaching there, she offers to pay him, to which Rangan replies that he has no change. Devi rebukes him, assuming he is trying to cheat her. Angered, Rangan leaves without accepting the money. Rangan once chases a man to his house to get back the money which he had looted by lying to him, and stumbles upon Devi. The man is Devi's father, who lost all his money
betting on horse racing, and now earns a living by cheating the people around him to get money for betting more. He cheated Rangan by saying that his daughter had died and needed money to perform the last rites. Devi returns the money to Rangan, and she also pays him for carrying her luggage before. Devi and Rangan get to know each other better, learning that Rangan is an unemployed, straightforward person and Devi is a small-time stage actress. Devi goes to Rangan's house to introduce him to her stage play director, so he can replace an ill actor and earn some money. She suggests he finish his lunch before going there, leaving Rangan embarrassed, as there is no food to eat. However, he and his roommates pretend to eat a sumptuous meal inside the kitchen. But Devi finds out that Rangan and his roommates hardly eat for real. Hence, she spends her own money to provide food for them. When they are about to eat, Devi's grandmother dies, and they cannot eat the food. Rangan's roommate (named Appu in Telugu) somehow earns some money, which he claims he did so by the advice of a certain Dilip. Thambu is very eager to know Dilip and wants to earn money in his own way. He runs away from home in search of Dilip. Devi introduces Rangan to a director, Pratap, who is arrogant and short-tempered. Rangan cannot act at his direction as he feels the scenes are logically incorrect. He apologises to Devi for letting her down. Rangan explains that his attitude is inherited from his father, Carnatic vocalist Sundaram Pillai (Venkata Ramanayya Panthulu in Telugu), who always scolds him for his inability to find a job on his own. Rangan once sold his father's
tanpura to buy a train ticket for Delhi, which angered his father. Rangan decides to leave home for a while so that the problem between him and his father might subside. Rangan once beats a mute roadside artist, Barani, for watching him and Devi secretly. In fact, he did so to draw a portrait of them. Rangan apologises to him, and both Devi and Rangan become his friends. Pratap is obsessed with Devi, and he cannot tolerate her closeness with Rangan. Devi once expressed to Barani that she loves Rangan, but is scared to tell him, as he might get angry at her. Rangan hears this and he expresses his intentions in the form of a song that he loves her. Pratap tries to strangle Devi on the stage for a play instead of acting. Off-stage, he tells her that he loves her madly and immediately wants to marry her. Devi quits acting and starts living at Rangan's house, taking on a new job as a babysitter. Devi loses the baby while shopping for a toy for the child and is fired. But the baby was actually kidnapped by Rangan's roommate to demand money from its parents. Rangan beats him and asks for Dilip, to which he confesses that "Dilip" is an identity he made up. Rangan tells him to leave the house and never return. Rangan loses all of his jobs due to his straightforwardness and subsequently suffers from poverty, but he is not ready to back off from his attitude for the sake of hunger. Hence, he tells Devi to choose a better life as he has lost all his confidence in making a decent living with her. Pratap threatens to commit suicide if Devi does not marry him. Hence, Devi decides to accept his proposal on the condition that Pratap must recommend a job for Rangan to his father, to which Pratap reluctantly agrees. But Rangan gets angry on seeing Devi with Prathap and goes away. Barani dies in a road accident while seeking Rangan. Devi finds Rangan and tells him that he is the one she loves and she will not leave him ever, which angers Pratap, and he goes away. Rangan's father comes to Delhi to find his son and meets him as a barber. Rangan explains that he feels satisfied with the job as he does not have to cheat, impersonate or fake his life for anything. The story ends with Rangan and Devi starting a fresh life, and Sundaram Pillai (Venkata Ramanayya Panthulu in Telugu) accepting his son's decision. Rangan's former roommate is now the husband of a rich, older widow, and Thambu has become a mentally ill beggar due to his search for the non-existent Dilip. == Cast ==