Udta Teer Review:
Excess of anything will only lead to a spoof of it. After Dhurandhar opened a Pandora’s box of sharp spies infiltrating and extracting revenge from the “padosi mulk”, the misfits too followed suit. In the same vein of Happy Patel: Khatarnaak Jasoos and the recent Vibe, we get another spy-comedy Udta Teer, a Uno-reverse of Dhurandhar. It’s an amusing concept--a proficient Pakistani spy living as a mole in an Indian agency loses his memory after an accident and starts thinking of himself as a patriotic Indian agent. What follows is a funny, absurd situation filled with confusions, crosses and double-crosses. It’s hilarious till it isn’t. Sadly, novelty has a short shelf life.
Writer and director: Aakash Kaushik
Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Sara Ali Khan, Rahul Bose, Suhail Nayyar, Mukul Dev, Ram Kapoor, Gulshan Grover, and Raghubir Yadav
Ayushmann Khurrana is Bilal Ahmad, a Pakistani mole masquerading as agent Vikrant Thapar who works for India’s “Counter Terrorism Unit”, probably a Censor-approved stand-in for the R&AW. He frequently sabotages missions led by the Indian side while presenting himself as a ‘deshbhakt’. His teammate Dhruv (Suhail Nayyar) has the needle of suspicion on him. Vikrant also has a wife Yamini (Sara Ali Khan), who works for the Defence Ministry, and with whom he is contemplating divorce since she has served her use of helping him get access to the Ministry’s money. Vikrant works under CTS head Burman (Rahul Bose) but takes orders from Niyazi (Ram Kapoor), a Pakistani general who is in line to become the next head of Army for the country.
After a mission goes wrong and Bilal/Vikrant’s cover is blown, he finds himself in the hospital post a car accident, unable to recall his name. Poor Burman also has been reduced to a vegetative state but his big, suspicious eyes keep glaring at Vikrant. The latter on the other hand has so much patriotism in him he doesn’t know where to put it and thus he starts playing from the Indian side, leading to hilarious reactions from his handlers in Pakistan.
The neighbouring country is at the butt of most jokes in the film. It’s military-head General Mir (an amusing Gulshan Grover) is shown as a buffoon who bows even while talking to the Chinese President over the phone (*cough* Battle of Galwan *cough*). A terrorist, Azhar Maqsood (Mukul Dev in his final, memorable performance) is shown as a thick Arabic-accented idiot who is addicted to a dating app (“Hinder”) and keeps swiping away on burqa-clad women, indistinguishable from each other. In the first-half, the ludicrousness of the whole situation of a mole becoming a patriot is novel and rip-roaring funny. The tune of “Nayak nahi Khalnayak” plays in the background everytime Vikarant aka Bilal enters the frame. Popular songs are used well for comic effect but then the whole gag is overdone. I am all for quips against Pakistan but what I expected the film was to be a satire of nationhood itself. In between the laughs you realise that Pakistan has become a repetitive punchline and the messaging is less introspective and more patting yourself on the back.
Like a mole, Udta Teer too uncovers its mask in the second half when it becomes a preachy patriotic film. A Ram Mandir plugin raised my propaganda-catching antennae. It seemed like the film had to toe the line probably to not get stuck at the censors. The whole nationalistic change of vibe feels forced and funny when it is actually meant to be serious. The tonal shift also seems like a betrayal since the movie starts off as being frivolous and then takes on this unnecessary high-handedness of nation PR.
When it works Udta Teer can induce enough guffaws but the jokes soon start to overstay their welcome. Rahul Bose is a sport to play a paralysed man who is manhandled for giggles but the gag becomes insensitive just five seconds in (His head is slammed between elevator doors for laughs). Ayushmann gives competent, straight-face comedy but more than his performance, his decision of taking up this whacky, offbeat film itself proves his need to reinvent himself with every film. It’s commendable.
In the days of the monarchy, courts used to have jesters who were allowed to take digs even at the king. It was considered an entertaining way of telling truth to power. A liberal society has space for satire. I perceived Udta Teer to be that film, one that makes us laugh at jingoism as a whole devoid of any nationality. But if Dhurandhar can make you seethe against our neighbours, this one will only make you ridicule them. Either way you will not introspect. Laugh away, at least, we are better off than Pakistan.