NUMB ! One word that comes to my
mind after watching Udta Punjab is NUMB ! When one gets stoned on drugs it
leads to numbness of sensations. One loses track of reality, transporting
oneself to another world of fantasy and dreams. But the person forgets that he
lives in reality and his life in the real world is totally devastated as
severely as the sensation of bliss in the fantasy world. Abhishek Chobey weaves
a very real story of the young flying Punjabis in his powerfully written
realistic web. If you have ever been high, at least on booze or bhang, if not
on drugs; you will recall the state of being in trance. At the same time you
feel a sense of chaos somewhere deep within. Mirroring this state of high in
the events occurring in the characters of the film; the flying Punjabis
experience a state of catastrophe when sober, destroying the juice of their
being. The desperation for that joint, injection or sniff drives them into a
psychotic and suicidal state. Junkies with spaced out eyes staring into
oblivion are ready to kill the mother who refused to give money for drugs.
A great deal of loss of life, blood, name and fame comes the realisation to get high
on life. Like the hangover which leads us back to normalcy and the chance to
distinguish the real from the hallucinations.
After a lot of hard work and
perseverance,
Shahid gives a proud performance. Famous musician high on drugs coming
up with senseless lyrics and a clueless existence, it seems as if he got
literally high to do justice to the role. Alia shows her brilliance as always
and I feel she possesses the prowess of the likes of Meryl Streep and Jodie
Foster. Diljit Dosanjh gives a simple and easy performance adding the
proverbial feather to the cap. Its not surprising now, that this film attracted
so much attention and drama that was acted out before its release.
A real story
narrating the abomination of the rich and powerful in the wealthiest state of
India would obviously be snubbed and choked. But truth always surfaces, even
though it is in the form of purported leak of pirated DVDs before the official release. A great example of
a well executed script with strong screenplay and story telling.
Rating - 4/5
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