Woh Lamhe tells the story of Sana Azim Kangana Ranaut as a Bollywood superstar who is dominated by her boyfriend Shaad Randhawa ), who makes all her career decisions for her; to the world she is a successful and independent woman but in reality she is lonely and lost, a mere puppet in Nikhil's hands. Shiney Ahuja is an aspiring director who is keen on casting Sana for his debut film, but only on his own terms; he is willing to go to any lengths to get her to agree to the film, even if that means preying on her slight insecurities and her turbulent relationship with Nikhil. Nikhil is successful in casting her in her film and the film turns out to be a super-hit. However, he loses track of his plan somewhere along the way and realizes that even though his film is complete and a super-hit, he just can't pull himself away from Sana; he has actually fallen in love with her in spite of his friend Purab Kohli reminding Aditya that Sana is just their ladder to success. But Aditya had fallen for her. As the film progresses Aditya realizes that Sana is not just insecure and lonely, but that she is also mentally imbalanced; suffering from acute schizophrenia wherein she is haunted by the imaginary Rani who leads her to believe that everyone is out to kill her. Sana's mother and Nikhil get her admitted to the hospital and resort to shock treatment for her speedy recovery so that she can start shooting for all her assignments again. What follows is Aditya's unshakeable belief that he can heal Sana and he giving up his upcoming career in order to take her away from the industry and free Sana from all of her mental demons. However, Sana is unable to break free from her illness and one day walks out of Aditya's life as she no longer wants to be the cause of pain and turbulence in his life. They meet three years after her disappearance in a hospital, post Sana's attempt on her life.