Ayushmann Khurrana opens up on playing Pakistani spy in Udta Teer: ‘I do what the script demands’

The trailer for the upcoming spy comedy Udta Teer was unveiled on Wednesday in Mumbai. The film stars Ayushmann Khurrana and Sara Ali Khan in the lead roles and is helmed by debutante director Akash A Kaushik. The film's premise of a Pakistani agent forgetting his mission in India has spawned chatter on social media. At the trailer launch event, Ayushmann said he had no hesitation in playing a Pakistani agent in the film.

Udta Teer revolves around a Pakistani spy named Bilal Ahmad (Ayushmann), who enters India and suffers from memory loss after an accident, mistakenly believing he is an Indian spy.

Responding to a question at the trailer launch, Ayushmann said, “It was part of the script. As an actor, you are ready to do anything. This is a spy comedy, a patriotic comedy, and a genre bender. I do what the script demands; I'm a director's baby. It is a fantastic script.”

Ayushmann called the role ‘the most difficult character’ because of how he had to stay straight-faced amid all the chaos and comedy happening around him. The actor, known for films like Thamma, Andhadhun, and Dum Laga Ke Haisha, said, “It is the most difficult character because things were happening around him. I had to have that straight face, though there were moments when I felt like laughing, but I couldn't. I had to be normal while there was chaos happening around me.”

Udta Teer features Sara Ali Khan opposite Khurrana. At the trailer launch, the actor said she was drawn to the film because of its unusual premise. “When I heard the story, I so wanted to be part of this world. It is a unique and fresh film. The character is not like my real self, and hence it was exciting for me to do it,” she said. Ayushmann credited director Akash A Kaushik for the unusual story, calling it his ‘brain child’.

Apart from Ayushmann and Sara, the film boasts of an ensemble cast including Rahul Bose, Ram Kapoor, Suhail Nayyar, Gulshan Grover, Raghubir Yadav, Supriya Pilgaonkar, Smita Tambe, and the late Mukul Dev, among others. It is Mukul Dev's final posthumous performance.

Produced by Karan Johar, Adar Poonawalla, Apoorva Mehta, Guneet Monga Kapoor and Achin Jain, Udta Teer is set to release in cinemas on October 9.

Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border.