[Might contain a few spoilers.]
In Udta Punjab, Abhishek Chaubey's third feature-length film, there is an excellent moment that stands out for its quiet power and terrific execution. A junkie rockstar who glorifies drugs in his songs that youngsters are now hooked on bumps into two doting fans in a jail cell in the middle of the night. He is in for – you guessed it – possession of drugs. The two youngsters are quite taken by the presence of their hero and begin crooning one of his songs as soon as he settles down. They inform him matter-of-factly that the first time they injected, his face flashed before their eyes. It is an attempt to flatter their idol. The camera lingers momentarily on his carefully lit face. He is appalled. Then, Chaubey drops the bomb: the boys have been jailed for murdering their mother over money they wanted to fuel their habit. But in another matter-of-fact declaration, one of the boys pipes, "When you get the urge, what else can you do?"
Like nearly half of the film, the scene plays out mostly in darkness, which I was thankful for. We don't really need expressions to amplify the impact of it. We don't see the boys again. But we get the idea that they aren't the only ones who went to the extremes to fuel their habit. They aren't the only ones who sit in those jails, remorseless and aimless, looking for another fix.
It does not take us long to figure that Udta Punjab is on a mission to inform and warn us about the emotional, physical and spiritual harm drugs can cause. With three cautionary warnings and every other conversation touching upon the subject, it doesn't need a stamp from the CBFC about whether or not its intentions are honorable. The outcry prior to its release made us expect a Trainspotting, maybe a tamer version of it because, well, we are in India after all. (Though it does pay a small tribute to the fabulous toilet sequence in Trainspotting, a cinematic moment that is permanently burned in pop culture.) But it is pretty evident that the makers of Udta Punjab have taken a cue from Steven Soderbergh's Traffic, with its cross-weave narrative following several characters – all non-users in that case – whose lives are affected by the drug trade. It is also an angry film, and it does not try to hide it. Characters involved in the dealing of drugs are routinely subjected to smacks and beatings, and the Samaritans seethe at the sight of stoned youngsters. So, for the big screen, Udta Punjab transforms facts and research into an overly cautious and grim tale of a place struggling to understand the enormity of the problem it is facing.
But one must appreciate the amount of effort put into bringing the nitty-gritty of the drug trade to us. This isn't merely a gimmick or a backdrop to explore more mainstream themes. Chaubey's film dives right into the grimy world of corrupt cops, elusive dealers and those stuck in between. He concerns himself with the human element in substance trafficking rather than the commerce of it. So when a woman here finds a packet of dope that has "dropped from the sky" and attempts to sell it before getting caught by lecherous dealers she robbed it from in the first place, we don't see how her move has possibly disrupted a cycle of dealings. Instead we see her getting shoved in the room and sexually assaulted. It is a dreadful scene that confirms two things: Chaubey's insistence on showing us, the Indian viewers unaccustomed to watching the ugly, violent side of organized crime, the ruthlessness of the drug trade, and his original decision to stick to the human side of the story.
And it pays off. His characters – a rockstar, a farm worker, a cop and a doctor – do well as our guides in the underbelly of the state. We get glimpses into how the locals cope with the widespread presence of drugs. We see the lasting effects it has on the youngsters there. We see the cops twiddling their thumbs, indirectly aiding the dealers in their businesses. It is enough to revolt us. Then there are those flashes of brilliance to balance out the weaker, more contrived portions of the film. (The cop and the doctor team up to get to the root of the drug trade, and manage to do it without a hiccup. A little too simplified, I felt, even for a Hindi film.) In another razor-sharp sequence, the rockstar, in a drugged haze, tries to warn his young fans of the horrors of addiction only to be booed. Pushed to the brink, he urinates on them, disregarding morality for arrogance and chaos. (Although we never see the actual act.) It is a sequence that injects great energy into a film that, until that moment, showed signs of slowing down, one of those few moments when the film roars.
However, not all of it works. If I had to have a complaint with the film, it would be this: it meanders. Long stretches of time are dedicated to touching upon the topic of why drugs are bad instead of advancing the plot, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Promoting good through a film is not a bad thing at all. But it does affect the larger picture. The last half-hour feels like a breathless sprint through the story after a leisurely walk. It ends the film on a high, but it feels like an unearned rush of adrenaline. Some evenness would had a much stronger impact, and the tying-up would have felt more organic.
Udta Punjab can hardly be classified as "bold" cinema, but it nevertheless is a brave film. While I would have preferred one that points fingers and names names, we must applaud one that took a step towards tackling a pressing issue especially in a mainstream Hindi film.
