This Pyar Mein Kabhi Kabhi and Dil Chahta Hai hung-over story has the gang unwittingly getting involved in student politics, even floating a party called the Studds Party. All this to meet a challenge posed by earnest upcoming politician Prakash, who genuinely wants to make a difference but can’t stand the attitude of students who “go from an AC classroom into an AC library”.

Of course, the repercussions of entering the big, bad world of student politics is not thought of, and as the other mainstream student parties show ‘the studds’ a rough time, they decide to beat it. A month-long rural medical service they had enthusiastically booed just a while ago becomes their recourse. The college principal accepts their request to immediately leave and they arrive at the scheduled village, deep in Maharashtra, accompanied by the holiday mood and empty beer cans.

The students are amused at the sarkari guest house, a hopelessly run-down place with no guarantee of water or electricity. But they’re not worried. For proof of their service at the village they intend to bribe the signing authority with a fat sum and vacation for a month in Goa. The dichotomy of the world they come from and the world they are witnessing is brought about in several moments, like when one of them unthinkingly fishes out a Rs 1,000 note and gives it to the caretaker when she asks for money to buy vegetables. Then the five witness a heart-wrenching scene—when a family commits suicide by consuming pesticide and are brought to the local doctor Mukesh Jadhav (Ashutosh Rana, splendid). Appalled at the condition of the hospital, they witness the doctor save two lives without what-they-considered basic essentials like a pair of gloves. From then on, it’s difficult for them to remain nonchalant of the relentless farmer suicides.

Note a poignant scene where Qateel, hailing from a Nawabi background, calls up home to know how they got the land for their new vineyard. “We didn’t forcibly take land from anybody. The farmers could not pay the loans so the land became ours,” shrugged his mother, confused at her son’s uncomfortable curiosity. Jadhav, a closet Marxist, is involved with Shankya Dada’s (Sachin Khederkar) movement to help the villagers adopt the micro credit scheme, an alternate form of money-borrowing at a reasonable rate of interest.

The local moneylender/gunda Wagh (Vikram Gokhale) and his son (Prashant Narayan) are provoked and the police is called to arrest the reformers—insinuating their involvement with the Naxalite movement. So slowly, yes, the five experience an epiphany and the outsiders get involved in the insiders’ problems.

The poignant story is ably supported by effective cinematography (Atarsingh Saini, Goal) and a very interesting background score (Gourov Dasgupta, Dus Kahaniyaan). Yes, the film’s too long and could have cut into the first half to make the story crisper. Performances are impressive—Ashutosh Rana’s rendering of the doctor-next-door and activist takes the film to a new level. Gul Panag needs special mention and Sikander Kher did really well—both characters touch several ranges. Alekh Sangal and Arjan Bajwa are excellent as the over privileged laugh-a-minute students who bump into their conscience unexpectedly. Prashant Narayan plays the cliché of the terrorising moneylender’s son perfectly.

The village set-up is wholly authentic and the local spoken language in chaste Marathi adds an undeniable reality to the proceedings. Perhaps that’s the reason the film manages to get to you and moves you. Some of the scenes especially are effective, like the one where the students learn that the villagers are charged a 40 per cent interest rate, while one of them mentions recently buying a Mercedes on a 12 per cent interest rate.

Humour is a varied sort here—the first half is cornball comedy with lines like: “How do you get fresh with the freshers?”, etc. In the second half, it’s more evolved. The scene where Jadhav is to perform an important surgery and has to coax the operation light on with a little spank is really clever.

The second half carries the flavour of Swades and Rang De Basanti, but just in passing. The film turns unexpectedly dark post-interval, considering the popcorn fluffiness of the former, but that’s in keeping with the characters and their transformation and involvement in the issue. Yes, there are a few implausible touches like the sudden item number, the drama-drenched ending, etc. But by-and-large, debutant director Suhail Tatari starts off wanting to make a point and gets it across dexterously. Recommended viewing for those who enjoy edgy, opinionated filmmaking.