MASHAAL is a story about Vinod (Dilip Kumar) an honest, fearless editor of an outspoken newspaper, Raja (Anil Kapoor) a man from the slums who takes to black marketing to make his living and Vardhan (Amrish Puri) who is a powerful and respected figure of the city whose cloak of respectability hid all the social evils. In an attempt to combat Vardhan, life ends up differently for Vinod and Raja.