CHANDIGARH: Produced by students of the Department of Theatre of Punjabi University, Patiala, upcoming movie Punjab 2016 showcases the evils of drug abuse among youth in the State.
The movie is on the lines of Udta Punjab, which released in June and highlighted the same issue. With Assembly elections around the corner, the State Opposition parties are raising a hue and cry over the menace of drug addiction in Punjab.
The team, called Red Arts Punjab, made Punjab 2016 on a budget of `50 lakh, which they earned by staging their street play Akhir Kado Tak (Till When). The play is about social evils such as drugs and eve-teasing. The group, comprising 40 youth divided into eight teams, has been performing it for two-and-a-half years and have held awareness programmes in 8,000 schools and colleges. The play indirectly refers to the politician-drug mafia nexus. “The movie will release on November 25. It is about gangsters, drugs and other intoxicants, and revolves around the life of four students, who have come to study in the university with big dreams,” says Mintukapa, assistant director and an actor in Punjab 2016.
“The movie is a comedy that gradually turns into a tragedy because of the terrible choices made by the protagonists. The dilemma of youngsters and peer pressure is depicted in the film.” The movie also focuses on the fact that the world is not entirely full of bad people, and gives us hope. “The movie suggests that youth can do a lot to save Punjab and wipe out all social evils if they came together for the right cause,’’ adds Mintukapa.