Reviews & Ratings for
उड़ता पंजाब (2016)

Udta Punjab.
This movie is India’s answer to Crash. Like other ensemble piece such as ‘Mumbai meri jaan’, this film follows the story of 3 or 4 main characters and how their lives are affected by the drug problem in Punjab.
Let’s start with the positives first, this is a VERY powerful film…
The message in the film is very definitely anti-drug and it does not in any way endorse the use of drugs. But it manages to send this message without being preachy or overly morose. There are a lot of tragic-comedy scenes in the film and it also definitely has a VERY dark sense of humour at times.
The first half is very well paced and fast moving. The story is involving and engaging, but then the second half slows down and the movie drags on for a while before coming to its inevitable conclusion. Despite the story, the characters are at times half-baked and clichéd and only a few times do they manage to be deep and rewarding.
Breaking Bad this is not, when it comes to character development.
Coming to the acting, Shahid Kapoor straight out rips off ben kingsley’s performance in Iron man 3 as the British actor Trevor. His mannerisms, facial expressions, hand movements are all reminiscent of that character. Maybe the films makers told him to do so, I don’t really know. His acting is not bad at all, it’s just a bit of a rip-off. But despite this, he is able to portray a man gone down the drain who slowly gets back his mojo (he literally says he got back his mojo).
Kareena Kapoor-Khan’s character is reminiscent of her roles in Chameli and Dev. She does her role well without taking us out of the movie. She actually looks more attractive without the glitzy makeup of her normal roles. She also plays a more central role than the trailers would indicate.
Alia Bhatt does a tremendous job of playing a daily wage earning laborer. Her makeup shows her sun damaged skin and her acting shows her damaged soul. Despite her young age, she is an actress who has true range in this often shallow industry and is not afraid to look un-herione like. she is not just de-glam in this film; she is made to look like a normal laborer. Her face and features are of-course too pretty to completely hide her beauty, but that is also used a plot point and it the later revelation of her character's origin works well and rounds off her character quite well.
All other roles are done well enough by the actors and the secondary characters are believable, but their Punjabi dialog is hard to follow for those who don’t know the language.
The film also has a surprisingly high gore value, especially towards the end. It’s very brutal and realistic. It’s a little surprising to see such a gory movie in Bollywood, but it’s a welcome change from so called action movie who don’t have the guts to show gore at all.
Now the bad parts, not that there are many of them…
The editing is a bit choppy at times, characters teleport from place to place (or so it seems because of the editing). As mentioned before, the pacing of the second half gets slow, especially a lot of footage is covered over one night’s incidents and it almost felt like the movie will end within the span of that night (like NH10). Thankfully the next morning dawns and the movie catches is pace again.
Other than this… the movie is quite well made.
Now let’s come to the reason this movie has gotten infamous. The swearing and the drug abuse depicted, as well as the story which deals with the narco-political angle (a word used often in the movie itself).
The swearing is quite natural, though normally Bollywood films don’t depict this vulgar reality of life. People swear and they swear OFTEN. I would go so far as to say, they didn’t show enough swearing! People in real life,swear more often to express their anger, frustrations and disappointment.
As for the plot of drug abuse… Most people are not aware of the drug problem in the country. If there is any truth and factual basis behind the story, there is little wonder why the politicians will be rattled by this exposure of something, which most of the aam junta are unaware of.
Overall, as a film, it has its flaws, it’s not the best film ever made, but it’s a VERY important film.
People need to go and watch this film. Despite it being pirated before release, I hope people go to the theatres and see the film on the big screen like it was meant to be seen.
Rating : I would give this film a 6.5/10 just on the film making alone. But adding extra 2 points for the sensitive but crucial subject matter and the sheer guts of the filmmakers to make such a film.
Final Rating: 8.5/10.

After facing a lot of controversy from government and people this movie made its way to the screen and proved to be a #mustWatch for all the #insightful knowledge which has been hidden from us and considered to be a Taboo. This movie highlights the current and #raw situation of youth in Punjab who are destroying their lives with drugs and how the #political influence is leading to this disturbance in Punjab. With splendid acting from Shahid Kapoor , Aliaa Bhatt , Kareena Kapoor and the person who made his debut n Bollywood Diljit Dosanjh , this movie set benchmarks for other #blackcomedy inspired films to come

I saw Udta Punjab on my birthday which may not have been the best idea. Because it's a very dark film. It's taken me some time to process it and mull it over. I'm really impressed with the film making of writer/director Abhishek Chaubey. I enjoyed his film Ishquiya, and he was also a writer on Kaminey and Omkara. This film straddles the issue of drugs in the Punjab (the title means Punjab's High or Punjab's Flying) by telling the stories of four people affected by it. Alia Bhatt is a field worker who comes across a packet of drugs from Pakistan. Shahid Kapoor is a coke addicted rapper rock star who sings about drugs. Kareena Kapoor is a saintly doctor who runs a drug clinic, hands out needles and speaks out against the drug problem. And then there's Diljit Dosanjh who plays a cop, complicit in looking the other way and taking bribes until he realizes that his younger brother is an addict. his reminded me immediately of the Hollywood film Traffic that told the story of how the Mexican drug cartels impact four people. I actually have not seen that Oscar winning film, but I did see the BBC series it was based on, Traffik which dealt with drugs from Pakistan in the UK, and it's a British politician's daughter who is the addict. The story of Traffic/Traffik and Udta Punjab are not the exact same plot, but the intention is the same -- show the impact through four different characters involved in the drug crisis in different levels. And show how the problem is very political. That is overt in Udta Punjab, and that's why the Indian Censor Board demanded 89 cuts. Read the rest of my review here: https://moviemavengal.com/2016/06/20/udta-punjab-a-triumph-a-triumph-of-film-making-acting-and-most-importantly-over-the-censor-board/

Thanks to the Censor board, the film didn't have to invest much into their publicity campaign as the controversy translated into more footfalls. To be frank, I seriously dont understand what was the big deal about all this hungama as it wasnt as bad as it was portrayed to be. Whatever might be the justification of the censor team, I would suggest not to miss out on this as it provides a fleeting glimpse as to how our system itself is facilitating the drug mafia to flourish!!!

Okay. For me this isbthe best film of 2016. Such a brave attempt. Excellent content. Perfect execution. There's nothing that went wrong in the movie. Alia, Shahid, Diljit and Kareena enacted brilliantly. Kudos to Abhishek Chaubey for this masterpiece!

The film starts off strong and intense, throwing black humour along the way (Shahid's story) but it starts getting a little too unbelievable with Kareena's story after sometime, which could have been avoided, adding layers of unnecessary sweetness and convenience in their struggle. But Shahid's as well as Alia's story keeps us captured with the sometimes too gory-sometimes fun kinda roller coaster. Alia is clearly going to go places with her slow evolution towards maturity with acting, she gives almost everything possible to the role. Shahid isn't far behind as well. The cinematography is at times haluucinatory and other times the standard casual one.