A well-made movie definitely worth a watch!

Rating: 9/10 (26 January 2006)

Pluses: The movie is well directed. I was really hoping that it doesn't turn out to be a disaster like "Aks". But Raykesh Omprakash Mehra didn't disappoint me. It has a fresh storyline, good screenplay, fantastic cinematography and efficient editing. The film is technically very good.
The film has a great cast and the fact that most of them are relatively new helps. All performances are commendable. Aamir Khan is good, as expected. Kunal Kapoor and Sharman Joshi are impressive. Soha Ali Khan is surprisingly good. Atul Kulkarni is always efficient so that's no surprise. Alice acts well and speaks great Hindi. The best performance, however, belongs to Siddharth. It is his character that is "awakened" by the happenings the most and he is remarkable in his role. Thats good casting at work.
The dynamics of the group has been well-developed. Even the relationships within the group, like the Aamir - Sharman duo and the closeness between Siddharth and Soha have been developed effectively.
The dialogues are different from the normal fare and all the songs are of course superb. The placement of most songs is good too. In fact, "Rubaroo" gets the best place a song can ask for in a movie.
The film tries to present the freedom fighters in a new light. Sepia tone, special effects and bike chases make them look very cool.
The film touches a very contemporary issue of MIG accidents.
The movie never gets too dull or boring. Its entertaining throughout. It also has a certain freshness about it.
The message of the movie has been put across well.
Minuses: Aamir Khan looks old. I know he is a great actor (though overrated) but if the director could find so many young actors for other roles, he could have very well found someone to play Aamir's role. Bollywood really needs younger actors.
The mixing of scenes from the freedom struggle with the present scenario works most of the time but not always. Some people in the audi even laughed when the five heroes were shown as freedom fighters just before they enter the AIR.
The Jalianwala Bagh sequence is not effective. Its a little shoddy. Though the satirical replacement of General Dwyer with the Defence Minister as part of a dream is funny.
Even though the songs are good, the film could have done with lesser number of songs.