Udta Teer, directed by Akash A Kaushik, is a pleasant surprise for anyone familiar with Bollywood’s abysmal comedy track record lately. The film takes a subject used to rouse patriotic sentiments and turns it into absolute chaos. Starring Ayushmann Khurrana, Sara Ali Khan, Suhail Nayyar, Rahul Bose, Gulshan Grover, Brijendra Kala, and Ram Kapoor, Udta Teer will make you laugh…until it doesn’t. Read our review to know more.

Udta Teer: What’s the plot?

Ayushmann Khurrana plays the role of a double agent in the film. Vikrant Thapar works for the Indian anti-terror squad, named CTS in the film, but he’s a Pakistani spy whose real name is Bilal Ahmad. Vikrant, aka Bilal, is one of ISI’s best spies, entrenched deep into the Indian intelligence system. Part of his cover is his marriage to Yamini (Sara Ali Khan), who works in the Defence Ministry. While the couple is headed for divorce, they pretend all is well for the sake of Yamini’s mother, played by Supriya Pilgaonkar, who brings her unique comedic finesse to the role. Through his marriage to Yamini, Bilal (or Vikrant) manages to identify and eventually honeytrap his wife’s boss, Srivastava (Brijendra Kala), a senior official in the Defence Ministry.

In the meantime, the Pakistan army receives intelligence that a Delhi-based imam has been helping Indian spies learn Islamic practices so that they can blend in when they are sent to Pakistan. The imam, Pakistan learns, has a full list of Indian spies currently embedded in the Pakistan army as officers. Bilal is told to find this list of Indian spies, and this is when things go awry. During this operation, after a series of errors and comical accidents, Bilal loses his memory. Since the people around him don’t know of his Pakistani origin, they tell him what they know to be true – that he is an Indian intelligence officer, happily married, and that his parents were killed by Pakistani terrorists.

Soon enough, Bilal forgets who he really is and starts hunting down the men he was supposed to protect. Chief among them is Azhar Maqsood, played by the late Mukul Dev, whose dating app notifications keep getting him into trouble. The changing dynamic between Bilal, his buddy Ashfaque, and Azhar Maqsood keeps the laughs going, at least in the first half.

Udta Teer movie review: What we loved and what could have been better

The first half of the film is a delight despite its mostly one-sided jabs. The satire is not particularly smart, but it doesn’t aim to be. Udta Teer does not want you to think about or analyse anything after you watch the film. It asks the audience for nothing except a ready acceptance of the humour, even though it is childish at times. One of the main reasons the film’s comedy works when it does is Ayushmann Khurrana and Suhail Nayyar’s superb chemistry. Whether it’s their natural Punjabi accents or their ease with each other, something about them just works on screen. Suhail Nayyar is the kind of comic talent Bollywood needs – understated, hard to ignore, and not at all bad to look at.

Rahul Bose, as the Indian intelligence chief Burman, talks with his eyes for most of the film. Literally. As the only person who knows Bilal and Ashfaque’s secret in the first half, Burman is helpless as he cannot speak or move after the accident. He may be silent, but Rahul Bose is never a dull presence in Udta Teer.

In the second half, however, Udta Teer loses its sharpness. From unnecessary religious songs to patriotic dance numbers, the film flails in all directions for a while. Thankfully, the tokenism doesn’t last long. Towards the end, the film does try to find its way back to simple comedy. But by then, you feel a bit let down. After a first half that makes you laugh often, the second half is predictable, boring, and puts you in a bit of a spin with all the back-and-forth about Bilal/Vikrant’s true identity. This is also when the essence of Bollywood makes its presence felt with over-the-top emotion and the clear victory of good over evil.

While Udta Teer may have missed the mark of satirical genius, it has certainly shown a new path. Not all India vs Pakistan stories need to be serious, emotional, and gory. Some of them can be just plain funny.

Udta Teer is playing in theatres now.

Can you watch Udta Teer with family? Yes, apart from some violence, there isn’t much gore or bloodshed in the film.