There are four character arcs to follow here: the cocaine-loving rapper Tommy Singh(Shahid Kapoor), the Bihari migrant working in the state’s fields(Alia Bhatt), Sartaj who is complicit in the drug trade and Preet(Kareena Kapoor Khan), a doctor with rehabilitation and raising drug awareness on her mind. The two men have a decisive epiphany which awakens their conscience and makes them reconsider the paths they have chosen. Tommy has an encounter with two of his fans in prison and Sartaj discovers that his younger brother is an addict after he overdoses on a new cocktail of drugs and lands in a hospital. It’s here that Sartaj runs into Preet, who teams up with him to expose the powerful people involved in the dirty trade. None of their journeys however are as hard-hitting and poignant as that of the Bihari labourer whose life turns around when she gets hold of a packet of heroin. An accidental victim of the crisis, she is trapped in its convoluted web and struggles to get out of it after she becomes a heroin addict and a sex slave.
Chaubey’s third film, his first without his mentor Vishal Bhardwaj, isn’t as seamless as Ishqiya and Dedh Ishqiya. Udta Punjab only briefly hints on what’s driving the youth to get hooked to drugs. The film shuttles from one character to another but not all their journeys are taut. The weaker track of the lot is Preet and Sartaj’s pursuit to trace the people involved in the supply chain. It is but expected that all the characters will ultimately see their destinies converge but the circumstances which lead to it seem forced and contrived. Tommy’s sudden turn as a lover boy appears too rushed and even the heartbreaking moment can be foreseen.