There's still hope, all we need to do is work towards Punjab's salvation. Its a tough road ahead, but nothing is impossible. :)

When I first saw this film... I took the information provided in good faith. But with a bit more digging I started questioning your (sourceless as of 21/02/2011) figure that 73.5% of Punjabi youth are drug addicts. Reminds me of the saying, "lies, damn lies and statistics." Although still relatively high, I've been informed the figure is probably below 7%. This makes more sense too me, as I don't even know a Punjabi girl who drinks let alone who does drugs. 73% would suggest a massive percentage would also have to be female, which doesn't ring anywhere near true to me, when considering Punjabi culture. Punjabi men might live in excess, but culturally Punjabi women don't tend to follow anywhere near that mould.

I believe Congress is portraying a negative narrative of Punjab for purely party political reasons. Despite the propagandist onslaught Punjab recieves we are still remain the strongest, financially and martially. The statement that the Indian Army can't fill its quota in Punjab maybe true, but not for your stated reason (that 3/4 of us are drug addicts). Along with Chandigarh Police the Indian Army doesn't want to recruit Punjabi Sikhs, specifically Sikh Jatts. Secularism, shouldn't mean destroying cultures or religious identies to form a monotone, colourless, flavourless, singular Indian identity. Congress secularism, should be rebranded Congress singularism. But still.. ingnoring probable gross statistical inaccuracies, I appreciate your film highlights the plight of still far too many.

Thank you for your appreciation.

Thanks for the comment. Please continue sharing so as to make more people aware about the situation in Punjab.

Yes! for sure. I would also like to be a part of your organization. How can I contribute my part into your stuff? Professionally I am graphic designer and passionate photographer.

Thank you!

:) That is what we aimed to achieve. To create awareness amongst the next generation of Punjab so as to salvage them from the drug epidemic and start working on the restoration of Punjab through like minded individuals.

:) Broadcast at a national level would be a bit of an issue, but let's see, I'm sure if we get help this might be possible in the near future. Thanks for the support

:) Thank you!

Awareness is the key aim of this documentary. Thank you for being a part of it.

This was just a student initiative taken as a first step towards awareness of how the drug epidemic is in state of Punjab. I would request you to not politicize the issue at all. We have no affiliations with anyone and represent only ourselves. We tried taking everyone's perspective, but only people who agreed for the interviews and whoever we could reach in our own capacity are in the documentary. Thank you for your appreciation. :)

All screenings will have subtitles. Will upload the same when ready :)

Thank you. That's our hoe as well :)

:) This is not a singular issue and the blame is on each one of us irrespective. Instead of pointing fingers, we should join our efforts in combatting it. Its due to our, each one of us, negligence that this exists in Punjab and only our unity can take it out of this mess.

I agree. We documented the information we received, without any interruption or defacement. What information we received are from the sources within the documentary itself. The drug route does exists and yes as you rightly said till the demand is there, the supply will be prevalent. I also do hope the governments will notice this before it is all too late for Punjab.

We are working on getting it dubbed and telecast it on a state level in Punjab. :)

I believe its you who is politicizing the issue. The figure of 4 years is about the increase in substance abuse due to mass availability of drugs and has nothing to do with the tenure of the political party. Our efforts are towards awareness and has no relation with politics. The change called for is an individual, imminent change that each one of us needs to take up and is completely independent from the government as it is quite evident itself whichever government would be ruling, they are helpless in solving this issue. Please refrain from dwelling into politics too much and understand the actual message in the documentary. Rest I leave to you.

Thanks Narinder. We are all ears, shoot us an email at n7films@gmail.com :)

I have sent you an email. Awaiting reply.

Narinder, I haven't received the email yet. Do check if you sent it to n7films@gmail.com

That is the address I sent it to. I think my email must have not made it to your inbox and got filtered to spam folder instead. Could you please check the spam folder.
Thanks.

I sent you another message and was waiting for reply. I guess it again went to your spam folder and you missed it. Please check it and respond accordingly.

Thanks.

Wow, you have no idea how valuable your insights were. I know of you through a cousin of mine who shared your videos of Orissa and in fact I saw some of your stuff while I was sitting editing Glut. So you commenting here is kind of a full circle. :)

I agree the figure is alarming and in all honesty could very well be far from the actual percentage but this figure was resonated in 4 different sources. UNODC's independent study, articles in Tehelka as well as The Telegraph. There are more shocking revelations which we didn't mention such as The Punjab Department of Social Security Development of Women and Children conducted a survey in 2005 and found 67 per cent of the rural households in Punjab having one drug addict each. Plus Dr Ravinder Singh Sandhu, Professor, Department of Sociology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar in his book mentions that the figure is close to 75% of the youth through his independent study. We just documented these findings as to conduct an independent survey was beyond our means, both financially and practically.

As per the drug intake situation, I too agree about single time users not being addicts. Everyone does some stuff once in a while ad yes they can't be labeled but as you rightly pointed it out, the connotation that it bring due to the indian culture is quite degrading and hence most being alarmed by it.

P.S. I plan to go to Orissa soon to document the many tribals living in the state. As paternally, I belong from there and have many relatives still residing there, there is an instant connection for that state. Do tell me if you are still in India, I would love to work with you, moreover learn from you and maybe assist you in your next project. Hope all is well :)

@Harinder If anything, Jason seems to understand a lot about this topic. Could you elaborate what he won't understand?