For all the controversy surrounding this film and its print being leaked two days before release, the main talking point about “Udta Punjab” should be that it is, by far, one of the best-acted Bollywood films in the past few years. That alone is worth the price of your ticket.

Over and above, Udta Punjab is not just a winner in Court but also a cracker of a film. It certainly makes you think. While the film is bound to start a dialogue about substance use and abuse, it might even spark off a solution.

Rough patches notwithstanding, Udta Punjab is an undeniably exhilarating watch, a trip truly worth taking (downer included). With his third film, Chaubey has fine-tuned his unique directorial voice and pushed the boundaries of commercial cinema. Here’s hoping censorship, or anything else, never even attempts to get in his way again.

Despite the minor flaws, ‘Udta Punjab’ is a movie deserving your time. It explores the highs and the lows with equal flourish.

The first half of Udta Punjab is consistently grim, deeply disturbing and, appropriately, almost docu-feature-like. The second half though is intermittently farcical and ultimately makes a mockery of the concerns it set out to raise.

Udta Punjab is a dark film but yet, it is an entertaining fare. It may be for a limited audience only, but the size of the target audience is big enough to see the film cross the average mark and generate profits. This, despite the fact that revenues from sale of satellite rights will be very limited. Business in Punjab will be excellent for obvious reasons.

While most people might watch it merely out of curiosity, for the ones who need a reason, please watch it for the whole package. The performances are brilliant, the story is good, the execution is very believable, and will make you think hard. Watch it to understand the repercussions of a drug-riddled population and the starkness of the narrative. Try Udta Punjab this weekend- you will not regret it. 

Abhishek Chaubey’s Udta Punjab isn’t interested in making things easy or pretty. In scene after scene, the film shows how the state of Punjab has been crippled by heroin, smack, cocktail drugs and chitta—‘white’ in Punjabi—shorthand for cocaine.

It’s about relentless exposure to a gut-wrenching reality for 148 minutes (a shorter version may have been even stronger) that I am still trying to process. It’s about the many innocent, helpless Ballis being born to drugs everyday. I came out of the screening with Balli’s cries ringing harsh in my ears. They are haunting me. Still.

Udta Punjab soars on the back of hard-hitting scenes and superb performances from its cast, but a shorter trip would have given the movie the kick it sorely needed to be counted as the definitive drama on the moral corruption of an entire society.