The film is about Bhagat Singh, a revolutionary who fought for Indian independence along with fellow members of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.

The film chronicles Singh's life from his childhood where he witnesses the Jallianwala Bagh massacre until the day he was hanged to death before the official trial dated 24 March 1931.

The soundtrack and film score were composed by A. R. Rahman, with the songs "Mera Rang De Basanti" and "Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna" being well received in particular.

The Legend of Bhagat Singh was released on 7 June 2002 to generally positive reviews, with the direction, story, screenplay, technical aspects, and the performances of Devgan and Sushant receiving the most attention.

They gift him a crafted black rose and explain to him the reason, Gandhiji tells them that he appreciates their feelings for the country and he could have given his life to save them, but they were on the wrong path of patriotism and didn't want to live.

The youngsters still disagreed and concluded that history will ask this question to him forever, continuing the insults for Gandhiji and praising Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru.

At the age of 12, Bhagat takes a solemn vow to free India from the British Raj after witnessing the aftermath of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Soon after the massacre, he learns of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's satyagraha policies and begins to support the non-cooperation movement, in which thousands of people burn British-made clothing and abandon school, college studies, and government jobs.

When Lala Lajpat Rai is beaten (lathi charged) to death by the police while protesting against the Simon Commission, Bhagat, along with Shivram Hari Rajguru, Sukhdev Thapar and Chandra Shekhar Azad, kills John P. Saunders (who is mistaken for James A. Scott who ordered Lala Lajpat Rai's beatdown), a British police officer, on 17 December 1928.

On 8 April 1929, when the British proposed the Trade Disputes and Public Safety Bills, Bhagat, along with Batukeshwar Dutt, initiate a bombing of the Central Legislative Assembly.

Bhagat then gives a speech about his ideas of revolution, stating that he wanted to tell the world about the freedom fighters himself rather than let the British misrepresent them as violent people, citing this as the reason for bombing the assembly.

The police surround the entire park leading to a shootout; refusing to be captured by the British, Azad commits suicide with the last remaining bullet in his Colt pistol.

Fearing the growing popularity of the hunger strike amongst the Indian public nationwide, Lord Irwin (the Viceroy of British India) order the re-opening of the Saunders' murder case, which leads to capital death sentences being imposed on Bhagat, Sukhdev, and Rajguru.

In 1998, the film director Rajkumar Santoshi read several books on the socialist revolutionary, Bhagat Singh, and felt that a biopic would help revive interest in him.

[5] In August 2000,[6] the screenwriter Anjum Rajabali mentioned to Santoshi about his work on Har Dayal, whose revolutionary activities inspired Udham Singh (on whom a Punjabi film too had been released earlier that year).

[11] Rajabali wanted to "recreate the world that Bhagat Singh lived in", and his research required him to "not only understand the man, but also the influences on him, the politics of that era".

[9] By the end of the year 2000, Santoshi and Rajabali completed work on the script and showed it to Kumar and Ramesh Taurani of Tips Industries; both were impressed by it.

[21] Sushant Singh and D. Santosh (in his cinematic debut) were cast as Bhagat's friends and fellow members of the Hindustan Republican Association, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru.

This was true in the case of Santosh and also Amitabh Bhattacharjee, who played Jatin Das, the man who devised the bomb for Bhagat and Batukeshwar Dutt.

[36] Rahman recalled that Santhoshi had suggested him to compose slow-paced songs, unlike Shaheed which had fast paced compositions and experimented with Punjabi music more than what he done in his previous films.

"[42] The chief operating officer of Tips Industries, Raju Hingorani, pointed out that Kultar had authenticated the film, stating: "With his backing, why must we be afraid of other allegations?

Kaur's lawyer, Sandeep Bhansal, argued that Bhagat singing a duet with Mannewali and wearing garlands were "untrue and amounted to distortion of historical facts".

[44] The Legend of Bhagat Singh received generally positive critical feedback, with praise for its direction, story, screenplay, cinematography, production design and the performances of Devgn and Sushant.

"[48] In a comparative analysis of The Legend of Bhagat Singh with 23rd March 1931: Shaheed, Ziya-Us-Salam of The Hindu found the former to be a better film because of the "clearly etched out" supporting characters, while opining Devgn was more "restrained and credible" than Bobby Deol.

Salam admired Sushant's performance, opining that he has "a fine screen presence, good timing and an ability to hold his own in front of more celebrated actors".

[49] In a more mixed comparison, Rediff.com's Amberish K. Diwanji, despite finding The Legend of Bhagat Singh and Devgn to be the better film and actor like Salam, criticised the "constant shouting and mouthing of dialogues".

Diwanji, however, commended the narrative structure of The Legend of Bhagat Singh, saying that the film captured the revolutionary's life and journey well, thereby making it "worth watching and give[ing] it relevant historical background.

"[50] Among overseas reviewers, Dave Kehr of The New York Times complimented the placement of the film's song sequences, especially that of "Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna" and "Mere Rang De Basanti".

[51] Although Variety's Derek Elley found The Legend of Bhagat Singh to be "drawn with more warmth" and approved of Devgn's and Sushant's performances, he was not pleased with the "choppy" screenplay in the film's first half.

[58] The Legend of Bhagat Singh was added in both the SpotBoyE and The Free Press Journal lists of Bollywood films that can be watched to celebrate India's Independence Day in 2018.