UDTA PUNJAB BO/Review Thread~~ - Page 28

Here's my take

Udta Punjab (2016)

Hard Hitting, Grim & Raw - that's Udta Punjab in a nutshell. This one is a daring movie which tackles an extremely burning issue in Punjab and exposes the truth as it is. There's no sugar coating, there's no preaching, there's no real solution at the end. Its sole aim is to provoke the audience and sensitise them. To cast four A-listers, give them all meaty parts and to weave in the four different story lines into one movie while never impeding the essence of the movie is no mere feat. But with Abhishek Chaubey's skilful direction and Sudip Sharma's brilliant screenplay, Udta Punjab manages all of that and makes a strong statement. Amit Trivedi's music and the background score are excellent. Da Da Dasse & Ikk Kudi are gems. The only downfalls would have to be the length and sluggish pace. Really does test your patience at times making the movie feel more like a documentary. I didn't mind the cuss words (more so because I didn't understand them) but a few dialogues/lyrics in the first half by Tommy while he's penning down his songs were unnecessary. Those aside, I would highly recommend Udta Punjab. Not sure about you guys but the second half of the year has no exciting movies (barring Gauri Shinde's Dear Zindagi) so before you take a break with Bollywood, do, do watch Udta Punjab. The movie also has superlative performances from the whole cast.

Alia undoubtedly makes the biggest impact through a shocking transformation and a performance even her senior actors haven't been able to pull off. She's unbelievably good. She proved her mettle with Highway and further pushes the envelope with Udta Punjab. If you can get over how annoying Karan Johar shoves her down our throat and appreciate her talent, you'll see that this girl is easily the best actress we've had in a long time. Watch out for her during her breakdown scene with Tommy, her scene next to the well and the ones where she's being caged. Kareena stuns you with her beauty and her performance is literally pitch-perfect. It's a pleasure to listen to her get the Punjabi accent right - it added a lot of weight to her performance, making it earthy and natural. She gets a part which is the polar opposite of Alia's, i.e no showy scenes, no make over and yet stamps herself all over Udta Punjab. Her act is elegant as Sartaj would say. It amazes me how effortless she can be in well written roles. This is my favourite performance of hers since 2012's Talaash. Shahid has time and again challenged himself but Udta Punjab sees him totally uninhibited. As Tommy Singh, the actor takes on risks lead actors have rarely - if not never - taken before. He chips in a commendable performance through a changed body language & his scenes where he's getting high are well-acted, although there were occasional sparks of over-the-top'ness which are forgivable. Finally, Udta Punjab gives us a new actor to root for - Diljitmakes a striking debut. His role/performance - just like Kareena's is endearing. He gets the longest screen time as Sartaj ties the whole movie together. He's a complete natural and shoulders major chunks of the movie together with Dr Preet. His chemistry with Kareena was delightful to watch and together their scenes breathe life in Udta Punjab. I would love to see these two together again. Special mention to Satish Kaushik who's absolutely brilliant in his part.

It was rejuvenating to watch a well-made movie on a burning issue with such a strong cast - and everyone being SO good. Might be too early to say but I see all four of them as being award-worthy. This is the kind of cinema we need to encourage and applaud. Udta Punjab is a little gem. Don't miss it.

8/10

Guys I watched it in the cinema, and there was a point in the film when I think Kareena is off-camera but she supposedly says something and she sounded so different to me. I had no idea about this issue. But I did notice it, in the cinema version of course. 😲

Anyways, coming to the film itself, I loved it. The performances were very strong and above all the story was very honestly told. It was like they told their part of the story and left the rest to the audience to form a conclusion or a take home feeling from the movie. The characters and their inspirations or lack thereof felt very organic to me. Also, as a bonus, it was great that the movie was not pretentious or boastful of being "real" or "hardcore" or for that matter "dark". It simply was. 👏

The music was awesome as well especially Da da dasse..

It has helped the PH to wipe out earlier losses and regain reputation ..specially AB after the disaster of BV.

It has built on the reputations of ALL the stars...Shahid, Alia, Kareena, Daljit and the character actors as well.

It has done well for the director as well.

It is an eyeopener for the audience and will a long way to increase substance abuse awareness.

Overall a movie that needed to be made.

@Navjotalive