Director Akash A Kaushik says sync-sound takes of Rahul Bose's elevator and morgue scenes were ruined by giggling technicians, while Ayushmann Khurrana signed on to play a Pakistani character after turning the writer down five times before.
Sync sound was supposed to save time on Udta Teer. Instead, it gave the crew a problem nobody plans for: too much laughing on set.
Director Akash A Kaushik, in an exclusive with Bollywood Hungama, says Rahul Bose's elevator and morgue scenes were so funny in the moment that technicians kept cracking up mid-take. The film was shot on sync sound, but a few of those scenes had to be dubbed later because the giggles of unit members had bled into the audio. Retakes piled up for the same reason.
That's a strange compliment to pay an actor better known for Mr. And Mrs. Iyer and Jhankaar Beats than for comedy. Kaushik says that was the point. Bose plays the head of the Counter Terrorism Squad who lands in an absurd situation, and the director wanted someone who could sell the seriousness of the job before the chaos kicks in. Cast a known comic actor, he says, and the audience braces for the joke before it lands. Cast Bose, and nobody sees it coming.
One scene in particular seems to have become a set legend. Suhail and Sandeep Anand get Bose's character dancing, and according to Kaushik, Bose wasn't content to just hit his marks. He asked for the reference songs in advance so he could learn the original choreography and replicate it exactly, on top of whatever bit the scene already called for.
Khurrana's fifth yes
The other casting swing in Udta Teer is Ayushmann Khurrana playing a Pakistani character, a reveal Kaushik says stunned the actor the moment it came up in the narration. Khurrana's reaction, as recounted by the director, was somewhere between disbelief and immediate interest: "Wait, what's happening?"
There's history behind that moment. Kaushik, who has written films including Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and Housefull 4, says he had pitched Khurrana five different scripts over the years. Every single time, Khurrana liked the script and passed anyway. So when Udta Teer came around, Kaushik half-joked that the actor would probably love this one too and still say no. Khurrana's response, per Kaushik: there was no way he was turning this one down.
Whether that's down to the role itself or simply timing, Kaushik isn't saying, and Bollywood Hungama's interview doesn't press further. Udta Teer is Kaushik's directorial debut after a decade and a half of writing comedies for other people's films. He says he's been going screen to screen checking audience reactions, and that the clapping in theatres has been the real validation. The film is currently running in cinemas, with Khurrana and co-star Sara Ali Khan having already made a promotional stop at the Attari-Wagah border ahead of release.
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