ters that people it. Expletives fl y thick and fast as the action shifts from the raucous milieu of a coke-snorting Punjabi crooner( whose songs are peppered with fourletter words) to the world of corrupt cops( who let drug consignments be driven in and out of the state) to the depths of the diffi cult life of a Bihari migrant( who sinks into a spiral of drugs and sexual exploitation). With an intelligent combination of hardboiled cynicism and broad touches of trippy black humour, the fi lm brings alive a benighted universe where life has lost its way in a drug-induced haze. The fi lm invokes Punjab ' s great romantic poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi to accentuate the poignancy of the situation. The rockstar-protagonist sings of " a girl whose name is love and who is lost " to drive home the evaporation of charm and beauty from the lives of the youth. In the fi rst 40 minutes of its second half, Udta Punjab is literally trapped in darkness. Director of photography Rajeev Ravi lenses the night-time scenes with great skill, setting up the eventual opening out into a burst of brightness accompanied by an eruption of cathartic violence. Chaubey ' s third venture underscores, like Ishqiya and Dedh Ishqiya did, the originality of his directorial voice. He imparts heady propulsion to a grim theme and constructs an unfl inching narrative that does not shy from calling out the forces responsible for Punjab ' s undeserved plight. Udta Punjab takes fl ight without wasting a second- from the very moment the title appears on a fl ying heroin pouch hurled from across the border by a discus thrower. It cruises along at an even pace right until the crackling climax, which is shockingly bloody but remarkably effective. Chaubey ' s robust directorial style, which enmeshes sharp characterization with evocative use of music( composer Amit Trivedi is in fi ne fettle here), keeps the tale on the boil even during the occasional stretches where it teeters on the edge of over-articulation. A pop star Tommy Singh, a nameless Bihari migrant girl, a cynical policeman Sartaj Singh and a doctor who runs a de-addiction centre( Kareena Kapoor Khan) are thrown into dangerous disarray
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REVIEW’ S
in a climate vitiated by the easy availability of drugs. Two metaphors- one delivered in the form of a physical prop, the other as a visual refrain- defi ne the plight of the pop star-hero and the girl who gives him a purpose in life. As the fi lm hurtles towards its climax, we see the male protagonist in winged shoes, but limping. On the other hand, a tourism hoarding exhorting people to " go Goa " is the only thing that the entrapped girl can see from the room where she is held captive. Both have the will but are severely held back by their circumstances, which is, by extension, a commentary on the current state of the state of Punjab itself. The character that overshadows everyone else in Udta Punjab is that of the poor farm worker played with intensity and passion by Bhatt. The girl ' s misfortune falls literally from the sky in the form of a heroin packet. Greed gets the better of her and she ends up in a hell-hole. It is ironic that the other female part written for Udta Punjab is the weakest of the quartet of pivotal characters. Played by Kareena Kapoor Khan, Dr. Preeti Sahani, whose concerted war on drugs helps the confl icted policeman out of a personal crisis, is an embodiment of righteousness. She is too perfect to be true. The director extracts solid performances from his two male actors. Shahid Kapoor, with his toned torso heavily tattooed, does full justice to the mercurial Tejinder Singh alias Tommy Singh of Phagwara, plunging headlong into the gleeful but ill-advised mayhem he represents. Diljit Dosanjh, in his fi rst role in a Hindi fi lm, plays the cop who decides to break free from the system when his own brother Balli( Prabhjyot Singh) nearly dies on him due to a drug overdose. Dosanjh does not put a foot wrong, playing his role with restraint. He also lends his singing voice to the fi lm ' s defi ning musical piece- a Batalvi poem set to lilting music by Amit Trivedi. But it is Alia, who despite the battering that fate has reserved for her, never loses her appetite for a fi ght. The petite actress is the fi lm ' s towering totem. The liberal use of cuss words may be too grating for some ears. Udta Punjab is not family entertainment, but it is an undeniably magnifi cent- and purposeful- commercial Hindi fi lm. Do not miss it.