Udta Teer movie review: Ayushmann Khurrana film is a tedious mix of spoof and sentiment

Udta Teer movie review: Ayushmann Khurrana's latest in theatres on October 23.

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Udta Teer movie review: An amnesiac Pakistani spy on an Indian mission that goes massively wrong seems like a cracker of an idea. Especially when it’s being fronted by Ayushmann Khurrana, who has the ability to be both serious and droll, without getting all heavy about it.

It’s too bad that the film forgets the memo, just like its hero, because it never quite knows whether it wants to be a comedy or a tragedy, getting all twisted out of shape trying to figure left, right, both, and where-do-I-go-from-here?

There’s no confusion in the way it begins. An operation in Kashmir, with a crack Indian anti-terrorist team all set to smoke out dreaded terrorist Azhar Masood (Mukul Dev), goes bust when he escapes across the border. A crestfallen Vikrant (Ayushmann Khurrana) is let off the hook by his boss (Smita Tambe), but his colleague (Suhail Nayyar) grows ever suspicious: is there more going on than meets the eye? Who is Bilal Ahmed? Is the Pakistani infiltrator hiding in plain sight?

There’s much to enjoy here. Or at least that’s what we are promised, as the Pakistani establishment, all gung-ho about their man on the inside, toplined by Gulshan Grover and Ram Kapoor spouting uss-paar-waali-Punjabi, gobbles biryani and korma. As Masood, who is constantly swiping right on ‘Hinder’ with its multiple ‘hoors’, Mukul Dev is a hoot. And an ensemble which includes Rahul Bose as a top Indian spy chief, Brijendra Kala as a compromised babu, and Raghubir Yadav as a canny bearded maulana, should have had no difficulty in providing the laughs.

But the fun-and-games, which start at full-tilt, dry down quickly. Operation Sindoor comes up for air a few times, which feels like a thrust-in mention of a real-life event in a fictional film, which in turn suddenly remembers to invent a job for its leading lady (Sara Ali Khan) in a ‘defence ministry’, where she goes about discovering ‘top-secret files’ when not romancing her spouse.

All clear so far? No? Never mind. Because this film is neither fish nor fowl, neither Gadar nor Pathaan, but a tedious mix of spoof and sentiment which gets into its stride only sporadically.

Udta Teer movie cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Sara Ali Khan, Suhail Nayyar, Mukul Dev, Gulshan Grover, Ram Kapoor, Rahul Bose, Raghubir Yadav, Brijendra Kala, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Parul Gulati, Smita Tambe
Udta Teer movie director: Aakash Kaushik
Udta Teer movie rating: 2 stars