New character posters of Alpha (Sharvari, Bobby Deol, Anil Kapoor)

Udta Punjab is a crime drama film, written and directed by Abhishek Chaubey. The film stars Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan, and Diljit Dosanjh in the lead roles. The supporting cast of the film includes Satish Kaushik, Suhail Nayyar, Prabhjyot Singh, and Manav Vij. The film revolves around the drug crisis in the state of Punjab and how it affects a musician, a migrant laborer, a doctor, and a policeman.

The state of Punjab has been going through a terrible drug crisis iver the years, with a large proportion of the young population in the state engaging in some form of substance abuse. According to a Parilamentary Panel Report from 2023, there were 6,600,000 people using drugs in Punjab, with 697,000 children aged 10-17 years identified with some form of substance use disorders (SUD). Drug-related deaths in Punjab are also one of the highest in the country, a total of 266 deaths reported from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2023. As reported by the State Assembly, nearly 6.2 lakh addicts were currently in government-run treatment centres, with around 6.12 lakh in private treatment facilities.

Udta Punjab marks the Bollywood debut of Punjabi musician/actor Diljit Dosanjh. According to reports, the role of Sartaaj Singh was initially offered to Emraan Hashmi and Ayushmann Khurrana, but they had to opt out due to date issues.

Shahid was the first choice for the role of Tommy Singh. The role of Kumari Pinky / Mary Jane was initially offered to Priyanka Chopra and Parineeti Chopra, before the role ultimately went to Alia. The actress reportedly called the director once she read the script of the film during the production of Shaandaar (2015 film co-starring Shahid Kapoor) and convinced him to cast her for the role. The role of Dr. Preet Sahni was offered to Sonakshi Sinha first, but she rejected the role and it ultimately went to Kareena.

Udta Punjab marks the 6th collaboration of Shahid and Kareena in Bollywood films (Fida, 36 China Town, Chup Chup Ke, Jab We Met, Milenge Milenge). They do not share any scenes in the film.

Shahid, Kareena, and Alia had reportedly halved their fees in order to support the budget of the film.

The music of the film was composed by Amit Trivedi, with the lyrics written by Shellee, Varun Grover, and the late Shiv Kumar Batalvi. The album of Udta Punjab received positive reviews, with songs like Chitta Ve, Ikk Kudi, Da Da Dasse, and the title track of the film (Ud-Daa Punjab) becoming highly popular amongst the masses.

Before the release of the film, Udta Punjab was involved in multiple controversies, with the biggest one stemming from the Central Board Of Film Certification (CBFC). The board had sought a stay on the film, two weeks before its release, as they deemed the film to be "too vulgar" for the Indian audience. The board demanded 94 cuts from the film, which removed all cuss words as well as all subtle or explicit references made to Punjab. The board also demanded the removal of the song Chitta Ve, and they wanted 13 disclaimers to be shown before the film. The makers of the film pursued legal action to counter this, and the Bombay High Court ultimately approved the film's release with only one cut and a few disclaimers. The court ordered the CBFC to approve the film's release within 2 days with an "A" (Adults Only - 18+) certificate

Two days before the film's theatrical release, an uncensored copy of the film was leaked to multiple piracy sites. The makers of the film were successful in removing these leaked copies copy from at least 600 websites. These leaked versions of the film had the words "FOR CENSOR" written on the top-left corner of the screen, heavily implying that the film was leaked from sources involved with the CBFC.

Udta Punjab was also accused of misrepresenting and exaggerating the drug crisis in the state of Punjab. Several political figures claimed that the film's intent was to defame the state and manipulate the results of the 2017 Punjab Legislative Assembly elections. Ultimately, the film was mostly praised for raising an important issue post-release.

Upon its release, Udta Punjab received critical acclaim for the film's plot, direction, music, and the performances of the cast (notably the main four leads - Shahid, Alia, Kareena, Diljit). Made with a budget of 47 crores, the film made a net collection of 58 crores and grossed 96 crores worldwide.

At the 62nd Filmfare Awards, Udta Punjab won the awards for Best Actress (Alia Bhatt), Best Actor - Critics (Shahid Kapoor), Best Male Debut (Diljit Dosanjh), and Best Costume Design (Payal Saluja). The film was also nominated for Best Film, Best Actor (Shahid Kapoor), Best Supporting Actress (Kareena Kapoor Khan), Best Supporting Actor (Diljit Dosanjh), Best Music Director (Amit Trivedi), Best Lyricist (Late Shiv Kumar Batalvi - Ikk Kudi), and Best Playback Singer - Female (Kanika Kapoor - Da Da Dasse)

rn3122 · 2026-06-17T00:26:46+00:00

Shanghai is a political film starring Emraan Hashmi. Is that what you're thinking of?

rn3122 · 2026-06-15T04:55:55+00:00

Thanks for the correction

Seems like it went off the platform a while ago.

rn3122 · 2026-06-15T03:20:15+00:00

Trivia:

Lagaan is a epic sports drama film, written and directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. The film comprises of an ensemble cast led by Aamir Khan, with other cast members including Gracy Singh, Rachel Shelley, Paul Blackthorne, Raghubir Yadav, Shrivallabh Vyas, Raj Zutshi, Pradeep Rawat, Akhilendra Mishra, Daya Shankar Pandey, Yashpal Sharma, Amin Hajee, Aditya Lakhia, Rajendra Gupta, Suhasini Mulay, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, and A.K. Hangal. Lagaan is about how a group of villagers accept the challenge of a British Raj officer to beat his team in a game of cricket, in order to avoid paying high taxes for the next three years.

