What does one expect from a movie that has a title that goes as 'Rang De Basanti'? Which genre would it belong to? Chances are that it may turn out to be yet another patriotic flick belonging to pre-independence era. With Aamir Khan in the lead, who has two period films 'Lagaan' and 'Mangal Pandey' to his credit, one half expected 'Rang De Basanti' too belonging to the same genre.

Well, there is a surprise in store for those who have been keenly awaiting the release of the movie as 'Rang De Basanti' is quite contemporary and belongs to Generation X. Yes, there is an undercurrent patriotic theme but that is also coupled with a social message that is narrated in an unconventional manner by director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, who had earlier debuted with a daringly different 'Aks' [Amitabh Bachchan, Manoj Bajpai].

How much do we know about our roots? What kind of awareness do we have about our culture? Do we have all the knowledge about our past? Are we truly aware about our freedom struggle? Or are we just staring from the peripherals?

These are just some of the questions that director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra raises and forces you to think about while you watch the movie. But then a subject like this could just turn into a documentary and hence Mehra presents this in a contemporary manner with a fine mix of experienced and young starcast that gives it a good commercial edge. Unlike some of the recent flicks where Aamir Khan has held center stage from first to last frame, 'Rang De Basanti' has a host of characters that play important part in the narrative.

Aamir Khan plays DJ in the film. DJ is a young man who continues to hang around in the University from where he has already passed out 5 years back! Reason? He feels its great to be a part of the University and have a great time with his University mates rather than facing the outer world as it hardly excites him. Other people in this group of youngsters are Karan [Sidharth Suryanarayan], Aslam [Kunal Kapoor], Sukhi [Sharman Joshi], Laxman Pandey [Atul Kulkarni] and last but not the least Sonia [Soha Ali Khan], who loves to hang around inspite of being the lone girl in the group.

Each of the people in the group has an identity of their own and has a different tale to tell. Karan is a man who is emotionally cut-off from his rich family, Aslam is a middle class boy from Chandni Chowk who has a stable mind and thinks hard before he acts. Large part of this comes from the fact that he is intellectually oriented and hence thinks differently. To add to this, he is also a poet and a writer with a rational outlook towards things.

Sukhi, as the name suggests, is a happy-go-lucky boy with only one interest in life - girls, girls and more girls. A young kid with an innocent heart, he is the most loved boy in the entire group. Sonia is a tomboy who loves to be a part of the group and is meanwhile engaged to an air pilot Ajay [Madhavan]. But then it's not just fun'frolic all the time in the group as there is also a man who is a fundamentalist and has a vision to change the world. His tool? Politics. He looks at the brighter side of politics and strongly believes that if used correctly, politics has all the power one may want to make things better!

Life is as usual for each of them when Sue [Alice Pattern] enters their life. She is a young British film maker who intends to make a film about Indian freedom fighters. Her eyes are especially set on people like Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad and how they contributed towards India eventually getting freedom. She looks at the group to act the parts in the documentary film she is making.

But does the buck stop at just the creation of the film? Or does it do something to all the protagonists in the movie?

Is patriotism and spiri