Wanted 'Udta Punjab' to be hard-hitting, dark: Chaubey

After dealing with themes of love and longing in his earlier films, Abhishek Chaubey was keen to explore a hard-hitting subject but in his search, the "Udta Punjab" director found a tragedy he felt needed to be told cinematically.
Chaubey says the initial idea was to make a movie on drug abuse but during their research, he and co-writer Sudip Sharma realised it was a major concern in Punjab.
"It is a vehemently anti-drug film. We have taken a stand against drugs. The things that are happening in Punjab, you cannot take any other stand. When children younger than 18 get hooked to drugs, then it is not their problem. It's the problem of the society and the environment they are living in. What is happening there is scary," Chaubey told PTI.

The director credits the dark tone of "Udta Punjab" to the subject matter and partly to his own reaction to his last two movies -- "Ishqiya" and "Dedh Ishqiya".
"My last two films were very subtle. They spoke about love and heartbreak and were about finner, softer things in life. I did not want to be subtle this time. I wanted to make a film that's out there, something that's not trying to be clever.
"It was partly because of the subject matter we were dealing with and partly a reaction to my last two films. I just wanted to make something that was dark. It was deliberate on my part."

The movie, which was caught in a bitter censorship battle, stars Shahid Kapoor as a drug-addict rapper, Alia Bhatt as a Bihari migrant caught in the drug trade, Diljit Dosanjh as a cop with dubious morality and Kareena Kapoor as an anti-drug crusader.

Chaubey says Shahid, who has given one of his career's best performances as a daft-headed, drug-snorting music star, was the first to come on-board for the film. Shahid suggested to cast Alia.
"I was not sure about Alia initially. I knew she was talented but I had doubts whether she will be able to pull this off. But when I met her and saw the kind of commitment she had, I felt happy. She has really worked hard."

Kareena, Chaubey says, agreed to be a part of the film because she liked the message they were trying to convey through the story.
Assembling an A-list cast was not a big headache for
Chaubey but using the multi-story narrative was.
"The structure was very difficult. The reason we chose multi-track narrative was because we wanted to explore the various aspects of drug abuse and what it does to people. We wanted to look at the system and see what happens when it is overtaken by drug problem and how individuals get caught in it.
"A lot of people say it was inspired by 'Traffic' but we did not think much about it. We really worked hard on the structure. 80 per cent of our time went into the structure and last 20 per cent we spent on writing the story."

Mexico's drug menace, which has been widely reported, is a reference that crops up a lot in the film.
"We have seen in news how Mexico is suffering. We have used it in a satirical manner. As filmmakers, it is our responsibility to warn people. If our system is not careful in dealing with it, then things will go out of control. People involved in drugs have a lot of money and power. If you have that kind of money, you can build up an army."
The female characters in Chaubey's films seem to overpower the men around them be it the two ladies in "Udta Punjab" or the women in his earlier films "Ishqiya" and "Dedh Ishqiya".

The director says he does not let the gender overshadow his characters while writing but believes women have more emotional strength.
"Of course, men and women are different but I see them as characters while writing the parts. I try to look at my characters as individuals. I don't let the gender overwhelm the character.
"But in my own experience, women are better when it comes to mental and emotional strength. They are more tolerant to pain. These things may come across in my film because that's my experience.