In 1795, when the Indian subcontinent was known as Hindustan or Hindostan, king Mirza Sikander Baig was killed by John Clive. The residents of his kingdom are massacred, and the land is annexed by the East India Company. The only survivors are his daughter, Zafira Baig, and general, Khudabaksh. Khudabaksh defeats the retreating enemy soldiers, and raises Zafira as his daughter, training her in the arts of warfare.
Years later, Khudabaksh, now known as Azaad (Amitabh Bachchan), leads a band of Indian bandits known as Thugs, who specialise in sea-based warfare and expose a serious challenge to the expanding British East India Company which had, by then, seized control of large parts of India. John Clive is alarmed, and assigns his right-hand to counter the rising threat posed by the Thugs.
Firangi Mallah (Aamir Khan), a good-for-nothing, small-time Thug who makes his living by stealing necessary accessories, is recruited by the British to meet this challenge. He appears before Azaad and asks him for his refuge. Azaad accepts, and Firangi turns into a routine informer for the Company. He finds solace with a dancer named Suraiyya. Firangi aims to be an English-man himself, and hence dresses up as one in many circumstances.
