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उड़ता पंजाब (2016)

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.