I wanted Pakistan to say Jai Hind: Kaushik

Aakash Kaushik opens up about his directorial debut, the late Mukul Dev and more

Kabir Singh Bhandari

Ayushmann Khurrana, Sara Ali Khan starrer Udta Teer has action, comedy, twists along with an intelligence operative who is Indian for one half of the film and Pakistani for the other half. The absurd comedy marked the directorial debut of Aakash Kaushik, who started off his career as a writer with F.A.L.T.U (2011). Aakash also seems to be a favourite choice for horror comedies, having written Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and Bhooth Bangla. 

In an interaction with us, he opens up about his journey. Excerpts. 

How did the idea for Udta Teer come about?

I’ve been a fan of patriotic films all my life, Border being one of my favorites. We've always seen Sunny (Deol) paji and all the heroes say ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ‘Jai Hind’, experiencing so much joy seeing those moments. And that’s when I thought that what if I can get our neighbours to say it? That’s when the idea popped in my head and I was instantly very excited about it as I knew it’s a very out-of-the-box idea and would work really well. 

Mukul Dev’s was the best performance. Tell us about working with him. 

So I had an absolute ball working with Mukul Sir. He was such a sweetheart and was very involved with his character. Very few people know this but he had a great command over different languages and accents. His role of terrorist Azhar Maqsood was a lot to do with his own ideas and performance. It’s such a joy when you what you write on paper is elevated with someone’s performance. 

At night suddenly he would call me at around 12:30 am and I would be like thinking if everything’s fine.  And he would just start laughing. While I was confused over what’s going on he would say that he was remembering a particular scene we had shot and laughing about it.

I really miss him and I just pray that he was part of all the success that we’re enjoying. But I know that he’s smiling from above and feeling happy for all the love that he’s getting.

What are the challenges of being a first-time director?

Being a first-time director, there are challenges, but then it’s also so joyous because it’s been such a beautiful journey. Even when I started off as a writer, it took some time for people to have faith in me. I was very blessed to have such supportive producers and a star cast who believed in me. showed a lot of faith in me. Udta Teer isn’t a straightforward film, there are different genres involved and it switches between comedy and suspense and there are twists and turns and there’s so much of action. So I’m sure that there were initially some butterflies in everybody’s stomach, but they were all supportive. And I feel so happy seeing the love that the film is getting. I just hope that producers make lots of money and the film keeps getting the love that it is getting.

Horror seems to be one of your strengths, how and why?

I enjoy horror comedies. See, both fear and fun, are such different and opposite emotions. Yet for some weird reason, they make a beautiful blend. The idea of community viewing when you’re watching a film in a theater with people, you enjoy both these emotions more. The theatre experience of a horror comedy is far greater, I feel. And what happens is that if you get success, then people want you to do more. Barring the Stree franchise, I think every other horror comedy sequel has been offered to me to write. I had a great time writing both the Bhool Bhulaiyaas and Bhooth Bangla.