Udta Punjab Review

I plead ignorance to a movie, which I don't understand.Everyone is saying it's a brave movie, mirrors reality, it's like a flashpoint movie projecting truth - a fight against injustice, bias and the sad state of affairs in Punjab. Frankly speaking, I didn't get it. I will tell you why.

1) Nearly the whole movie is in Punjabi - I just couldn't understand what everyone was talking about.
2) Somehow if I could siphon some sense out of anything happening,even still I couldn't get through the labyrinth of the choicest Ma/Behen/Bhai abuses, which simply pervades the movie like mosquitoes concentrated on the dirtiest puddle of slush ever.
3) Finally, it just doesn't make any sense.It's very uneven. Brilliant in patches but hopelessly wayward and meandering and mediocre other- WISE!!!

It seemed Abhishek Chaubey tried making a path-breaking movie but somehow it falls woefully short. I maybe wrong. I hated Badlapur on my first watch but later after many re-visits realized its a masterpiece.How do I exactly define what's wrong with Udta Punjab. Hmm let me try. Last weekend, Miniplex showed Dev D - I watched it countless times again and again. Amit Trivedi's score and Anurag Kashyap's fractured movie telling skills par excellence. Was it an easy movie to watch? Was it hallucinogenic? Was it a muddled hazy psychedelic trip? But did we understand or connect with Abhay Deol and stayed with him till the end despite him being an insufferable horrible brat.. yes we did!!! But here Tommy Singh is just a cartoon - he never connects with you. He is this disconnected limbo who is screaming, shouting, raving, ranting and then falling in love and out and in and then becoming a hero to save damsel in distress. It was honestly Tom & Jerry for me.

A few days ago we were again treated to something incandescently disturbing in "Ugly" by Anurag Kashyap again. It was another dark trip with no light anywhere - culminating in probably the most depressing climaxes of all times. Everything was ugly about that movie - right from the cinematography, the characters, the story... it's like one dark black sun swallowing everything in its glow but it was brilliant!!!The point here is you can make a scattered crazy dark nasty movie with a message but it still needs some coherence and equilibrium somewhere. I just couldn't find that in Udta Punjab. It's a mad drug!! It's not a movie. It's a drug probably laced with LSD and Brown Sugar and once you take it - you either go for the whole trip or you vomit it out for good. I settled for the latter. Not tasty- definitely nasty- feels real but is actually an overexaggerated tragicomedy.

I don't like talking ill about a movie, which probably needs some time and again a review with an enhanced vocabulary of the most robust Punjabi slangs and words in my repertoire. But still will highlight a few things which caught my eye -

1) Alia Bhatt is a revelation. She has delivered a performance, which I would term as the best any actress has given this year. She surpasses all expectations. it was a very tough act and she has finally arrived. Highway was good but Mary Jane rocks!!! She is the surprise act of this movie.

2) If ever Texas Chainsaw Massacre gets a desi avatar - Abhishek Chaubey is the man. His manic narration and camera movement of Alia Bhatt's story is nerve-racking, brilliant and simply astounding. NH10 feels and looks like a lame joke after we are through with Mary Jane's story arc.

3) Amit Trivedi - Can this man even have one wrong singing bone in his body. The score is pure genius!!!

And finally - it's just one scene which still stay with me forever - when the elderly Sikh patriarch pats Alia Bhatt asking her ...forget it ( Spoiler) - essentially asks her in an assuring tone abt something and then all hell breaks loose in the next scene....all our conceived notions of trust come crashing down within seconds. Its probably one of the greatest moments of Indian Cinema I have ever witnessed!!! Just for that scene I may just forgive Udta Punjab for all its faults.

Currently, I still want to live in my Utopia of Santabanta and Sunny Deol and Singh is King - yes I wish to stay here a lil longer. There is too much of Trump and shooting and killing of good people happening around us. Would rather remain stupid and ignorant for some time and let bliss kiss me.

Watch the movie. You may be disappointed but probably there is something great hidden within, which requires further inspection and excavation with more re-viewing.

I would give it 2/5 stars.