Post Description

Cast
Dev Anand ... Raju
Waheeda Rehman ... Rosie Marco / Miss Nalini
Leela Chitnis ... Raju's Mother
Kishore Sahu ... Marco
Gajanan Jagirdar ... Bhola
Anwar Hussain ... Gaffoor
Ulhas ... Raju's Maternal Uncle
Krishan Dhawan ... Inspector Girdhari

Dev Anand stars as Raju, a freelance guide, who earns his living by taking tourists to historic sites. The movies starts with Raju being released from jail, and then the story runs in flashback. One day, a wealthy and aging archaeologist Marco 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 is captivated by her impetuous beauty. Raju learns about Rosie's background and how Rosie has achieved respectability as the wife of Marco but at a terrible cost. She has had to give up her passion of dancing since it is 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 gets furious on Rosie after seeing her alive. He tells Rosie that her act of committing suicide was a drama, otherwise she would have consumed more sleeping pills so that she could really have died. On returning to Udaipur, Rosie discovers that Marco is having an affair with a native tribal girl. Rosie is mad at Marco, and again wants to end her life. But Raju calms her 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. But now she needs support and a place to live. It is here that Raju takes her to his home.

Rosie is considered a prostitute by Raju's community 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. 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. Rosie and Raju drift apart. Rosie learns of the forgery release and Raju is convicted of forgery, resulting in a two year sentence. 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 behaviour.

Upon his release Raju wanders alone. Despair, poverty, rags, hunger, loneliness, until he finds a wandering group of sadhus 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 while he sleeps. 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 upon the woman 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 village. Raju is taken as the holy man for 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 pandits. 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.