The excitement an Aamir Khan starrer generates might have suffered a bit after Mangal Pandey. But, with Rang De Basanti Aamir has struck back with full force. But the movie doesn't rely on Aamir's acting alone. Powerful performances by all other actors – especially Siddharth, Soha Ali Khan and Atul Kulkarni – make Rang De Basanti a great movie to watch. Technically – direction, cinematography, editing, music, etc. – the movie scores high in all departments. But, finally, it is the story that glues you to the seat.

A group of five delightfully mischievous college students – DJ (Aamir), Karan (Siddharth), Sukhi (Sharman Joshi), Aslam (Kunal Kapoor), and Sonia (Soha Ali Khan) – are front benchers in the Masti ki Pathshala. Beer drinking competitions, wheelies, and driving around Delhi in the night are only some of the crazy things they do. They are far from any notions of patriotism or desh seva. "Yeh system ko badal ne jao, toh system tumhe hi badal deta hai", they say.

But DJ finds it very difficult to say "No" to Sue, a British filmmaker, who wants to make a movie on Indian revolutionaries – Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Afsakhullah, and Ramprasad Bismillah. And he pulls in the others. So, Sue, starts making the movie with a bunch of guys who couldn't care less for the characters they are about to play. This movie within the movie does not wallow in patriotic sentimentality. Instead it concentrates primarily on the fearlessness with which the 23...

year olds walk to their death.

Meanwhile, Ajay (R. Madhavan), Sonia's fiancée, dies in a MiG crash. The Defence Ministry, instead of accepting that the MiGs are outdated, claim that Ajay was an irresponsible pilot. This sets the wild bucks on a path from which there's no turning back. A peaceful dharna to protest against the Ministry's lackadaisicalness turns violent when the police lathi charge the group. Of those injured is Ajay's mom, who slips into coma."Ab kya karien?", asks Sukhi. The incident affects the group in a way where they can no longer be carefree – they have to take a stand on matters. The clock is turned back as the six get into the shoes of the characters they play in Sue's movie.

By setting the story in contemporary India the movie moves away from any historical melodrama and manages to raise poignant questions. What did Bhagat Singh want when he threw those bombs in the Parliament? What made these guys, in the prime of their lives, sacrifice their lives smilingly? But once these questions have been raised, the movie slips into the usual Bollywood formula: the youth across India get inspired by their act and promise to act on similar lines.

Can violence bring about social change? This one question the movie fails to ask.