Niyati is a teenager from Ishrat Kada Girls Orphanage who secures the top spot in the 10th board exams across India. Shailesh and Zoya, the couple managing the orphanage, have always treated her like their own child, with Shailesh going the extra mile to keep her content.
She and another bright student, Akash, received admission offers from Winston International, a prestigious school in the country. Shailesh’s earlier concern that Winston’s environment would differ greatly from their world becomes real when Niyati starts mingling with wealthy students.
Niyati’s brilliance collides with temptation (Photo: Farrey/Salman Khan Films, Mythri Movie Makers, and Athena)Chavi, the daughter of a top industrialist, draws closer to Niyati after she helps her pass an exam. Eventually, Niyati gets swept into a circle that evolves into a cheating syndicate, devising various tricks to help each other pass.
How Does Niyati Fall For Chavi’s Schemes?
Even though Shailesh and Zoya gave Niyati everything within their power, her teenage desire for luxury blinds her. Chavi takes her to her house, and what Niyati sees leaves her speechless—it almost feels like a scene from a fairy tale.
Chavi’s first way of winning her over is an iPhone, which she casually claims would go to waste if not used. Her father beams with pride upon seeing Chavi’s result, while Chavi privately struggles with insecurity due to her brother being a Stanford student.
Desperate for her father’s praise, Chavi ropes Niyati into helping her and her friends cheat, offering money in return. Despite her wishes, Niyati insists that the money be sent to her orphanage. She creates a series of hand signals to communicate the correct answers, and soon, mass cheating becomes a routine.
Why Does Niyati’s Oxford Dream Fall Through?
Things take a turn during the final term when teachers distribute different question papers to each student. In a bid to save Chavi and Prateek, Niyati swaps their papers. Akash spots Prateek copying Niyati’s answers and alerts the principal.
This same principal, who had always supported Niyati and even gave her and Akash the chance to apply for full scholarships to Oxford, catches her with a mismatched paper set. That mistake alone cost her the chance to take the Oxford scholarship test.
None of the other students gets punished, yet Niyati pulls away from them. Around the same time, Akash is found badly injured, having been attacked by unknown individuals, and ends up missing his test.
What’s The STIC?
After cutting ties for a while, Chavi and Prateek return to manipulate Niyati again, this time offering her 5 lakh rupees per student to help them during the STIC—an international university entrance test. In this country, many talented students often find themselves in tricky spots.
Just like the well-known Munnabhai MBBS scene where someone else is sent to take a medical exam, people still laugh at such ideas. Niyati’s craving for money clouds her better judgment, and her young age doesn’t help matters.
The exams are spread across different centers globally, so they brainstorm a way to beat the system. Niyati notices that all the questions are the same everywhere, and since Sydney runs five hours ahead of India, she can take the exam early and relay the answers back.
She brings Akash into the plan even though he had always been morally upright. However, Akash’s life is filled with hardship—juggling school and delivery jobs—and the money could help his family. Niyati proposes using pencil barcodes to signal answers.
While preparing for the task, Prateek slips and reveals details about Akash’s earlier beating. This enrages Akash, and though he storms off, he gives in eventually due to his financial state and agrees to travel to Sydney.
What Happens In Australia?
Niyati and Akash manage to sit for the test in Sydney, sending back answers to India after each segment. They both hide phones in toilet tanks, and everything runs smoothly at first. But just before the third part, Akash demands more money, which causes delays.
Security starts getting suspicious and catches him using the phone. He’s physically intimidated and forced to talk. Niyati also falls under scrutiny and is subjected to a humiliating body search. Even with that, she hides the phone cleverly and completes the test.
When she contacts Chavi to update her on Akash’s arrest, Chavi coldly threatens to abandon her if she refuses to finish the task. Niyati returns to India alone, where Shailesh welcomes her and lets her know she can still take the scholarship exam again.
Can Niyati Go To Oxford?
That haunting guilt doesn’t allow Niyati to smile like she used to. She cuts off all connection with Chavi and Prateek when she sees their lack of concern about Akash’s fate. She finally sees the truth—they were only using her and didn’t care what happened to her.
She confronts Chavi and tells her to go find another helper from Stanford when she needs one. Eventually, Niyati clears the scholarship exam. Her principal, who always believed in her, reminds her that hard work is worth more than shortcuts.
One iPhone changes everything for a girl from Ishrat Kada (Photo: Farrey/Salman Khan Films, Mythri Movie Makers, and Athena)The rich students could never earn that kind of pride from the principal, but Niyati did. Just days before she’s set to leave for Oxford, Akash shows up again—not with good news, but with another proposal to make quick money. That Akash, who used to hold onto his values, is now driven by greed.
The makers of the film present a clear image of how society breaks down honest people. Akash’s dreams were crushed repeatedly, and now all he thinks about is survival. When Niyati refuses, he tries to blackmail her into returning to their old ways. But she’s had enough.
The trauma from what she went through during the Australian exam hasn’t left her, and she makes it clear she won’t go back. She slaps him and dares him to do whatever he pleases, but she’s no longer the same person.
Before her departure, Niyati confesses everything to Shailesh. His response shows just how much he cares—he’s not angry, just relieved that she recognises her mistakes. With a bright smile, Niyati boards her flight to Oxford. She now understands that it’s never too late to correct your steps.
Teenagers are bound to stumble, but when the door to redemption opens, it’s best to walk through it confidently.
