Two film academy students, Sameer and Ali, must make a movie in order to graduate. They choose to create a documentary illustrating reasons not to join the
Indian Armed Forces and go on a
motorcycle road trip bearing three letters they have been given to deliver — each from a slain soldier to his family. On their first stop, in
Atari, a village near
Amritsar in the
Punjab, they meet the widow, Kuljeet Kaur, and the son, Jasvinder Singh (Jassi), of an
Indian Army soldier,
Havildar Balkar Singh of 8
Sikh Regiment, who was
killed in action three years earlier in
Kargil. Instead of finding a family distraught and questioning the sacrifice, the students find that the entire village is immensely proud of Balkar Singh's heroism and his ultimate sacrifice for the country. His family, particularly his wife, displays great courage and an undefeated spirit. It is the first time Sameer and Ali truly begin to understand the honour and pride associated with serving in the armed forces, deeply contrasting with their initial cynical documentary premise. The students' second stop,
Himachal Pradesh, finds them meeting now wheelchair-using ex-
Indian Air Force officer,
Sqn Leader Vikram Shergill, whose Army officer brother,
Captain Dhananjay Shergill, of
18 Grenadiers, had been martyred in the Kargil war. Vikram is very proud of his brother's bravery and sacrifice. He shows them how he has come to terms with his own grief. He confronts and defeats a group of unruly young men in a fight despite his debilitating injury when one of them inappropriately touches his girlfriend, Saloni. This makes Sameer and Ali realize Vikram’s underlying pride, strength, and perhaps his way of externally processing or demonstrating his resilience despite his physical injury and emotional loss. The third letter is to be delivered to an elderly couple – Dr. Maqbool Naqvi and his wife Mrs. Naqvi – but their bike runs out of petrol, and they hitch a ride on a military convoy heading to a nearby base. They see soldiers' coffins in the truck, and the driver quotes an inspiring poem. At the base, they talk to the regiment commander and find another letter by
Lieutenant Sahil Naqvi of
Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry, which they request to deliver themselves. They see that Mrs. Naqvi is busy at a tea party, hardly paying any attention. Sameer accuses her of not loving her son and says that Sahil was a coward. Mrs. Naqvi plays them a tape which Sahil had recorded after he had saved another soldier's life. She tells him that she and her husband have been affected, and the parties serve as a distraction for them. They leave, but return the next day and slowly bring the couple's life back to normal. After completing their film, they reveal in a voice-over that although they graduated, they did not go to
America (as they had initially planned) because the trip changed their outlook. They try to join the
Army but fail, then start a school to share their experiences. Some years later, Sameer and Ali are walking around their school campus. An officer in an olive green uniform approaches them. He is revealed to be Jassi, the son of late Havildar Balkar Singh. Now a strapping young man, he has joined the army like his father and will soon graduate from the
IMA as a Lieutenant. The film ends with the statement, "You don't have to be a soldier to love your country". ==Cast==