m opens in Kanpur in 2005, where 14-year-old students tease a bald teacher. Balmukund "Bala" Shukla, a popular kid who carries much pride for his hairstyle, leads the teasing of the teacher. Bala borrows notes from the studious and dark-complexioned Latika Trivedi who was good in studies and passes them off as his own to the fair-skinned Shruti to impress her by pasting a new sticker bearing his name above Latika's notebook. When Latika calls him out and open up the sticker in front of Shruti, Bala berates her for being dark-skinned. The narrator describes how society values beauty and fair skin over other accomplishments, especially in marriage. 14 years later, Bala is a balding man in his late twenties who struggles with his premature baldness. He is a fairness cream salesman by day and nightclub comic by night. One day, Bala angrily lashes out at his bald father Hari, who is a ghar jamai, that the father's balding genes h ave killed the son's prospects. Hari presents him with a wig and explains that baldness is external and need not have anything to do with one's accomplishments. Bala dons the wig and resumes his work with new vigor. He finally meets his crush, a pretty, fair-skinned model, Pari Mishra, and courts her. They decide to marry. Some days before the wedding, Bala is stricken by conscience and sends her a text disclosing his baldness. Unbeknownst to him, the text accidentally goes to someone else and Pari does not see it. Bala assumes she has accepted his baldness and they marr