‘Udta Punjab’ Review — The best first-half in recent Indian cinema

I’ve recently not felt as compelled to participate actively online but the kind of experience that ‘Udta Punjab’ was, pushed me to share what I felt. Here is my review (with as less spoilers as possible):

I don’t know if it’s an Ahmedabad thing or a PVR thing, but the movie actually starts a good 20–25 minutes after the lights go off because you’re subjected to the trailers of 1. ’Sultan’, 2. ’Great Grand Masti’, 3. ’Raman Raghav 2.0', 4. ’Junooniyat’ (try and spot a single difference from ‘Sanam Re’) and 5. ’San 75’. Then, puzzlingly, the same trailer of Raman Raghav plays a second time, so that’s a total of 6 trailers. Then come the two customary cigarette ads, then a huge disclaimer about what this film does NOT represent, possibly forced in by Nihalani & co and then multiple slides of ‘Thank you’ titles making you wonder whether the film has ended or is starting.

But the good news is that the first half of ‘Udta Punjab’ more than makes up for this sickening delay. It is quite simply the most riveting 75 minutes of cinema you’ve seen in recent history. It’ll shock, it’ll awe, there’s unlimited profanity, ghastly violence and abuse, it’ll shake you up but you won’t move an inch, literally, that’s how hooked you’ll be. This is an exposé of the ugly drug culture in Punjab, of how being addicted to drugs is screwing up people’s lives, of how deep the political nexus runs, of how people on different sides of the fence are affected by it, of how hostile and helpless this entire situation is; this is dark, it is unusual, this is scary and will often make you screech. The first half is in fact so good that you can’t help but get sickened by the ads that pour in during the interval, especially the unforgivable BSNL Ad where for some strange reason, the audio is slowed down making the already useless actors sound like aliens!

‘Udta Punjab’ is primarily focused on three protagonists — A guy who uses drug culture for success, a girl who becomes a victim of whose who take drugs and the third a fence-sitter who is indifferent to drugs but gets emotionally vested after a personal tragedy. Tommy Singh, played by Shahid Kapoor and evidently modelled on Yo! Yo! Honey Singh, is an ordinary Punjabi boy who struggles for professional success but then discovers that if his musical hobbies are put to use on a drug-heavy style of music and public-imagery, then it can get him unforeseen success and adulation. Alia Bhatt plays a nameless Bihari migrant worker who stumbles upon a packet of drugs and tries to get a shortcut to her dream of a perfect life, only to stumble midway and be punished with the worst possible consequences, but yet never loses her spirit. Sartaj Singh, played by Diljit Dosanjh, is an initially corrupt cop who profits from the drug nexus but gets tarnished when his brother becomes a victim and pairs up with social activist Preet Sahani (Kareena Kapoor) to fight the menace. What happens when their paths cross forms the rest of the story.

Some scenes deserve special mention: The opening scene where a packet of drugs is tossed into Punjab from the other side of the border by a discus thrower. The multiple shots of Punjabi youth sprawled all over succumbing to drugs. The post-transformation speech made by Shahid only to get rejected and then hunted by the audience he helped corrupt. The arrest of Shahid towards the end of his birthday party. The sensitive direction of the insensitive treatment meted out to Alia by her captors. The poetic swim she takes right at the end. However, ‘Udta Punjab’ is not without its share of blemishes and it is in the second half that the film loses steam. Yet another Bollywood fare where you feel the Director handed over his cap to someone else post interval to make his otherwise brilliant product ‘sellable’. You do understand, for the loose ends need to be tied up, things have to make ‘sense’, the characters need to get intertwined, the story needs to reach its end, people need to leave the cinema feeling ’positive’. But there are some scenes with the introduction of the love stories and deliberate humour where it all becomes a little silly. You can’t help wonder ‘what if’, what if this amazing team of filmmakers had managed to resist a bit more and find a way to carry on the stunning first half, yet reaching a compliant end. However, all of this combined still doesn’t take away from a great film and at the end, you will still feel conflicted, amazed, dazzled, sad, possibly even bewildered but all in all, extremely impacted!

‘Udta Punjab’ is directed by Abhishek Chaubey (who has previously directed ‘Ishqiya’ and ‘Dedh Ishqiya’ and written films such as ‘Omkara’ and ‘Kaminey’) and produced by the Anurag Kashyap clan along with the Ekta Kapoor clan. Hats off to the team behind this film for daring to go beyond the usual, unearth a truly massive issue, take on the establishment and make a film that’s so real it feels unreal! You will hate Pahlaj Nihalani even more after watching this film cringing at how hard he tried to curb a film that clearly and unarguably talks about battling drugs and the beauty at the end of the tunnel. Even if Anurag Kashyap and co blew up the controversy more than necessary, I don’t blame them for it is tough to make such a film and yet get audiences of our orientation flocking to cinemas in huge numbers. It is quite possible that had this film not passed through so much controversy, it may not have been viewed by as many people as it now will. Thus for that and that alone, thank you Mr Nihalani.

As for the performances, Alia Bhatt is simply sensational and overshadows everyone else by a long mile. You can’t help but get bowled over by her superlative acting prowess. She is the character she plays, she gets the Bihari accent spot on, most of all, her lack of consciousness about her looks or image is so awe-inspiring, in a time where even ordinary people worry about the number of Facebook likes their photos get. Additionally, the Director’s poetic handling of many hard-hitting scenes with Alia should be lauded. Kareena brings depth to her deglam character with an interesting mix of anger and vulnerability. Diljit Dosanjh, who is a popular singer and actor in Punjabi cinema makes his Bollywood debut with this one and brings an inherent sincerity to his character but seems slightly unidimensional after a while. Shahid Kapoor arguably disappoints with not being able to fully exploit the meaty character he could otherwise have further sunk his teeth into. He gets the funny parts right but fails to convey the angst his character must have felt. Amongst the supporting actors, Satish Kaushik deserves special mention, the others are reasonable. The music of this film is primarily orchestrated by Amit Trivedi and is rocking. For obvious reasons, it also has a lot of death-metal-esque tones, however ‘Ik Kudi’ (also sung by Dosanjh) is soulful and touching!

Watch this film, period. Disclaimer: It’s not for the faint hearted.