Udta Punjab review

Udta Punjab

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor, Diljit Dosanjh

Director: Abhishek Chaubey

Music : Amit Trivedi

Review by Zulfi (4/5)

            Amidst all the mayhem and furore of politics, ‘Udta Punjab’ was released ten days back with lukewarm reception. It didn’t match all the box office fever which generally is seen in Friday released movies. But for a movie suffused with the hype of censor’s initial rejection and later legislation’s approval, it was really good. And it is saying a lot. Expectations were high, and it did surely match them.

            The movie intersects the lives of three principal characters, who are facing the drug problem at some level. At one corner is Gabru AKA Tommy Singh, sensational pop/ rock artist, who is a music sensation, but a snort is mandatory before he can perform. Probably he needed cocaine as a creative element earlier, but he isn’t aware that now he craves the fix only for getting high rather than for music inspiration. He tries manically to get the new tunes but he couldn’t and is on the verge of decline (professionally). Moreover all his songs are about drugs and their positive side, which attracts the wrath of the judiciary. On the side of judiciary, is a low rung cop, Sartaj, who is making a tidy sum along with his elder cousin (who is his senior in cop-hood) being lenient to drug trafficking, which is so rampant in the area. His main problem is his drug addled younger brother, who after a near death incident, is recuperating in a drug rehabilitation center, run by Dr Preet Sahni (Kareena Kapoor). She is one of those rare beautiful, caring and humanitarian ladies, who really wants to fight the drug problem at the roots. Sartaj as a means of repayment for his brother’s life agrees to go as far as it can take to help her curb the trafficking menace, even if it is going against the Governments. And then there is a Bihari labour girl (Alia Bhatt), who comes across a packet of Heroin, which was thrown across the border by some good javelin athlete cum trafficker amidst a deal. She is so ignorant of the stuff that she isn’t aware of the 3 kilo powder's worth. She wants to sell it so that she can get financially sufficient and be free of her bonded labor life. But what she doesn’t know that it is going to be one tough sell, as she is caught by the drug dealers on the Indian side of the border, who missed the stuff during the cross border transaction. They torture her by repeatedly raping and getting her high as she throws the one crore worth material down the drain. The three characters during their trials and tribulations come across each other, which results in some love, some deaths, and some deep realizations of narco-ruins.

            The first thing, which should be addressed while talking about the movie is about the magnanimity of the drug menace. I, for one, wasn’t aware of the scale of addiction, narcotics have gotten inside the Indian populace or at least predominantly in one section of it. During the promos, in the social media, coming across the statistics, I could only gasp. The movie depicts the strata of the trafficking and how the general masses in Punjab have to deal with this social issue. The movie shows how the rehabilitation centers are running in the state and how well versed are the doctors with the antidotes of certain drugs and how they are complacent in the symptomotology of the addicts. That itself speaks about the magnitude of the problem. In a scene when Gabru is arrested and kept in gaol with other addicts, he listens to a couple of teenagers, who claim to be his fans and how he inspires them with his music and in fact it was he, who prodded them towards snorting. But he gets devastated a moment later, when he gets to know that they killed their own mother for money to satisfy their fix.

            The movie moves through the topography of rural Punjab, where in the small shacks, teenagers are laid down as lifeless masses with syringes in their hands and heating the concoctions of the medicines as solutions to inject. It also shows the withdrawal symptoms of the problem which is the most painful and which makes the matters worse with the addicts behaving like rabid dogs to sink their teeth in to satisfy their itch. On a down note, it shows how the jurisdiction is turning a blind eye with the traffic checkpoints running such a poor show and allowing the problem to spread. The director, Abhishek Chaubey, depicts the political angle in the whole setup of the drug trafficking and explores the possibility of the society getting involved to deal with the issue, starting from families to caregivers. ‘Udta Punjab’ is a story which needs to be told strongly to make us aware of the growing problem of drugs and their trafficking so that we may tackle it at grass root level before it becomes more rampant.

            The movie though moves a little slow in the first half, the narrative takes a gripping and taut turn as it proceeds towards the end. The performances from the leads are terrific. Shahid Kapoor’s pop artist is a caricature of the modern emerging Indian rappers, who are becoming a little lenient with their lyrics and ethics. He plays as the spoilt celebrity with a sort of manic glint in the eye and with a propensity to mishandle himself under the influence of drugs. Kareena Kapoor for a change plays an offbeat role in contrary to her mainstream approach. She fits as the humanitarian rehabilitation doctor, who is destined to do some good for humanity and whose nature makes it easy for Sartaj to get infatuated with her. Diljit Dasanjh is very fitting as that morally ambivalent cop, who is almost a rookie and then switches to the right side owing to his brother. He looks tough when required and tender as a love smitten cop in the charms of Preet. But it is Alia Bhatt as Bhauri, who steals the show as the migrant laborer. Her walk and talk couldn’t be more apt like an average Bihari settler, whom she portrays. There is not even a little slurring when she speaks Bhojpuri. She gives a run for money to even Kangna Ranaut’s excellent Haryanvi speaking Jatt in ‘Tanu weds Manu 2’. Alia Bhatt’s character is the strongest in the whole movie as she fights the fix after the addiction is rubbed on to her by her tormentors. But it is in the scene in the dark alley, where she is closeted with Gabru as both are chased by their respective hostile quarries, she gives a spirited performance as the downtrodden immigrant, who fights like a cornered dog and bawls like a mad girl in self pity over her spoilt sports dreams and yearning for some respite.

            And then again, I can’t close the review without giving a nod to the technical spirit of the movie, which is Amit Trivedi’s terrific score. His both versions of the title song are thumping and surreal. Even the slow numbers leave a humming mood in the mind of audience. His effect is clearly visible when in a scene Gabru sings a few lines amidst improbable conditions. The song for a moment makes us forget the surrounding atmosphere. He has been doing this since Dev D and since then, I have been under the impression, he is probably the best of the recent generation of musicians. Abhishek Chaubey conducts the three POVs very skillfully, though there were a few snags in the first half when a disjointed framework lingers in the script, but it becomes more cohesive and interesting as it proceeds. But probably it is his social angle without much preachy approach and giving a cutting edge climax, which works for the movie.

            ‘Udta Punjab’ might have gathered censor scorn at the start and went to get the help of the courts. But these are the types of movies, which need to be addressed to the public, compared to the pathetic mindless flicks Bollywood produces with no real purpose. There has been a count of swear words in the movie to substantiate its ban, which probably was an excuse to the initial erring. But though graphic and vocabulous in the taste of language it may be, it gives a truth, which needs to be understood and informative to the public. This is where film as a medium to information serves its purpose full. If it is the way of the new generation of movies, it is on the right track.