Udta Teer box office Day 1: Ayushmann Khurrana's spy comedy opens on a slow note

Actors Ayushmann Khurrana and Sara Ali Khan’s Udta Teer opened on a modest note at the box office. The spy comedy received a wide theatrical release but struggled to attract large audiences during much of its first day, leaving it well short of Khurrana’s biggest openers.Audience turnout improved during the night shows, while Chennai and Bengaluru recorded stronger interest than several northern and western markets. The film now faces the task of sustaining that late momentum amid competition from several other releases.Udta Teer combines espionage, comic chaos and family entertainment. Its story follows a spy who accidentally turns an already complicated game upside down.On Day 1, Udta Teer collected Rs 4.10 crore nett from 6,265 shows across India, as per trade tracker Sacnilk. Its India gross collection stood at Rs 4.83 crore. Nearly 1,88,000 people watched the film during its opening-day run. The Hindi 2D version of Udta Teer recorded overall occupancy of 15.65 per cent. Morning shows began quietly at 5.08 per cent occupancy.Footfall improved during the afternoon, when occupancy reached 14.46 per cent. It stood at 13.77 per cent during the evening before rising to 25 per cent for the night shows, the strongest slot of the day. The improvement during the night screenings provided some momentum after a subdued start. Overall occupancy, however, remained modest across the day.Chennai leads occupancy chartsThe film’s performance varied considerably across cities. Chennai led the Hindi 2D occupancy charts at 55.7 per cent, followed by Bengaluru at 26 per cent and Hyderabad at 15.5 per cent.The response was quieter in northern and western markets. In the National Capital Region, the film recorded 12 per cent occupancy across 966 shows. Occupancy there peaked at 21 per cent during the night screenings.Mumbai registered overall occupancy of 14.5 per cent across 546 shows, with the figure rising to 29 per cent at night. Ahmedabad recorded 9 per cent occupancy across 335 shows. Among the listed centres, Chennai was the strongest market, while Bengaluru also delivered a comparatively better response.How the opening compares with Khurrana’s other filmsWith a first-day nett collection of Rs 4.10 crore, Udta Teer sits in the mid-range among Ayushmann Khurrana’s theatrical openers.It remained well below his biggest opening-day performers. Dream Girl 2 collected Rs 10.69 crore on Day 1, while Bala opened at Rs 10.15 crore. Dream Girl earned Rs 10.05 crore, and Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan recorded Rs 9.55 crore.Badhaai Ho, which was released on an extended holiday, opened at Rs 7.29 crore, while Article 15 collected Rs 5.02 crore. Udta Teer opened ahead of Doctor G, which earned Rs 3.87 crore, and Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui, which collected Rs 3.75 crore.The film also surpassed the opening-day collection of Andhadhun, which began with Rs 2.70 crore before word of mouth picked up. Khurrana’s other lower openers include Anek at Rs 1.77 crore, Meri Pyaari Bindu at Rs 1.75 crore and An Action Hero at Rs 1.31 crore.More about the filmIndia Today gave Udta Teer a rating of 3.5 stars. A part of the review read, “The film adds a comic twist to the familiar spy-thriller setup. The humour comes from mistaken identities and the gap between what the characters know and what the audience knows. Kaushik uses this confusion to keep the comedy and the spy plot moving together. It has shades of Dhurandhar, but with comedy at its heart.”Udta Teer arrived in cinemas on October 23 alongside several other releases. These included Sonakshi Sinha and Zaheer Iqbal’s Tu Hai Meri Kiran, the romantic drama Pehla Pyaar Doosri Baar, the cricket-based drama Doosra, and Little Thomas.- Ends