KrazzyDJ

Around the time of the movie's release, the film was leaked online with a Censor watermark stamped at the top left. Given the controversy that had plagued the film in the days before, it was obvious who leaked the movie and why. This act of blasphemy made me even more adamant to see this movie in theaters. I can now gladly say I have supported the movie.

Udta Punjab starts off with Tommy Singh (Shahid Kapoor) in a rock concert. In the first few minutes of his appearance, it's clear that this is going to be a very different performance. As Tommy, Shahid is unrecognizable in his avatar with long hair, french beard, tattoos all over, addicted to cocaine, mouthing profanities like the everyday teenager and singing songs that echo lyrics of Honey Singh. His entire character in fact seems to be designed to invoke memories of the real-life rap-star, perhaps to serve as an eye-opener to the youth of today on what they've become "fans" of.

He works with his gang of friends and his "Tayaji", a masterful Satish Kaushik in full form. His drug addiction and vulgar lyrics cost them a singing contract. Angered that anybody could refuse him, Tommy pursues the father-son duo, again mouthing cuss-words and snorting cocaine over a credit card. They manage to give Tommy his first dose of rejection. After a surprise birthday party, he is arrested for substance abuse proudly flaunting his name inscribed on his fingers to the camera.

Meanwhile, in another area, Aalia Bhatt's unnamed character works in agriculture when she unexpectedly ends up with a batch of cocaine. After estimating its worth to be in crores, she tries selling it off to drug-addicted youngsters only for her to be captured, made an addict herself and subsequently raped. Dark stuff indeed. While the scenes have been tastefully handled in that nothing explicit is shown, the performances still chill.

The third plot line concerns a certain cop Sartaj Singh (Diljit Dosanjh). After mostly letting drug suppliers in trucks pass away by extracting bribes together with his seniors, he awakens to the truth when his own brother is found to be a drug addict. He teams up with Preet Sahni (Kareena Kapoor Khan) to treat his brother and end the drug menace once and for all.

As expected, the three stories overlap smartly. I say smartly not only because it's not until the very end that you understand how they will end up together but also because the filmmakers ensure that Shahid and Kareena never share a scene together. A deliberate choice given their real-life history? Possibly.

Bollywood is often accused for melodrama and occasionally, some of the rather flimsy elements do creep in here, more so towards the second half. But for the better part, the narrative moves without a trace of cliché, ensuring that each story has something going for it, giving us characters to root for. You'll flinch when seeing Alia's unnamed Bihari molested and injected with the needle for the nth time as will you want Tommy to mend his ways at a point. Speaks volumes about the film's believability.

The movie has standout performances. Shahid and Alia shine. Shahid as Tommy Singh is simply unrecognizable; he seems to have undergone a radical makeover. So convincing is his portrayal of the foul-mouthed pop-sensation that you'll almost believe he's on drugs himself. Watch out for the scene in prison where Shahid hears from his fans and realizes the horror of what he's inspired. Alia Bhatt also flourishes and brings out her character's adversity and pain very effectively, completely ditching the glam look with a tanned makeup and patchy skin.

Diljit and Kareena offer effective performances too, the former better than the latter. Diljit, the new entrant in Bollywood for once, gives us a Sardar who is not cartoonish but instead very practical, sensible and ironically, one of the rare few who are not on drugs. As is Kareena who gets the most conservative role of the lot, the typical ideal journalist types hell bent on exposing an ongoing racket. Satish Kaushik is the hidden star of the show, the surprise package if you will. With his thick Punjabi dialect, he make you believe he genuinely cares for Tommy despite the a-hole that Tommy is. Other supporting cast is equally good.

The film is believable from start to end. For one, I can't make out where it was shot (mostly in actual Punjab). Cinematography is very natural - there are places so dark you can barely see the actors' faces. It seems very little color grading has been done with the filmmakers preferring outdoor natural light. The film does get a bit slow at times and there are some long takes which you wished were trimmed a bit but it still moves along smoothly given the multiple narratives it covers. Music and background score are spot on, capturing the state and vibe of Punjab to perfection.

Kudos to director Abhishek Chaubey and producers Anurag Kashyap and Balaji Motion Pictures for attempting a project of this sort, bringing to light the plight of Punjab. This is a solid film where Abhishek manages to extract the best out of his actors and his crew. Who would've known of all actors, Shahid and Alia were capable of such, adult, stuff. Despite the dark content of the movie, Abhishek slips in some elements of dark humor, keeping the film engaging at all times.

It deserves a theatrical watch. Films like these need our support so that they can flourish leading to more of them. Udta Punjab's earnings so far indicate it is on track for becoming a Box Office Hit.

I had only just heard of TVF. I knew they were into making spoof videos. I wasn't aware of what Pitchers is. Or the fact that there was a Permanent Roommates before it.

And then, one morning, I woke up to a post on Facebook. I do not remember whether it was a news article or a post share. All I remember is the content: TVF Pitchers had secured a spot on IMDb's Top 250 TV Shows.