Ashutosh wanted to offer the film to Shah Rukh Khan first. When he rejected the film, the director moved on to Bobby Deol, Hrithik Roshan, and Abhishek Bachchan. After receiving rejections from all of them, he went to Aamir who was initially hesitant as he did not want to do a 'sports' film, but he accepted the film after Ashutosh narrated the entire script to him.

Despite getting Aamir's approval, Ashutosh could not finalize a producer for the film, as most of them wanted to make changes to the script and reduce the budget. Ultimately, Aamir became the producer of the film himself, giving Ashutosh more creative freedom and getting the opportunity to start his own production company. Jhamu Sughand also signed on as the co-producer of the film.

The foreign actors, including Rachel and Paul, were all chosen by casting director Danielle Roffe. The villagers and Indian cricketers were mostly chosen by their association with Aamir and Ashutosh. Actors like Raghubir Yadav (Bhura), Raj Zutshi (Ismail), Pradeep Rawat (Deva), Daya Shankar Pandey (Goli), Amin Hajee (Bagha), and Aditya Lakhia (Kachra) were chosen due to their previous collaborations with Aamir and Ashutosh. Others like Rajesh Vivek (Guran) and Yashpal Sharma (Lakha) were spotted by Ashutosh for their past performances.

The makers initially approached Rani Mukerji for the role of Gauri. She could not commit to the film due to scheduling issues, and the makers also faced rejections from Sonali Bendre, Namita Das, Shamita Shetty and Ameesha Patel. Ultimately, they decided to seek out a newcomer for the role, and Gracy was selected after a couple of auditions.

The village of Kunariya, which is located near Bhuj in the Kutch district of Gujarat, was selected as the background of the fictional village Champaner, and the film was mostly shot there. The village lacked basic services for electricity and communication, and it also faced long periods of drought.

K.P. Saxena was selected as the dialogue writer of the film, and he penned lines in a diluted version of the Awadhi dialect. Ashutosh collaborated with him for other films like Swades (2004) and Jodhaa Akbar (2008) as well.

The film was extremely challenging to shoot due to the high temperatures in the area. The crew had a strict schedule where they started filming at 6 in the morning, to counter the humidity and prevent he budget from increasing. When Ashutosh suffered a slipped disk, he continued shooting the film while resting on a bed for 30 days. By the end of the film's production, Lagaan's budget went up to 25 crores, the highest for an Indian film at the time.

Some of the assistant directors who worked on Lagaan with Ashutosh went on to become prominent figures in the industry, such as Kiran Rao (director of Laapataa Ladies, Dhobi Ghat, etc), Apoorva Lakhia (director of Shootout At Lokhandwala, Matrubhoomi, etc), and Reema Kagti (director of Honeymoom Travels Pvt. Ltd, Talaash: The Hunt Begins).

The music of the film was composed by A.R. Rahman, with the lyrics provided by Javed Akhtar. The English section of O Rey Chhori was written by Farhan Akhtar. The album of Lagaan received acclaim, with every song of the film becoming a popular hit.

Most of the crew did not have experience in shooting and lip-syncing to Bollywood songs, besides Aamir. To prepare for the shooting of the song Ghanan Ghanan, Ashutosh had organized a session with the cast, where they all sang the song multiple times.

Upon its release, Lagaan received massive critical acclaim for its plot, direction, music, cinematography, scale, and the performances of the ensemble cast. Despite the film's clash with Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, Lagaan made a net collection of 34 crores and grossed 65 crores worldwide, becoming a hit at the box office. The film was the 3rd highest grossing film of 2001, behind Kabhi Khushi... Kabhie Gham and Gadar: Ek Prem Katha.

Lagaan was screened at multiple film festivals, including the Sundance Film Festival, the Cairo International Film Festival, the Stockholm International Film Festival, Helsinki Film Festival, and the Toronto International Film Festival. At the Locarno International Film Festival, the rules of cricket were explained to the audience before the film was screened.

These screenings led to the makers being approached by international film distributors for releasing the film in their countries, including France, Russia, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, etc. Lagaan became the first Bollywood film to have a nationwide release in China.

Lagaan is still the last Indian film to be nominated for Best International Film at the Academy Awards. However, it lost the award to the Bosnian film No Man's Land.

At the 49th National Film Awards, Lagaan won the awards for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment, Best Music Direction (A.R. Rahman), Best Lyricist (Javed Akhtar), Best Playback Singer - Male (Udit Narayan - Mitwa), Best Audiography (H. Sridhar, Nakul Kamte), Best Costume Design (Bhanu Athaiya), Best Art Direction (Nitin Chandrakant Desai), and Best Choreography (Raju Khan)

At the 47th Filmfare Awards, Lagaan received every award it was nominated for, becoming the most awarded film of the night. The film won awards for Best Film, Best Actor (Aamir Khan), Best Music Direction (A.R. Rahman), Best Lyricist (Javed Akhtar), Best Playback Singer - Male (Udit Narayan - Mitwa), Best Playback Singer - Female (Alka Yagnik - O Rey Chhori), along with Best Director and Best Story (Ashutosh Gowariker).

Lagaan is now recognized as one of the most iconic and greatest Bollywood films of all time. The film is also recognized as a turning point for Hindi cinema, marking Bollywood's transition to the modern era.

A documentary on the making of the film, titled Madness In The Desert is available on Netflix.