Dunki: Hindi Comedy Drama Film, Casting, Trailer, Songs & Review

4to40.com December 25, 2023 Movie Reviews 1,353 Views

Dunki : Movie Name
Directed by: Rajkumar Hirani
Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal, Boman Irani, Vikram Kochhar, Anil Grover, Dharmendra, Satish Shah, Parikshit Sahni, Jyoti Subhash
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Running Time: 161 Minutes
Release Date: 21 December, 2023
Rating:
Budget: ₹120 Crore
Production House: Red Chillies Entertainment, Rajkumar Hirani Films, Jio Studios

Based on the concept of “Donkey Flight”, an unlawful backdoor entry technique for nations like United Kingdom, Canada and the United States of America, Dunki depicts the lives of Indians who choose to enter the nation using this illegal process and struggle to return home.

Dunki: Overview

Dunki is an upcoming Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film based on an illegal immigration technique named, “Donkey Flight”. It is directed by Rajkumar Hirani, who co-wrote the screenplay with Abhijat Joshi and Kanika Dhillon. Produced under the banner of Red Chillies Entertainment and Jio Studios, it stars Shah Rukh Khan, Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal and Boman Irani.

Dunki was rumoured in 2020 and the screenplay was completed in August 2021 with principal photography beginning a month later. The film was wrapped up in April 2023. Filming took place in Mumbai, Kashmir, London, Budapest, Jeddah and Neom. The soundtrack was composed by Pritam. Editing and cinematography were handled by Hirani and C K Muraleedharan respectively.

Dunki is set to be theatrically released in overseas territories on December 21, 2023, and a day later in India.

In late 2020, it was rumoured that Rajkumar Hirani would make a film featuring Shah Rukh Khan. In August 2021, the screenplay was completed and the film was announced on 19 April 2022.

Hirani co-wrote the film with Abhijat Joshi and Kanika Dhillon. Cinematographer Amit Roy was chosen first, but he left the film due to creative differences with Hirani and was replaced by C. K. Muraleedharan. This marks his fourth collaboration with Hirani after Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), 3 Idiots (2009), and PK (2014).

Mukesh Chhabra was the casting director. Taapsee Pannu was cast as the female lead in January 2021 marking her first collaboration with Khan. Vicky Kaushal, Boman Irani, Dia Mirza and Satish Shah joined the cast in October 2022.

Principal photography commenced in September 2021. Khan began filming his scenes in April 2022 in Mumbai. Filming took place in Budapest and London in July 2022, and was completed a month later. A bike sequence featuring Khan was filmed in Mumbai in October 2022. A 12-day schedule took place in November 2022 in Saudi Arabia, which included the locations Jeddah and Neom. In January 2023, the underwater sequence featuring Khan was filmed in Mumbai, and in April 2023, a four-day schedule took place in Sonamarg and Pulwama.

Dunki Movie Trailer:

Movie Review:

Whatever happened to Hirani? How could a dream collaboration with King Khan on a subject this serious (illegal migration) go wrong? Have we not seen a more poignant portrayal of the issue in Ammy Virk-starrer ‘Aaja Mexico Challiye’?

Questions, questions! Rajkumar Hirani films are known for raising pertinent questions but the questions that crowded my mind as I left the theatre after watching ‘Dunki’ didn’t toe the same line.

If fans of Shah Rukh Khan were expecting a hattrick after ‘Pathaan’ and ‘Jawan’, the only hattrick they would get is that he plays a soldier for the third time! An upright, proud soldier, who after taking the donkey route to London chides the judge who advises him to seek asylum to avoid deportation!

The film opens in a fictional town Laltu in Punjab, where we meet Manu (Taapsee Pannu), Buggu (Vikram Kochhar) and Balli (Anil Grover) trying to migrate to London. Manu has a mission — to recover her kothi from a loan shark, others are ditched by girlfriend/perspective bride in favour of NRI grooms. They prepare for IELTS in a coaching centre run by Geetu Gulati (Boman Irani). Enters Hardy aka Hardyal Singh Dhillon (Shah Rukh) from Pathankot and he seamlessly integrates into the group, bringing in a romantic angle with Mannu. We also meet Sukhi (Vicky Kaushal), who is desperate for a London visa to rescue his love from her abusive husband.

The first half goes on whipping up the Punjabi brand of humour, some crass, some delightful. Sample this. Buggu is trying to dress up a woman. The woman, who weighs heavy on the scale, asks for a smaller size. He responds by saying, ‘Do you want to wear it on your finger?’ He gets thrown out of the shop, but the crassness lingers. This humour phase goes on for so long that it is difficult to gauge the seriousness of the core issue the film deals with — a ‘donkey maaro’ to London and subsequently, a reverse donkey to India. Sukhi’s self-immolation after failing IELTS ignites the need for the expedition.

As the trio takes the route through Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey, Hirani captures the hardships they face. He adds two action scenes, one underwater walking scene in Pakistan with a soldier from a watch tower firing at them indiscriminately, and the other, a run-off with the Iranian army. The scenes are so sporadic and detached from the general tone of the narrative that they fail to make an impact. In fact, nothing much about the film leaves an impact. Neither the characters, nor their cause or the hardships they go through. No, I am not being insensitive. Their families, too, do not feel much about their wards. No angst-ridden family members waiting for the message confirming their safe arrival!

Even the heavy dialogues fail to warm me up to the characters. One such dialogue is — ‘The air, water, the birds are free to flow anywhere, so why are human beings bound by boundaries?’ That’s contradictory as SRK plays a soldier who safeguards the boundary of his mulk! There is another one, ‘Why are we required to take the English language test; did the British take such a test when they came to India and ruled us?’ Sounds grand but defies logic.

One character that stays on is Sukhi. Vicky stands out in his 10-minute cameo. Taapsee is good but the wafer-thin screenplay pulls her down too. We see her first at a London hospital, with a drip attached. She manages to hoodwink a cleaner and run away with drips and all, and heads straight to her immigration agent to demand a visa to India. Later, we come to know she has a brain tumour and has just one month to live. Hence, the reverse donkey route. Hardy once again comes to the rescue.

Shah Rukh does his best to keep the story afloat with his charm, but the layers of makeup he has to wear to play Hardy’s younger version is too distracting. Even the peppy ‘Lutt Putt Gaya’ can’t do much for him. Hirani could present a 45-year-old star as a student in ‘3 Idiots’, but it’s not working anymore. SRK looks jaded.

In a recent interview, SRK said that after making films (‘Jawan’ and ‘Pathaan’) for boys and girls, now he has made ‘Dunki’ for himself. He has all the right to do so. Only if he kept it stored in his archive!