At first I was surprised. When did IMDb start a Top 250 for TV Shows. Even more surprising was the thought that if Pitchers had a place here, then it wasn't a spoof video. It was much more. What was it ? I searched, read and quickly realized what it was; a dream of millions of youngsters waiting to be realized that had come into fruition. And suddenly I saw the possibilities; no longer would we have to wait eagerly for the next season of The Big Bang Theory to begin or no longer would we have to wait for Season 3 of Silicon Valley to start. We could have our own. Indian shows, at par with their American counterparts, using Indian history, culture, memes, jokes and situations Indians could identify with.

I set myself up to watch this. But then I thought, following chronology would be better. And so I started, not with Pitchers but with Permanent Roommates. Saw all 5 episodes and quickly realized, yes, the doors have opened. Of course, the Indian version of 24 had proved it. But this solidified it. The possibilities were now endless.

Then I started watching Pitchers. I started with the first episode. In the first 10 minutes ending with the show's opening (the gang of four walking into a bar), it was already a winner. The production values, cinematography, the catchy opening intro, writing, the analogy with beer (brilliant piece of writing), flawlessly smooth editing, it was all there. Right there. And all in the first 10 minutes.

I thought maybe it'll lose its first episode charm. I was wrong. With each passing episode came sequences and situations that were not only believable and highly identifiable but situations that you actually felt with, connected with and reacted with. From Naveen's speech, to the frustrated software engineer Jeetu's outburst, you not only feel every moment but feel like applauding and clapping with them.

There will be a Permanent Roommates Season 2. There will be a Pitchers, Season 2. There will be more shows. But there can be much more. There can be short films. There can be full fledged 2 hour internet movies (at Hollywood Standards so that we can bid Bollywood goodbye). There can even be a TVF's dedicated channel (if the government allows it that is).

But most importantly, this is the beer for all content that will follow. This is it; this is the spark we all needed to realize that yes, its possible. We don't need TV channels, huge production budgets, lots and lots of crew members to make it happen. We need dedication. And with Pitchers, we've seen that dedication. We've seen that quality. More inspiring than its story-line of four friends creating is a startup, is the fact that TVF created Pitchers.

Hopefully, Pitchers inspires people to create. If not a startup, then perhaps several shows that will take Indian entertainment several steps forward. Of course we have Permanent Roommates. And we have Office Office. And the Indian version of 24 (if at all there are more seasons). And we will always have several other shows. But then, maybe in the distant future, Pitchers will be remembered as the show that started it all. Or the one that changed it all for India.

And this, I feel, is why Pitchers deserves a watch. At least once !!!

This was one of those early movies that drew me in to the world of Hollywood. Of course, when I first watched it, I didn't have much idea about what went behind the scenes when making this movie. But now that I do, my respect for this movie has grown tremendously given what it was able to accomplish on such a low budget with such a small set of characters making what could have easily been a B-movie in the wrong hands seem like a solid sci-fi story ending with an epic feeling of the things to follow.

The movie begins with what is possibly one of the coolest title cards for a 1980s flick with Brad Fiedel's iconic Terminator theme playing in the background as the cast is listed in the form of messages displayed from a computer terminal. This is followed by the Terminator and the human making their appearances from the future into our present, gathering clothes and weapons and heading out in their own respective ways in the search for Sarah Connor, a teenage girl part-timing as a waitress upon whose survival rests humanity's future as both she and us learn later. What follows is a cat and mouse game where the human goes all out to protect her and the Terminator is all out to get her and it won't stop, literally right till the end.

What separates this movie (and its immediate sequel) from the "other" sequels is James Cameron's balancing act who, much like Spielberg, allows the story to take center-stage and drive everything else and has perfect control over the length of sequences, edits, camera cuts and angles. 10 minutes into the movie and you're in, drawn to this world, completely forgetting that the futuristic crafts and landscapes are miniatures with absolutely no chance of being drawn out of this world. While I didn't find the characters to be groundbreaking or as interesting as in other dramas, the plot was extremely well constructed and allowed for some really cool paradoxes that would make for some interesting discussion (would John Conner even exist if he hadn't sent Kyle back in time).

The effects deserve special mention too. It is incredible how much Stan Winston's crew and Fantasy II were able to achieve at the time. All the futuristic scenes, the sequence with the Terminator treating his injuries, the chase sequences and the entire ambitious final act all work and some of them still hold up three decades later. And Brad Fiedel's theme gives me goosebumps every time I hear it, as if signaling an impending apocalypse.

All the actors do well in their respective roles, particularly Arnold who shines in a part that seemed almost tailor made to suit his acting capabilities. But it is Cameron who is truly the star of this endeavor, believing in his project and driving it to execution. Thank God for the success of this movie, which gave us many more masterpieces by Cameron. But then, it was entirely deserving of it. A sci-fi tech-noir classic.

Overall Score: 8.0 / 10.0