Tansen is preparing new Raag and instructs that there should be no noise around. Ghaseet Khan, who is close to Tansen's haveli is annoyed and challenges. At the same time, a group of bhajan singers, teamed with a young boy Baiju and his father, passes by. Police action trying to stop them from singing results in the death of Baiju's father. Before he is dead, Baiju's father demands from his son that he must revenge his father's death from Tansen. Angry Baiju runs with a sword when the police stop him. Pandit, who happens to be around, challenges police action with the teenage Baiju and takes custody of him to take him to his home across the Jumna river. Baiju meets Gauri, the teenage daughter of Mohan, a wise man of the village. This association makes Baiju forget revenge and grows into a love of adulthood along with his mastery in sangeet.

Time comes when the association of Baiju and Gauri gets the heated criticism of morality. Mohan makes Gauri aware of the situation on the name of honor. Gauri tries to restrict herself from seeing him. Baiju is lost in depression. One day he finds Gauri by the river as she is preparing to take her boat across, but she avoids him and leaves with the boat. Baiju addresses her with his song; the melody of Baiju proves a force to row her boat back to him. Baiju's melody becomes talk of the town and he is considered a genius in music.

Gauri's association with Baiju is not liked by Natkhat, the young man whom Mohan had sometime engaged his daughter. He feels that Gauri is attracted towards Baiju due to his sangeet, and decides to learn sangeet to win her. He sends his friend Ganjoo to the city who engages and brings Ghaseet Khan to teach sangeet to Natkhat. At the same time, Natkhat asks Mohan for Gauri's hand or he would call panchayat for decision. Mohan is disturbed and discusses the matter with Pandit. Pandit tell Mohan that Gauri is already "married" to Baiju in terms of sangeet, that if Baiju is sangeet Gauri is his geet, and nothing can separate this union of sangeet. Mohan agrees not to separate Gauri and Baiju and will obey the rules to pay compensation to Natkhat. Gauri finds this decision and in excitement rushes to see Baiju. At the same moment the village is raided by the decoits, who rob everyone. Baiju turns up with his melody the expression of which brings down the decoits intentions. Roopmati, the leader of the decoits, is impressed and instantly falls for Baiju. She cuts a deal with the villagers that she will return everything if Baiju goes with her. Baiju agrees inspite of Gauri's cries, to save the village. He tells Gauri he will be back soon.

Roopmati tries to win Baiju's heart. As Baiju challenges her decoit character, she tells him that she was the Rajkumari of the Jagir around his village, that she turned a decoit to revenge the taking away of her Jagir. The word revenge reminds Baiju of his dying father's wish of revenge from Tansen. He instantly takes a sword and rushes to the Tansen haveli. Tansen is playing Raag that influences Baiju to lose himself in the deepness of sangeet. He gets out of that influence when the sword falls from his hand and hits his foot. He picks the sword and breaks down Tansen's sitar. At Tansen's question, Baiju tells him that he wanted to kill him. Tansen responds that he cannot kill him with sword but only with sangeet from the pains of a heart. Baiju leaves Tansen and reaches Swami Haridas to learn sangeet.

Back in village, hopes of Baiju's return have diminished. Mohan is unable to satisfy panchayat. Baiju's absence creates hurdle to further fight the case. Gauri's is declared lawfully engaged to Natkhat and will marry him. Roopmati returns to the village and informs Gauri about the whereabouts of Baiju and wanted to help her. She takes Gauri to Haridas quarters. Gauri meets Baiju but he rejects her wishes until the time he revenges Tansen. Haridas comes there and Gauri hides away. Haridas tells Baiju that he has given him all about sangeet that he knew. He should stop compulsion of revenge and create love in his heart His sangeet will only be complete when he will sing out of a painful hurt heart. Gauri hears this conversation and bites snake on her hand to give pain to Baiju's heart. Influenced by the words of Haridas, he rushes for his love Gauri but finds Gauri dying. This turns Baiju a "Bawra" and he goes around place to place, delivering the melody out of a painful heart, finally reaching Tansen haveli where he is arrested for singing around restricted area.

Baiju is told that to sing there he would sing better than Tansen in challenge. And with that challenge, the one who loses is executed. Baiju accepts the challenge. In two shifts of sangeet mehfil, Baiju is declared winner after Tansen's sitar string breaks down. Baiju demands in reward the life of Tansen and the return of Jagir to Roopmati that the King Akbar grants him.

The excitement of victory reminds Baiju of Gauri who, as he knows, is waiting for him in village. He rushes to the village and faces Jumna with heavy storm to cross. The boatman tells him that Gauri is being wed today in the village. Hearing this Baiju pushes his boat through the storm. News spreads in the village that Baiju is back. Gauri quits the weeding ceremony and find Baiju's boat engulfed in storm waves. She jumps into the river to save Baiju. She joins him but the strong storm grips both of them into the drowning death and unites them as one love where sangeet and geet cannot be separated.

It's a wonderful story written to express the theme of music and love. The characterization is well synchronized with the script to confine interest in the main idea, i.e., Sangeet, with love as its roots. Meena Kumari has given excellent performance to receive a well-deserved Filmfare Award. Bharat Bhooshan has lived the role of a 'sangeetkaar' with real and natural one. His role earned him a permanent place to act as a 'sangeetkaar' in most of the future films where there was demand for that role. Supporting characters, too, have filled their roles with well-balanced performances.

The film is Sangeet, the greatest creation to this day. Naushad's Filmfare Award winner score so creative with melodies that while watching film one lives inside sangeet. This sangeet has not lost its eternal value during the last about five decades.

Settings, cinematography and editing are much higher than the standard. Vijay Bhatt has lived to direct this film to create living sangeet where he gives viewers feeling of living in it.

The movie, to this day, is remembered as the greatest musical classic. It created such an impact to became a trendsetter. However, in the later attempts, none came closer to it. This very impact and its eternal classic status have inducted it into the Sangeet Mahal Hall of Fame.