Laugh and be patriotic! Can that be done together? Of course, as this entertainer proves.
Can a Pakistani spy work for India after losing his memory? Definitely? He can remember the job he has trained for, but not the country for which he is working!
So prepare to smile, chuckle and occasionally guffaw at this man, who is Bilal and thinks he is Vikrant (because he is based in India!) in this thoroughbred entertainer named Udta Teer (an arrow shot from its bow).
A convoluted tale unfolds here with interesting characters, each to be taken by the viewer with a humorous tinge for most parts of this film. At home, we have the resolute intelligence chief, M.D. Burman played by Rahul Bose. When he lands into a vegetative state thanks to the same car mishap that makes Bilal lose his memory, he is psychologically tortured to no extent by Bilal’s sudden transformation into Vikrant, as well as the taunts aimed at him by another Pakistani mole in the Counter-Terrorism Service, Ashfaq (Suhail Nayyar), who has posed as Dhruv.
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The story begins when Pakistani army officer Niyazi (Ram Kapoor) has employed his special protégé Bilal (and Ashfaq, who has been Bilal’s brotherlike mentor after he lost his parents) to work in India for them. Niazi wants a promotion that Pakistani General Mir (Gulshan Grover) will offer him only if Niyazi succeeds in their mission to destabilize India with a massive (“Bigger than 26/11”) attack on Independence Day.
But what do you know?! Burman, purely by chance, finds out that ‘Vikrant’ and ‘Dhruv’ are actually Pakistani operatives, and in the ensuing struggle in a car, ‘Dhruv’ is thrown out of the vehicle before it overturns.
Vikrant, visited by his team, develops post-traumatic amnesia, and when told that he was a part of the Indian counter-terrorism team, gets recharged enough to systematically bring Pakistani agents to justice. He misses out though on ‘Dhruv’ as well as his own household help Tahir (Touseef Qazi), also posing as a Hindu. Vikrant is married to Yamini (Sara Ali Khan) but they are on the verge of divorce, much to the dismay of her mother (Supriya Pilgoankar).
Ashfaq and Tahir are flummoxed and frustrated when Bilal keeps at arresting or annihilating Pakistani agents and even capturing terrorist Azhar Maqsood (the late Mukul Dev), who he was protecting earlier. At a personal level, he even becomes an ardent Hindu devotee. He makes poor Tahir (whose alias is a Hindu name) to accompany him to temples and to the festival at Ram Mandir, which was made possible as he apprehended the Pakistani conspirators ahead of their diabolical move to sabotage it.
But then comes a time when Bilal realizes who he is, and sends a list of Indian agents operating in Pakistan, Dhurandhar-fashion, as local nationals. So does Niyazi get his promotion?
The layered script may be wackily entertaining but does not lose out on the IQ level as it is loophole proof, If I have a slight problem, it is only with a completely superfluous Vikrant-Yamini duet and a momentary gaffe—the mention by a Pakistani of the pure Hindi word ‘chinta’ (worry) when the Urdu ‘fikr’ should have been used. The wacky aspects in the script are sometimes deliberately overdone but its all in tune with the entertainment quotient.
Ayushmann Khurrana gets into the spy-and-action terrain with aplomb. Suhail Nayyar and Touseef Gazi are fabulous. Ram Kapoor is interestingly cast in a different kind of a villain though he could have been organically more vehement at the end. Gulshan Grover is effective. Rahul Bose is a revelation in the (intentionally for the audience) comic portions. I also found Smita Tambe as Holkar exceptional in her brief role, while the late Mukul Dev as Azhar Maqsood and Kavya Kumar as the Pakistani prime minister are fantastic in their cameos. Raghubir Yadav is also good as the Imam. Brijendra Kala is alright.
The technical values are first-rate, and Akash A. Kaushik’s script (including the often-hilarious dialogues) and direction excellent. Sachin-Jigar’s songs, especially Jai Hind and Bhootni ka work, while Ketan Sodha’s background score is effective.
This one’s highly recommended for lovers of both comedy and our country!
Rating: ****
Dharma Productions’ & Sikhya Entertainment’s Udta Teer Produced by: Karan Johar, Adar Poonawala, Apoorva Mehta, Guneet Monga Kapoor & Achin Jain Written & Directed by: Akash A. Kaushik Music: Sachin-Jigar Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Sara Ali Khan, Suhail Nayyar, Supriya Pilgaonkar, Touseef Qazi, Raghubir Yadav, Rahul Bose, Smita Tambe, Kavya Kumar, Mukul Dev, Rupinder Valia, Gulshan Grover, Ram Kapoor, Aisha Yusufzai & others
