"Kurbaan" tells the story of Avantika, a university professor played by Kareena Kapoor, who comes back to India to teach after having lived and worked in New York. Back in India she meets and falls in love with a fellow professor, Ehsaan, played by Saif Ali Khan, and although she hesitates in the beginning, she is soon taken over by her feelings for him. When she is asked to come back to New York to teach, she is worried about the future of their relationship. But Ehsaan seems more than happy to follow her to the United States.

They get married against the will of Avantika’s father, played by Aakash Khurana, and move into an Indian neighborhood outside of New York. But it soon becomes obvious that Ehsaan has planned everything to happen the way it did. During a meeting with their conservative Muslim neighbors, Avantika meets Salma, played by Nauheed Cyrusi, who warns her not to trust anybody. When Salma disappears a few days later, Avantika finds out her husband’s horrible secret. The only person who can help her is a journalist, played by Vivek Oberoi, who vows to discover the truth behind his girlfriend’s death in a terrorist attack.

It turns out that Ehsaan is a member of the terrorist organization and he only married Avantika to obtain a valid United States visa. The story reveals Ehsaan’s hidden identity and everything he constructed to get what he wanted. The film is an edge-of-your-seat thriller that keeps the audience guessing. The music by Salim-Sulaiman only adds to the intensity of the movie.