The Film: 23rd March 1931 Shaheed
Bobby Deol as Bhagat Singh
Sunny Deol as Chandrashekhar Azad
Amrita Singh as Bhagat Singh's Mother
Rahul Dev as Sukhdev
Vicky Ahuja as Rajguru
Viveck Shauq as Bhagwati Charan Vohra
Deepak Sharma as Jatin Das Shakti Kapoor as Chattar Singh
Aishwarya Rai as Bhagat Singh's unmarried widow

The story begins in Lahore at the time when Bhagat Singh is only a little boy, a growing child exposed to an environment of British rule in the courtry. He belongs to a family of people who have dedicated themselves to the Indian freedom struggle. He has seen his uncle escape from the prison and leave his country in order to collect funds for the movement. His sharp mind, though very young, is full of curiosity and reasoning. He seeks justification of actions taken by the British Government that he occasionally overhears his family members discuss. It is during these very young and sensitive years that an understanding of reality seeps into his mind and generates in him the will to acquire freedom. Tiny logic even has him fixing small wooden sticks in heaps of mud with the intention of sowing rifles to grow more rifles to fight the rulers.

Death does not frighten Bhagat Singh even as a teenager. The impact of the Jalianwala Baug massacre that leaves nearly four hundred dead makes him thirsty for revenge even if it involves the risk of a sacrifice. Growing into a young college-attending adult does not distract Bhagat Singh from his goal. In fact his love for the country deepens to a point of clarity - he knows he will never get married because he has invested his entire being in his country leaving no room for anybody else to share it. Though very attached to his parents, he simply leaves the house to go to Kanput and joins the freedom struggle of Chandrashekhar Azad, a revolutionary much dreaded by the British. It is Pratap Press, Azad's hideout in Kanpur that Bhagat Singh proves the extent his intention to fight for freedom by holding his hand on fire. Azad, touched by the youth's dedication and passion decides to train Bhagat. It is with him that Bhagat Singh fires his first gunshot and acquires his first revolver.

As a young man, Bhagat is all set to take on the British. He does not favor Gandhiji's non-violence movement even as it conflicts with his undying respect for the Mahatma. An intensive reader exposed to global situations of other oppressed coutries, Bhagat Singh stands by a philosophy of taking freedom, and not having the British give it as if it was begged for. When face to face with Lala Lajpat Rai, he is not afraid to speak his mind and even agrees to support the demonstration against the Simon Commission without Lifting a finger if the cause is beign fulfilled. However, when Lalaji is indiscriminately beaten by superintendent Scot to later succumb to his wounds, he swears to revenge his death by assassinating Scot.

Come 10th December 1928, and the Hindustan Socialist Republican party's core members - Singh, Azad, Sukhdev, Rajguru, and Gopal, plot the assassination of Superintendent Scot. Unfortunately, Gopal's wrong identification leads to the death of Sanders. Skillful manipulation is required to plan escape and make corrections in the posters announcing Scot's death. Amidst nerve-racking pressure that has Bhagat Singh sought by every police- post in the coutry, he undergoes a complete disguise that even has his own sister-in-law fooled. It is with this disguise of an Englishman that Bhagat manages escape and boards the same train as Azad who, dressed like a Sadhu, has avoided many vigilant eyes.

The next important meeting in Agra leads to the very risky decision of throwing a bomb in the Parliament House. Bhagat Singh rolunteers to take the responsibility of the actual act but is advised against it by Azad who thinks his arrest may lead to evidence of his involvement in Sanders murder, sentencing him to death. Bhagat Singh, to whom death is nothing but a motivation to others and one of the means to achieve his goal, goes ahead with the mission. On 8th April 1929, drawing power from his famous cry 'Inquilab Zindabad!'

Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutta throw the bomb and accomplish the mission. And as rightly feared by Azad, arrests follow suite. The next two years of Bhagat Singh's life spent in prison recalls the spirit of a true martyr. The condition of the food is not worthy of words. With space barely enough to spread his limbs, a hole in the corner for ablutions and a tiny window to seek comfort from whatever little light the sun grants him, Bhagat Singh bravely bears it all, extending courage to his family, especially his mother, and asking those around him to seek inspiration not tears. Refusing to be an approver who would be granted more facilities and a milder sentence, he suffers torture but does not let his companions down. He refuses to attend a court whose existence defies its very purpose of justice, to hear his death sentence.

The news of his hanging reaches him in his cell that he receives with majesty. On 23rd March 1931 walking to the gallows in his prision uniform, he does not smell fear of death but the courage of victory. He is hanged and his ashes are thrown in the river nearby under the orders of the British Government. The next day, amidst the chaos of an enraged mob that refuses to accept Bhagat Singh's hanging, a woman somehow manages to find her way to the riverbank to collect her son's ashes.