(Not For Reproduction)
In Udta Punjab, Abhishek Chaubey's third feature-length film, there is an excellent moment that stands out for its quiet power and terrific execution. A junkie rockstar who glorifies drugs in his songs that youngsters are now hooked on bumps into two doting fans in a jail cell in the middle of the night. He is in for – you guessed it – possession of drugs. The two youngsters are quite taken by the presence of their hero and begin crooning one of his songs as soon as he settles down. They inform him matter-of-factly that the first time they injected, his face flashed before their eyes. It is an attempt to flatter their idol. The camera lingers momentarily on his carefully lit face. He is appalled. Then, Chaubey drops the bomb: the boys have been jailed for murdering their mother over money they wanted to fuel their habit. But in another matter-of-fact declaration, one of the boys pipes, "When you get the urge, what else can you do?"
Like nearly half of the film, the scene plays out mostly in darkness, which I was thankful for. We don't really need expressions to amplify the impact of it. We don't see the boys again. But we get the idea that they aren't the only ones who went to the extremes to fuel their habit. They aren't the only ones who sit in those jails, remorseless and aimless, looking for another fix.
It does not take us long to figure that Udta Punjab is on a mission to inform and warn us about the emotional, physical and spiritual harm drugs can cause. With three cautionary warnings and every other conversation touching upon the subject, it doesn't need a stamp from the CBFC about whether or not its intentions are honorable. The outcry prior to its release made us expect a Trainspotting, maybe a tamer version of it because, well, we are in India after all. (Though it does pay a small tribute to the fabulous toilet sequence in Trainspotting, a cinematic moment that is permanently burned in pop culture.) But it is pretty evident that the makers of Udta Punjab have taken a cue from Steven Soderbergh's Traffic, with its cross-weave narrative following several characters – all non-users in that case – whose lives are affected by the drug trade. It is also an angry film, and it does not try to hide it. Characters involved in the dealing of drugs are routinely subjected to smacks and beatings, and the Samaritans seethe at the sight of stoned youngsters. So, for the big screen, Udta Punjab transforms facts and research into an overly cautious and grim tale of a place struggling to understand the enormity of the problem it is facing.
But one must appreciate the amount of effort put into bringing the nitty-gritty of the drug trade to us. This isn't merely a gimmick or a backdrop to explore more mainstream themes. Chaubey's film dives right into the grimy world of corrupt cops, elusive dealers and those stuck in between. He concerns himself with the human element in substance trafficking rather than the commerce of it. So when a woman here finds a packet of dope that has "dropped from the sky" and attempts to sell it before getting caught by lecherous dealers she robbed it from in the first place, we don't see how her move has possibly disrupted a cycle of dealings. Instead we see her getting shoved in the room and sexually assaulted. It is a dreadful scene that confirms two things: Chaubey's insistence on showing us, the Indian viewers unaccustomed to watching the ugly, violent side of organized crime, the ruthlessness of the drug trade, and his original decision to stick to the human side of the story.
And it pays off. His characters – a rockstar, a farm worker, a cop and a doctor – do well as our guides in the underbelly of the state. We get glimpses into how the locals cope with the widespread presence of drugs. We see the lasting effects it has on the youngsters there. We see the cops twiddling their thumbs, indirectly aiding the dealers in their businesses. It is enough to revolt us. Then there are those flashes of brilliance to balance out the weaker, more contrived portions of the film. (The cop and the doctor team up to get to the root of the drug trade, and manage to do it without a hiccup. A little too simplified, I felt, even for a Hindi film.) In another razor-sharp sequence, the rockstar, in a drugged haze, tries to warn his young fans of the horrors of addiction only to be booed. Pushed to the brink, he urinates on them, disregarding morality for arrogance and chaos. (Although we never see the actual act.) It is a sequence that injects great energy into a film that, until that moment, showed signs of slowing down, one of those few moments when the film roars.
However, not all of it works. If I had to have a complaint with the film, it would be this: it meanders. Long stretches of time are dedicated to touching upon the topic of why drugs are bad instead of advancing the plot, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Promoting good through a film is not a bad thing at all. But it does affect the larger picture. The last half-hour feels like a breathless sprint through the story after a leisurely walk. It ends the film on a high, but it feels like an unearned rush of adrenaline. Some evenness would had a much stronger impact, and the tying-up would have felt more organic.
Udta Punjab can hardly be classified as "bold" cinema, but it nevertheless is a brave film. While I would have preferred one that points fingers and names names, we must applaud one that took a step towards tackling a pressing issue especially in a mainstream Hindi film.
(Not For Reproduction)
on the scale of 1-10 how good it is?
ReplyDeleteProbably a 6. Although it is a well-intentioned, well-made film, I found it a little ineffective. It is a film about a time, a place and a generation battling a major problem, but there simply wasn't enough plot here. A tighter film without the spoonfeeding would have been tremendous.
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