Does an individual make a society or society moulds an individual? This is a fundamental question that many a filmmaker over the years - from Govind Nihalani to Gulzar to Ram Gopal Verma to Sudhir Misra to Rakeysh Mehra - have tried to explore through their cinematic ventures like 'Ardh Satya', 'Maachis', 'Hu Tu Tu', 'Satya', 'Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi' and the recent 'Rang De Basanti'.

The debate on how socio-political events in a country affect its people, even though they may have nothing to do with them, is now sought to be reignited by 'Dil Se Pooch Kidhar Jaana Hai', a new film about an individual's struggle to retain his faith and innocence intact in the face of circumstances and events happening around him.

Scheduled for release this Friday, 'Dil Se Poochi', dealing with how a series of events during the early nineties changed the course of many lives, is yet another hard-hitting statement about how lives of individuals and their creativity, dreams and aspirations are often a casuality under the prevailing socio-political system.

Talking about the film, which features theatre and television actor Aditya Srivastava (of 'CID' fame) and actress Vani Tripathi (who earlier appeared in films like 'Dishman', 'Chalte Chalte', 'Stumped' and 'Sutradhar'), its debutant director Shrirang Ramchandra Dhawale, a NSD product, said,''the underlying essence of the film is that every country has a life laced with events that affect the social and political fabric of the country and parallel to that are lives of individuals living in that nation. There are not two dissociated realities.''

Set against the socio-political scenario in Mumbai from 1993 to 2005, 'Dil Se Pooch...' is about two protagonists Avinash and Aliya, whose lives get shattered due to a series of events in Mumbai during the early nineties.

After a gap of few years, Avinash and Aliya meet each other again only to find that while Avinash is a police office, Aliya is now a prostitute.

In a situation where one of them (Avinash) has to deal with the system while the other (Aliya) has to deal with herself, living their lives the way they want becomes very difficult.

Talking to press on the eve of the film's release, actress Vani Tripathi, who plays Aliya in the film and has also been associated with the production of the film, said, ''the film is a stark portrayal on how the societies and the system try to undermine the individuality of a person by forcing him or her to adhere to the norms set by them.''

''It is about how the protagonists Avinash and Aliya, despite being torn by circumstances and events around them, manage to keep their faith in life and innocence intact. The empowerment of these people is that they do get shattered but refuse to break down,'' she added.