In 1997, Vivek (Bodhisattva Sharma) is 17, and as every middle-class family in India would attest, it is high time he was enrolled in coaching classes for the notoriously competitive entrance exams of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).Vivek's father Ramesh (Shashi Bhushan), who sees an IIT degree as a moral certificate, ships his only son off to a residential preparatory school in Kota, the Mecca for IIT coaching. The family lives in Lucknow. Manju (Geeta Agrawal Sharma) is Vivek's mother and is suffering from high cholesterol. Manju runs a STD/PCO booth, and Ramesh is breaking his FD savings to pay for Vivek's expenses in Kota. Ramesh also has a government job in the Telecom department.Kalpana Bundela (Sheeba Chaddha) runs a famous coaching institute in Kota, and 70-80 of her students get selected every year. Ramesh & Vivek reach Kota and stay with a boy from Lucknow named Vicky. Vicky's parents are their family friends. Vivek writes the entrance exam for selection to Kalpana's coaching institute. Vivek wanted to do BSc in Lucknow, but Ramesh would hear none of it. He is adamant that Vivek has to attempt IIT entrance exam.Vivek clears the coaching institute exam. Ramesh rents him a solo room costing Rs 1000 per month. He gets a bicycle for transportation. Eventually, Ramesh returns home. First IIT was opened in Kharagpur in 1956, in an old British Jail. The IITs were modeled on the MIT in the US. IITs have 2500 seats, and yet One Lakh kids attend coaching classes to gain entrance to them. Manu was also from Lucknow and was slapped often by his father Raghu for the smallest mistakes. One day Manu slapped his father back. Later, he was embarrassed and wanted to leave home. He got the perfect excuse of IIT coaching in Kota. Later, Manu gets selected in IIT. Raghu is in Ramesh's office and Ramesh sees the respect Raghu gets once Manu is selected to IIT. This is why Ramesh wants IIT for Vivek as well. Kota had industries to begin with. But then industries started closing and the city started to be deserted. Kalpana started her tuition with 5 kids and went from 50 to 500. She then rented an old college to conduct her classes.Vivek starts attending classes. Kalpana tells the kids on their first day that once you get into an IIT, success is guaranteed. Vivek calls home regularly and says how lonely he feels. Ramesh retorts that the family is sacrificing everything for the sake of his education. Vivek makes friends in his hostel like Ishaan (Vidit Singh), who is interested in making girlfriends. Rinku Yadav (Ayush Pandey) and Chandan (Vidit Singh) stay in the same hostel and have been attempting IIT for 3 years.Shawn Michael (Saadat Khan) lives in Lucknow and is preparing for competitions. He would come into Manju's PCO booth to make calls. In reality his name is Mohit Verma and Mohit was using the PCO booth to make lewd calls to random girls and women.Sarika (Samta Sudiksha) studies in Vivek's class and is a super smart girl. Sarika starts noticing Vivek in and outside of class, which makes him happy. But Vivek then sees Sarika with Rinku and thinks that they are dating. Later, Rinku, Chandan, Sarika and Vivek go for a picnic to the local dam, by bunking their class. Sarika clarifies that Rinku is just her friend. Sarika says her dream is to be connected to Physics and learn how physics shapes nature. Vivek realizes that he has no such dream or passion.Meanwhile, Ramesh is suspended from his job when he is given the responsibility for organizing a cake for the Independence Day function at his office. The cake has the Indian Flag printed upside down, and as such Ramesh is blamed for the entire fiasco. As a result, the phone lines to the PCO are also cut and now the family has no means of income. In his frustration, Ramesh confronts Mohit and beats him up for making lewd calls. In retaliation, Mohit comes by later and throws water on Manju, but clearly indicating that it could have been an acid attack.The office asks Ramesh to take a 2 month leave without pay as punishment. Ramesh tells his senior that his own son failed in 12th class and is hence taking it out on juniors, whose sons will crack IIT.In the first mock IIT, Vivek scores a rank of 5043 and is demoted from A3 batch to B2. Vivek was always a topper at his local school, but here the competition was at a different level. Every student was a topper at their respective school.Vivek becomes friends with Rinku and Chandan and starts going to gaming arcades with them. One day he realizes that Chandan was actually serious about his studies, and only pretended to be chill and cool. Another day, Sarika takes Vivek to her room, and that is a huge step forward for him, in their relationship. Sarika and Vivek admit that they like each other.In Mock test 2, Vivek scores a rank of 4344. Chandan is at 2802. Rinku is angry with Chandan for betraying him and is angry with Sarika for taking Vivek to her room.Mohit continues to terrorize Manju by throws rocks at their house through the windows. Manju confronts Ramesh that he is not able to stop Mohit, or fight for his job at the office, and he is hence taking out all of his frustrations at Vivek. Ramesh goes to student union president Ravi who knows the family. Ravi and Ramesh again confront Mohit, who apologizes profusely and doesn't want the matter to be escalated to his parents or to the police. Ravi and Ramesh go to meet Mohit's parents. Mohit's father is from IIT Kanpur and Mohit himself is studying at IIT Kanpur. Ramesh realizes that even students from IIT can be terrible human beings.After the 3rd Mock IIT exam, Chandan and Sarika are in the top 10. Rinku commits suicide. Vivek returns home to Lucknow. Ramesh finally acknowledges to Vivek that IIT is not a magic potion. He says that life is bigger than IIT. With the weight of expectations gone from his shoulders, Vivek sighs a breath of relief and writes the main IIT exam in 1998.