Rahul Bose, better known for serious roles, is getting attention for physical comedy in Udta Teer, the spy comedy starring Ayushmann Khurrana. In an interview, he said the response has been overwhelming.
What Bose plays in Udta Teer
Bose plays M D Burman, head of the Counter Terrorism Squad (CTS). Burman slips into a coma just as he discovers that the protagonist, played by Ayushmann Khurrana, is a Pakistani spy. The spy then loses his memory and begins to believe he is an Indian patriot.
From that point, Bose's comedy has no dialogue. He described it as physical comedy that almost borders on mime.
Why Bose was cast
According to Bose, writer-director Aakash A Kaushik told him that nobody expects a film to turn funny when he is in it. Bose said Kaushik argued that a well-known comedy actor would signal the laughs in advance.
Bose also said Kaushik had seen him on a game show where the audience had to spot the liar among eight participants. Bose said he won while lying throughout, and that the director took it as proof he could carry scenes with his eyes alone.
What was improvised
Bose said many of the film's wildest moments were not in the script. The script only said that Ayushmann's character saves Burman in the hospital. By Bose's account, the hospital bed business, the defibrillator pad gags and the falls were all improvised.
The morgue scene, in which his character kisses a dead body, was written. The lift door hitting his head ten times was not. Bose said the action director designed that sequence with comedy in mind, and that he changed his expression on every hit. The love track with Holkar, played by Smita Tambe, including the wheelchair and rose moment, was also not fully on the page, he said.
He said the best test on set is whether the unit laughs, even by the third or eighteenth take. Bose added that he began his career in physical stage comedy in 1990.
How the film is doing
As per reports, Udta Teer collected ₹25.85 crore net in India in five days, with a global gross of ₹38.53 crore. Day 1 brought in ₹4.10 crore and Day 2 ₹7.25 crore. Day 5 collected ₹3.10 crore.
As per reports, the film earned an estimated ₹2.75 crore on its second Friday, a 25 per cent drop from opening Friday. That took the India net total to ₹32.75 crore.
Why it matters
Bose's casting was a deliberate bet on surprise. The box office numbers suggest audiences are still turning up in week two.
Figures are trade estimates and may be revised.
