Surinder Sahni (Shah Rukh Khan) is a shy and mild-mannered office employee working for Punjab Power who visits the marriage ceremony of Taani Gupta (Anushka Sharma), the cheerful daughter of Professor Shirish Gupta (M. K. Raina) who is his former teacher. He falls in love at first sight with her but is unable to express it. Unfortunately, her fianceè and all his family members are killed in a road accident which results in the devastated Professor Gupta developing a massive heart attack. He is taken to a hospital where, on his deathbed, he asks Surinder to marry Taani upon fearing that she will be alone in the world after his death. Surinder agrees to his request as he loves Taani anyway while Taani also does not hesitate to fulfill her dying father's last wish. After Professor Gupta's death and funeral, Surinder has an impromptu marriage with Taani and takes her to his ancestral house in Amritsar, Punjab. Over there, he begins to behave with her in a kind nature and begins showing his respect to her - he even lets her have his bedroom all to herself and sleeps in attic - but is too frightened to confess his love for her. Taani eventually agrees to become a good wife and thus respect her role in Surinder's life but feels that she can never love him or anyone else again.