Director's Desk

Poorly crafted, seems deliberately enacted with marketing strategies. It is too lighter than the gruesome truth that Punjab is facing. In this documentary cum episodic plot I kept my mobile on and scrolled it just to avoid being repetitive.  I am thinking if Mr. Nihlani has given this film a smooth go then what would have been the fate?  This movie is not worth of all the hype which was rigorously circulated by the media. Why Mr. Nihlani gave-away the much practisized tools to the makers, who already knew that #Udtapunjab will squat just after its release, but controversies draws attentions yet it’s still unable to create buzz in people’s mind. I was sitting in the vacant theatre, rolling my thoughts up and down, frequently pulling the bathroom door, spraying the commode, styled my moustache, refraining myself to enter the screening room but when I managed to set-in, the similar plots were showering…. What the “F” ?

The problem is not only to understand situation of Punjab but in a more vigorous way it lies being an aficionado of International Cinema, when it comes to characterization it becomes so unrealistic where you couldn’t possibly attach a bit with it… unwanted madness, lame graffiti of society, still fearful to reach in-depth. This is certainly not a Chaubey’s style of filmmaking he was surely under the influence of those cinemas like Requiem for a dream. This must have thrived his mind so badly that the result was pathetic, far away from the core facts.

For that matter just take a character of Tommy (Shahid) a singer, he is extremely volatile, boorish, turbulent, drawn by cocaine, suddenly gets enlightened in police cell and throw lectures during his show. When u keenly observes this entire episode, you got amazed that there is no SEX exists in the so-called drug ghettos. The minute your thought goes minus sex, you lost the way then and there. The wildness of drugs are very much proportionate to sex and women.

I have no intention to write its storyline, because it’s again a torture. Different-2 characters placed into circumstantial conditions, moving along with director’s demand not by their own merits. Exercising with ongoing situations and finally they all gathered like Priyadarshan’s climax. The End.

But there are some “Aha’ moments like Shahid’s performance was remarkable, I love the way Alia spoke in Bihari slangs, her efforts were visible. Kareena Kapoor looks old and pitty, Diljit was very natural and I must say he left his presence.

It’s a very melodramatic film, relying totally on editing but sometimes those cuts were so sharp that left you empty handed. After all very edgy cuts it’s a very lengthy film and if you want to know the Punjab’s problem in a superficial way then go and watch.