In 1994 middle-class Bombay, three ordinary youngsters, Karan (Shahid Kapoor), Zing (Meiyang Chang) and Chandu (Vir Das) graduate from college and go for a trip to Bangkok, Thailand, where they meet Bulbul (Anushka Sharma) and they start a business together. Karan eventually falls in love with her. Karan tells her that he always wanted to start his own business but his father Sajjan Kapoor (Anupam Kher) wants him to study MBA. On the other hand, Bulbul confesses that she wants to be a supermodel and advises Karan that he does not need a large amount of money to start a business, but a big "idea". Back in India, Sajjan has a heart attack. Karan's mother Maya (Kiran Juneja) pawns her jewelry in order to arrange some amount of money for better facilities and an AC room at the hospital as his insurance could only afford a Non-AC room. This leaves Karan heart-broken, and he immediately decides to get rich by any means, he decides to start his own venture along with his friends. He comes up with an idea for smuggling branded Reebok socks in India without any customs charges.