Udta Teer director on why Ayushmann Khurrana was the 'obvious choice'

With Udta Teer finding an audience, director Aakash A Kaushik has plenty to look back on, including the casting choices that helped bring his unconventional spy comedy to life. At the centre is Ayushmann Khurrana, who plays a Pakistani in a spy drama, a genre not exactly known for its comic liberties.For Kaushik, however, there was little doubt about who could pull it off. He wanted an actor willing to take risks, and Ayushmann ticked all the boxes."One of the first things about this film is that it is an out-of-the-box idea. At the end of the day, he's playing a Pakistani, so you need an actor like Ayushmann, who is gutsy enough to say, 'I will do this.' A lot of actors might have developed cold feet about playing a Pakistani character. But Ayushmann was the instant choice because he always chooses unconventional ideas," he told India Today in an exclusive conversation. Apart from his willingness to experiment, Kaushik also counted on Ayushmann's acting abilities and comic timing to strike the right balance between the film's spy thriller premise and humour. He also touched upon the criticism that Sara Ali Khan role was limited, and admitted that the actor was aware of the same from the beginning. "She knew from day one that it was a small role, but she told me, 'Sir, this is a small role, but I want to be part of this film. This is such an amazing story.' I told her that the role was small but impactful. If you watch the scenes she has in the second half, they are very impactful. I think she has done a brilliant job," he said, adding that his writing process starts with understanding his characters and how they react to situations, rather than simply making them serve the plot.The director also recalled a rather entertaining incident involving Sara and Ayushmann during the shoot of a romantic song. Sara was supposed to drive a car through the mountains with Ayushmann sitting beside her. But the hitch was that she didn't know how to drive. Kaushik said with a laugh, "She said, 'Sir, there's a small thing I forgot to tell you. I don't know how to drive.' I told her, 'Sara, we are in the mountains!' But she was confident and said she would manage because it was an automatic car. Poor Ayushmann was sitting beside her, wondering what we were doing."He recalled that Ayushmann said sitting beside Sara was his most dangerous stunt in the film. The team eventually got the shot, but unfortunately it did not make it to the final cut. He joked that both actors were understandably upset that they had risked their lives for a sequence that didn't make the final cut.The film's unconventional premise also influenced its music. Kaushik collaborated with Sachin-Jigar and lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya to create a soundtrack that was quirky and distinctive but also had melodies that could work independently of the film. "We felt that if the film was out of the box, the music also had to be out of the box. At the same time, we wanted melodious songs that people could listen to and enjoy," he said.Udta Teer has already crossed Rs 50 crore at the box office.- Ends