UDTA PUNJAB - After so much struggle the movie lastly got its deserving release on this Friday. At first the censor board wanted 80 something cuts with A certificate , then it falls to 30 something cuts with A certificate and lastly the decision by the High Court - A Certificate with just one cut. Its alarming to my mind how can 80 something cuts falls to just 1 cut , that's a huge gap , and proves that something very wrong is going on with the Censor Board. After watching the film I don't know what they want to cut , yes there were whole lot of cursed words , a lot of violenceand some indicated rape scenes but nothing was shown , but that's exactly the point of giving it an A CERTIFICATE . Because its not a film for anyone below 18. And then a cheap step taken by the Censor Board , they leaked the print on TORRENT to disrupt the commercial business of the movie. I personally cant request anyone to not download it and go to theater to watch it which anyone would have done in case leak hasn't been happened , but i can definitely say that if this movie get flopped on box office then it would be a shame on every movie lover and a win for Censor Board. And i don't even know whom to blame. So a movie by Abhishek Chaubey. Anybody who knows him will agree with me that Abhishek Chaubey can be described as an Amalgamation between Anurag Kashyap (who produced udta punjab) and Vishal Bhardawaj (who produced two early film of Abhishek). UDTA PUNJAB can itself can be explained as a combination of KAMINEY and GANGS OF WASSYPUR , not by its theme but by the style and treatment. I liked ISHQIYA debut movie by Abhishek and i loved Dedh ISHQIYA which was even better. And i surly liked Udta Punjab as much as Dedh Ishqiya. For a start Abhishek's PUNJAB doesn't exist on the same planet in which YRF'S or DHARMA production's PUNJAB exists. Both PUNJABS are exact opposite. The PUNJAB here is not romantic and the youth here doesn't sing romantic songs with their lovers because they were too busy ruining their life using Drugs. One very good thing what movie did was how it managed to show the whole PUNJAB around four different characters.The Movie starts with a kick when a DISCUS THROWER throws a packet of drug from Pakistan to his Punjab dealer across border. Which was found by a unnamed Bihari migrant hockey player (played by Alia Bhatt) who thinks selling those drugs can bring good times to her life , but was unaware of the dark days which are in front of her because of her involvement with Drug Mafia. Alia Bhatt has been so much made fun of her lack of General Knowledge. But in his Bollywood carrier she has shown so much Intelligence in selecting movies. This character was very difficult to pull of with also Bihari Accent , but Alia did it perfectly . Watch out for the scene when she describe her past to TOMMY , it will make you feel so much for her (very similar to the scene when Alia described her past to Randeep in HIGHWAY) . Also applause for the make up department to make Alia look like a labour girl who works in the field. Then there is TOMMY (Shahid Kapoor) , a role model for the youth. Who sing songs on Drugs and his fans made those songs their Philosophy. The character of TOMMY represents directly the singers like Honey Singh and other rappers who don't know to how to make songs other then Alcohol and Girls. Shahid pulls the character with style. His looks suited him perfectly. This was the best performance by Shahid since Kaminey. Then comes Sartaj Singh (Diljit) a corrupt police officer who loves to go with the flow of the system and arrangement with the drug dealers until he found his own brother fighting for his life against the drugs. Everyone knows Diljit as a singer. But very few people knows that he is already a superstar in Punjab movie industry. In fact out of 5 highest grossing Punjabi movies Four have Diljit as the main lead . Before this in total i had seen two Punjabi movie of Diljit and i liked him a lot. And for very long time i was waiting for his Bollywood debut. Diljit gave a subtle but great performance. Love to see him in more Bollywood movies. Kareena Kapoor Khan's character was the simplest one , of a doctor who helps drug addict and wants to bring some change in the system . Kareena was good too in her performance. In showing reality the Director and Writers have taken great help from injecting humor. But it never seems forced. Every Joke in the movie came like a normal sentence which can come out of a normal person in that particular situation. And let me tell you , i have laugh a lot in this movie. The humor too was very similar to Dedh Ishqiya and Gangs of Wassypur. The movie was fast paced , with some very little drag moments in second half mostly due to the love angels which could have been deleted totally , but they will not bother you much. Music was not so good when it came out , but in the movie it matched the situations excellently. Not a single song to bore. I am very much Happy with the fact that i went to watch the movie in Theater and not seen it on my laptop with leaked print because i don't think the effect remains same. UDTA PUNJAB shows the Astonishing but Brutal truth of our youth , which deserves a watch..
7.8/10 By ANuP APu KuMaR
7.8/10 By ANuP APu KuMaR