#365DaysOfWriting – Day Forty-Three
Udta Punjab.
Chaddi pehan ke gaaun
Ya phir gaaun nanga
Tu hota hai kaun chuje
Chal teri maa da kanga
These four lines aptly sum up the film’s response to Pahlaj Nihalani. Let’s get that out of the way first, shall we? The Censor Board (actually Nihalani) needs to grow a pair. Udta Punjab shows the horrifying true face of the narcotics terror in Punjab. It succeeds in making a solid political statement. Oddly enough, in a weird way, they actually have Nihalani to thank for that.
Anyway, we’re not talking politics here today, we’re talking about a film. A powerful one. Staying true to its name, it flies at a merry pace throughout (except in the beginning of the second half, where it slows down a bit.) Sudip Sharma (co-writer) and Abhishek Chaubey (co-writer and director) deserve a hat tip for this. Given the subject, they could’ve easily made the mistake of giving us a preachy, over-the-top, almost jingoistic film. Instead what they serve up is a harsh look at the truth, via a stoner-surrealist film. This is almost India’s version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, only more hard-hitting.
This film has a rockstar.
I’m not talking about Tommy Singh though. There is this guy who plays a police officer, a man who goes from being corrupt to being righteous, and manages to straddle both roles with ease. He’s innocent throughout though – he has this village simpleton aura about him, and it makes him endearing and irritating at the same time. His helplessness at being not too bright (he says so himself at one point – barely passed school/college and got this policeman job thanks to an uncle) and yet his eagerness to do what’s right makes him one of the most believable characters I’ve seen on screen in a long time. He’s a fantastic actor. He’s Sartaj Singh, known as Diljit Dosanjh in real life. I’ve heard a lot of good things about him, and I’m going to start watching his Punjabi films to see more of his work. He won my heart. And this was the first time I was watching him on screen. And Diljit doesn’t ‘act’ – he doesn’t need to. He’s a natural, and gets into the skin of his character. He could’ve been one-dimensional, but he’s the most layered and complex character in the film.
Talking about natural, I think Kareena Kapoor Khan fitted into her role too, although she was the most boring of the characters. That may be a function of the way her character was written, but all she seemed to be was a toned-down, serious version of Geet from Jab We Met. But she was adequate, I’ll give her that. And her arc with Diljit was sweet, but it was made interesting by Diljit, not her.
The more interesting arc of the film was made by the other, more eccentric pair.
Tommy Singh (Shahid Kapoor) is a GABRU. That he tells us in almost every scene he’s in. You could be forgiven for thinking that this is a Vishal Bhardwaj film (Chaubey is a Bhardwaj protege anyway) because Shahid sinks his teeth into this role with gusto. He’s almost like Honey Singh on steroids and cocaine and God knows what not. There is a point in this film where he tries to do the right thing, but alas…
Talking about right thing, Alia Bhatt seems to be making all the right moves in her career. This role is another major tick mark for her. She plays ‘The Woman With No Name’, quite literally, and goes through a roller coaster of good, bad and ugly in her life – more bad and ugly than good though sadly. One of the high points of the film is when both Shahid and Alia bump into each other for the first time and have a weird, absurd exchange that makes complete sense.
There is another rockstar in this film.
And that’s Amit Trivedi, without a shadow of a doubt. From Chitta Ve to Ikk Kudi and Da Da Dasse, Trivedi provides a soundtrack that’s rustic, yet urban, loud yet soft, and consistent yet eclectic. This is Bollywood’s best music director, ladies and gentlemen. Maybe even India’s, and who knows – maybe even the world’s best?
So thank you, Abhishek Chaubey for giving us this film.
Thank you, Censor Board, for ensuring we watched it.
Thank you, Diljit, Shahid and Alia for giving magnificent performances.
Thank you for making my playlist glorious, Amit Trivedi.
And thank you, Anurag Kashyap, for fighting for this film.
