UDTA PUNJAB... I AM NOT A LOSER, NOT STILL BROKEN







Pic.: Anima D'Cunha


Seconds before my wife and I walked into the theatre, last evening, I received a phone call from one of our friends, a lady. When I told her that we were walking into the theatre, she asked, “Which movie?”

“Udta Punjab,” I replied.

“It’s a dark movie,” our friend warned, “It might disturb you.”

Both my wife and I knew ‘Udta Punjab’ would be a hard-hitting and a no-nonsense movie and we were prepared for it… So, I did not let our friend’s view cloud mine…

My wife and I both loved the movie.

And, yes, we both have been great fans of Alia Bhatt… and, here was one more reason why we had to admire her even more.

To me, the movie is about ‘hope’ and ‘despair’ of individuals…

There is this one scene where Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt, who were deeply addicted and who were on the run, meet at a hiding place. They click. Shahid, despite tasting stardom as a rock star, now has resigned as a ‘Loser’… He has even declared it with his hair-cut. Alia, despite being a village field-hand, and having gone through ‘hell’ all along, believes there ‘is’ a better tomorrow… She wants to live. When Shahid thinks aloud and says to her, “Shall we both commit suicide?” She blasts, “Get lost… I am not a loser… I am not still broken.” Then, she tells him what she had been dreaming… “There was this huge hoarding I would see through the window of the house I was confined… It was about Goa… a young girl inviting me to come and relax on the serene beaches of Goa… I would see that image everyday and dream about the place… that day… that moment of freedom… It called me every day as I kept living in misery.”

These may not be the exact dialogues of Alia. But, this is, certainly, the message…

Alia doesn’t want to end her life as a ‘loser’, and she sees that her ‘stranger- friend’ – Shahid, too, doesn’t end-up as one.

Is ‘Udta Punjab’ a dark movie?

I think, it is ‘bright’!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi...
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How ...
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or pain...
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...