Udta Punjab

Release date- 17th June 2016

One Word which describes the film- Distressing

Best Dialogue- "System main rehke kuch karna aur bahar se baithke halla karne main jo fark hai wo ab pata chalega aap ko."  

Genre- Crime/ Drama

Music-Amit Trivedi

Producers- Balaji Motion Pictures, Phantom Films

Story-Sudip Sharma

Direction-Abhishek Chaubey

Cast-Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Diljit Dosanjh, Satish Kaushik

Budget- 40 Crores approximately

I went to see this film with little expectations, thanks to all the biased reviews of the critics and mixed word of mouth. The starting was quite unimpressive with Tony 'Gabru' Singh, shaking his pelvis on the title song. My eyes kept shifting from his tattooed chest to the song subtitles which were equally shocking.
In next scene Shahid is seen mouthing all kind of abuses while composing a song which went like Cock-Coke-Cock-Coke. The song was actually so bad that his producers cancelled his contract.
That's the point from where the film starts becoming interesting.
When Tony is sent to Jail and the police inspector puts him in a cell with other criminals telling him, 'Pehle banda ban ja phir banna VIP', he feels his castle of stardom falling like a pack of cards. Later we see him telling an equally distraught Alia, 'Agar tujhse koi bole, 'jo nikal gaya na vo teri life ka sabse achcha time tha, wapas nahi aana. Maal khatam. Party over. Go Home', we could feel how hard it was for him to accept that his life as a pop star could just be a thing of the past. I feel Shahid has given a very good performance.

Alia Bhatt has proved that while bubbly and energetic may be her niche, she can also be gritty and subtle to great effect. In most of her films Alia has to look pretty and show lots of leg and cleavage but here in shabby clothes, dirty hair and no makeup she gives the best performance of her life. I just wonder with Shandaar being Shahid's and Alia's last film how could the director imagine both of them for this film.

Diljit Dosanjh as Assistant Inspector is at par with Shahid and Alia in the acting department. He looks innocent and naive when he's trying to impress his lady love. He has a ruthless side too which we get to see when he is talking to his corrupt cousin,'Baat Aapki Aur Meri Nahi Hai, Yeh Baat Hai Punjab Ki'

Kareena Kapoor as Dr Preet was never the focus of the film so she just manages to give a decent performance.

The film does not glamorize or show any highs which a person can achieve because of drugs. Instead it shows how drugs destroy all the beautiful things in not only your life but also in the lives of the people associated with you.

So why would anyone want to see a movie about drugs, despair and death, regardless of how well crafted it is? Because Udta Punjab is an interesting, sometimes funny, and involving tale with empathetic, down to earth characters. To be fair to the film, it doesn't tie up all the loose ends into a nice pretty package. We are given cause for hope, but the open-ended nature of the final scenes suggest that the struggle will go on.

In a line, this movie through its characters teaches us important lessons like too much indulgence, greed or expectations can be injurious to health and the lessons are well taught.

Must watch for 18+ audience. 

Ugly - It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World

Release date - 26'th December 

2014
One Word which describes the film -Dark

Best Dialogue - 

Chaitanya-'Sir,actor log aisa karte hai ki ghar par ek naam aur parde par doosra.'
Inspector Jadhav- Accha, to Amitabh Bachchan ka ghar ka naam kya hai.'

Genre - Suspense/Thriller 

Music -G. V. Prakash Kumar

Producer - DAR Motion Pictures, Phantom Films

Story & Direction -Anurag Kashyap

Cast -Rahul Bhat, Ronit Roy, Girish Kulkarni, Siddhanth Kapoor, Tejaswini Kolhapure, Vineet Kumar Singh, Vipin Sharma, Surveen Chawla

Budget- 5-6 crores (approximately)

The film starts with a depressed and alcoholic woman contemplating ways to end her life. The first thought which comes in our mind is maybe she considers herself ugly. But slowly as the plot unfolds we come to know that the film is about the wicked ways of the world and how darkness resides inside every individual which overcomes all love and relations.

The story is about the people in the life of a woman, her daughter, her husband, her ex-husband, her brother and her friend. The woman's daughter disappears which lead to an array of events which show the selfishness, cruelty and wickedness of the lead characters.

Ronit Roy is perfect as the head of police detection unit. He is ruthless, shows no mercy and trusts no one. 

Rahul Bhat plays the role of a struggling actor. Though this is his first film he has given stiff competition to Ronit Roy in their scenes together.

Tejaswini is waiting for her Bollywood debut since 2000 but sadly her debut film Paanch, also directed by Anurag Kashyap was never released in theaters. She plays the role of a depressed housewife perfectly. 

Surveen Chawla is the eye candy of the film. 

Siddhant Kapoor has a small role and in one scene where he does a crazy dance he looks exactly like his father Shakti Kapoor.

Vineet Kumar plays the role of a casting director who plays an important role in the lives of the lead actors.

Marathi actor Girish Kulkarni is superb as Inspector Jadhav. His body language and expressions are just perfect. There is subtle humor in his scenes. 

With these characters Anurag has written an intriguing story where he takes us on a roller coaster ride through the streets of Mumbai where we go through different emotions and feelings which at times make us doubt the sanctity of various relations we make in our lifetime.

The film has all the features of a typical Kashyap film, lots of violence, abuses, drama, twists along with a strong message.

Ugly has been in news since last year as the Indian Censor Board required a "Smoking is Injurious to Health" sign to be flashed whenever a character in the film is shown smoking but Anurag Kashyap fought this regulation stating, ' It's the Health Ministry that should take the responsibility of curbing use of tobacco and work towards measures to control it and films should not be a medium to advertise non-smoking.'

Finally the film is released along with the statutory warning but Kashyap could not have chosen a worse time for release. The cold waves in the North kept the audience away from theaters and those who went chose to watch last week's much acclaimed release 'PK' 

In a line the film has a dark and disturbing story, full of violence and cuss words and is surely not meant for the romantics or weak-hearted.

Watch at your own risk. Can be seen if you like dark thrillers.