The story of Secret Superstar is set in the town of Vadodara (Baroda) in Gujarat, India. Insia Malik (Zaira Wasim), a 15-year-old Indian Muslim girl, lives with her mother Najma (Meher Vij), younger brother Guddu, and an overbearing father Farookh (Raj Arjun). Insia is very passionate about singing, but her father is against her dream of becoming a singer.Farookh goes out of town for work, and returns only once a week. Insia wants to participate in a music contest, which has a laptop and one free year of internet as a prize. Her mother tells her to get the permission of her father, but Insia never gets the chance as her father is busy scolding her and her mother. To satisfy her, Najma gifts Insia a laptop. Delighted with her present, Insia spends all her time on the laptop. She soon discovers that people have been using YouTube as a platform to record and post their songs. Insia records a song while disguising herself in a burkha, so Farookh can't find out her identity, and uploads the video on YouTube under the name of 'Secret Superstar'. She becomes an overnight sensation and grabs the attention of Shakti Kumar (Aamir Khan), who is a talented but rude music director and was a once successful singer. Shakti Kumar requests Insia to come to Mumbai for recording a song, but Insia refuses as she has heard a lot negative reviews of Shakti.One day, Insia sees her tuition teacher's husband read an article about the Secret Superstar in the newspaper. Scared that her father will read the article too, she leaves the test to run home and hide the newspaper. Chintan, who has a crush on Insia, follows her, and tells her that he knows she is the 'Secret Superstar', recognizing her voice. Later he also proposes her in reply Insia with a blushing smile on her face ask him to leave.As she had left her test, Insia got very poor marks. Enraged, Farookh breaks her guitar.Farookh is about to take Najma to a party and asks her to wear a necklace, when Najma starts making excuses. Realizing that Najma has sold it to buy the laptop, Insia takes her mother to another room to talk to her, but her father overhears them both. Furious, Farookh beats his wife and asks her to throw away the laptop. In a fit of rage, Insia herself throws away the laptop form the balcony and breaks down in her mother's arms. After seeing a famous lawyer on TV who fought against Shakti Kumar and won, Insia decides to approach her to get advice on divorce. With no other choice left, Insia accepts Shakti Kumar's proposal and goes to Mumbai, escaping school with help from Chintan. While escaping Chintan helps Insia jump out of school wall, after she is out she reveals that she too loves him [ Chintan ]and then leaves .In Mumbai, Insia is initially unable to sing the party song, as she feels that the lyrics and the beats do not match. She tells Shakti that the song feels like a remix of another song which is never made, and Shakti tells her it's true. He sings the song as he original wrote it, and Insia realises what a good singer Shakti really is. Shakti tells her that the song is too slow for the generation today, as they all want fast-paced party songs. Insia asks Shakti to give the original song a try, and when she sings it, everyone is surprised and moved. The song is then recorded. The secret superstar's fame increases with the song and she is nominated for an award of best female singer.Insia requests Shakti to fix a meeting with her and the lawyer. Reluctantly, Shakti fixes a date the following week. Insia meets the lawyer, who gives her some advice and files for signatures. Once home, her mother scolds her for going to Mumbai without informing anyone. She tells her she can't divorce Farookh as they would have no financial support otherwise. Angry at her mother's refusal, Insia throws a tantrum, but her grandmother reveals how Farookh had wanted to kill her before she was born, and how Najman has struggled to keep Insia alive. Farookh soon reveals that he has got a job in Saudi Arabia, which relieves Insia, as she would have to endure her father only a month a year, but her happiness is short-lived as Farookh tells her that he has fixed Insia's marriage to a Saudi boy and will take his entire family there. He buys tickets for Saudi in order to leave on the day Insia's final examination is over. Chintan and Shakti try to convince Insia to stay, but learning of her mother's efforts to keep her alive, Insia tells them she has no choice.On the final day of school, Insia and Chintan spend their last joyful moments together. Chintan reveals that he is going for the award ceremony, and is going to cheer when Secret Superstar wins, but feels dejected that Insia won't come. Insia and her family leave for Saudi Arabia. At the airport's baggage counter, the clerk tells Farookh that they have one extra bag. Farookh scolds Najma for carrying the guitar and tells Insia to throw it away. For the first time, Najma protests against Farookh as she sees Insia break down in tears. When Farookh threatens to slap her in front of everybody, Najma signs the divorce papers, hands them to Farookh and marches out of the airport. She tells Insia to call Shakti so that they can arrive at the award ceremony. Shakti and Chintan are delighted to see Insia, who is still hiding her identity.Unforutunately, Secret Superstar does not win the award. But the winner, Monali Thakur, says that she feels she does not deserve the award because she believes that Secret Superstar is a better singer than her and invites her to come to the stage and take the award. Insia reveals her identity on live television, and dedicates her award to Najma.