Udta Punjab (2016) on Netflix
Rock star Tommy Singh's cocaine habit costs him his music contract. A migrant worker finds a packet of heroin, and Dr. Preet Sahni and junior policeman Sartaj Singh trace the trade.
- Netflix4.2/5
- IMDb7.7/1034,505 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes91%
Trailer
Plot summary
Drug packets are thrown from Pakistan across the border into India for someone to collect. Tommy Singh, a Punjabi musician his fans call Gabru, lives in luxury and takes cocaine with his uncle Tayaji and cousin Jassi, and his songs celebrate violence and drugs; his habit costs him his music contract and puts him in jail. On a farm where agriculture hides a drug trade, a migrant laborer from Bihar who once hoped to play national-level hockey picks up a packet and looks for a buyer. In the next town, Dr. Preet Sahni runs a rehabilitation center, and junior policeman Sartaj Singh knows his seniors let smuggling continue. When Sartaj's brother Balli is carried into Preet's clinic after an overdose, the two decide to trace the problem to its source.
Cast
- Vansh Bhardwajas Sonu
- Prabhjhyot Singhas Balli
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Udta Punjab (2016)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- India's Central Board of Film Certification sought a stay on Udta Punjab and demanded 89 cuts; the Bombay High Court overturned the stay on 13 June 2016 and allowed a national release with just one cut to the screenplay.
- In August 2017, after his removal as chief of India's censor board, Nihalani said in an interview that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had instructed him to block the film's release.
- Leaked clips of the film carried the words "FOR CENSOR" on the top-left corner, suggesting they came from samples sent to the Censor Board. The producers complained to Mumbai's Cyber Crime cell and had as many as 600 links taken down.
- Priyanka Chopra was initially approached for the lead female role in Udta Punjab, and Parineeti Chopra was later in talks for the same part.
- Udta Punjab was banned in Pakistan by that country's censor board, which cited the film's "use of abusive language" as the reason.
- Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Kareena Kapoor Khan, three of the film's stars, each halved their usual fee to act in Udta Punjab.
