Stark, hard-hitting and unflinching, Udta Punjab sends out the right message about drug abuse — repercussions for addicts leading to penury and family breakdown, violence, rape, self-abuse, corruption and apathy.

Take a bow director Abhishek Chaubey (Ishqiya, Dedh Ishqiya) as “wow” escapes one’s lips when actors Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt ignite the screen with their powerhouse performances. Chaubey doesn’t glamourise any scene. Straight to the first scene and then on to flashy night clubs, huts and streets nukkads where drugs are snorted, injected, smoked, etc sans sermonising or glamourising its use. It’s a hard fact that in the state of Indian Punjab every nukkad small shop sells ‘white’. In his previous film, Ishqiya, Abhishek Chaubey handled the topic of the easily available ‘katta’ desi pistols in Uttar Pradesh. In Udta Punjab, it’s the mammoth drug menace again in the state of Punjab and its crippling effect on the Indian youth. 

Time and again, Shahid Kapoor has proved his talent (Haider, Kaminey, Jab We Met etc). As the drug-addicted rock star, Tommy Singh and/or Gabru, he doesn’t disappoint. In fact, he has nailed the role. The body language, his appearance, including the long hair and later the man-bun, is bang on. Nothing surprising here. That was expected of him.

Films like these need to be made however much a state wants to remain in denial mode

But the chota packet Alia is simply superlative. It’s impossible to believe the talent she unleashes on screen. As an unnamed, poor migrant girl from the state of Bihar travelling with a hockey stick, a small backpack and faded clothes, in search of acchay time (a subtle pun on the Indian Prime Minister’s poll promises), she has completely gotten into character. Scene after scene, one felt like giving her a standing ovation. In one scene — the utterly resigned, tormented, helpless look in her eyes as the goons inject her with heroine before raping her — is chillingly unbelievable. Then the next one where she tries to save Tommy who is beating up goons with her hockey stick is unparalleled.

The story by now is an open book. Though the state featured is Indian Punjab, it could be any other state in another part of the world. The attire can change, the language too, but the menace of drugs all over the world remains rampant. Every country has its fair share of corrupt cops, officials and politicians who will go to any lengths to win at the polls; even distributing free vials of cocaine known as ‘white’ (slang) or ‘chitta’(in Punjabi). Till the scourge hits one’s own home, there is no remorse whatsoever.

Tommy is a Punjabi pop star and a drug addict who openly abuses drugs and also propagates it, unaware of the impact of his actions on his young fans who blindly ape him. The migrant girl enters the scene when she finds a pack of cocaine. Without realising its true value, she tries to vend it and gets into one helluva situation.

Sartaj (Daljit Dosanjh) is a mid-level police officer who is happy getting Rs10,000 monthly hafta to turn a blind eye to the drug trade in the vicinity.  Preet (Kareena Kapoor-Khan) is an activist doctor who also runs a rehab center. Sartaj and Preet later join hands to expose the politician-cop nexus in the drug cartel.

Some of the speeches are sermonising but are still very much needed, like when Tommy is in a crowded lockup. He meets a couple of boys there who idolise the rock star and even hum a song. Tommy soon realises that the two have been jailed for killing their mother who denied them money to buy drugs! It changes him, and makes him realise the folly of his ways.

The film didn’t need all the pre-release censorship brouhaha. Yes, the language used is coarse and every other sentence is interspersed with profanity. But that is how many of the present-day youth converse in their daily life. In fact, had the media circus not happened at all, the film wouldn’t have received such an excellent reception from viewers.

Udta Punjab happens to be the first mainstream Hindi film with English subtitles. In fact, it’s a Punjabi film. Both the Kapoors and Daljit are Punjabis, so the language comes easily for them. Alia speaks a mixture of Bhojpuri and Hindi, and she has her accent right.

The music is nothing to talk about, but yes, the poetry of Shiv Kumar Batalvi does lift a particular song.  

The film is a must-watch for superlative performances by both Alia Bhatt and Shahid Kapoor.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, June 26th, 2016