'Dunki' is produced by Gauri Khan, Rajkumar Hirani and Jyoti Deshpande. The comedy-drama, which is semi-period in nature, hit the screens today (December 22). Let's find out what is to be expected from the movie:
Plot:
In the year 1995, Hardy Singh Dhillon (Shah Rukh Khan) arrives at a fictional town in Punjab to meet a friend who saved his life one year ago. He befriends the friend's sister Manu (Taapsee Pannu) in an emotional turn of events. Meanwhile, he finds out that Manu, Sukhi (Vicky Kaushal), Buggu (Vikram Kochhar) and Balli (Anil Grover) want to migrate to England for greener pastures. Since they don't know English and have no financial resources, the aspirants find it hard to crack the Visa test.
Hardy decides to help them out. When all options fail and they are left in the lurch, Hardy and Co. decide to move out of India illegally by deploying "donkey flight" techniques, an illegal immigration technique used for unauthorized entry into developed economies in the West. They have to traverse through Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey to reach London. The rest of the film is about the ordeals they face in the process and what consequences they face in London.
Performances:
Shah Rukh Khan looked contemporary in 'Pathaan' and 'Jawaan'. Following up two one-thousand-crore movies with a film like 'Dunki' has broken his dream run at the box-office this year. He approaches his character quite casually, relying on a couple of emotional moments. Playing a soldier who becomes a cute dufus among his new-found friends, SRK is likeable but not awesome.
Taapsee Pannu is a revelation. This will probably go down as her best performance to date. Vicky Kaushal is very good in an extended cameo, while Vikram Kochhar and Anil Grover are good. Boman Irani is forgettable.
Technical Departments:
The cinematography (by Muraleedharan CK, Manush Nandan, Amit Roy, and Kumar Pankaj) is purely functional. There are no mind-blowing shots, given this is a comedy-drama and not an action spectacle. The songs by Pritam are lovely for sure. The background score by Aman Pant is above average. Director Rajkumar Hirani doubles up as an editor.
Merits:
1. The humour in the first half is very good, by and large. The Visa interview where the main characters have to crack English is a laugh riot.
2. Some scenes are mined by Hirani to make a dramatic commentary on the bane of cramming. Even IAS aspirants have been mugging up for many decades.
3. Sukhi's track is emotional and the interval block is heart-rending.
4. The intent to highlight the ordeals of poor immigrants is worthy of applause even if you are not a bleeding-heart liberal.
Demerits:
1. SRK's character gets little to no backstory. His character feels off in a lot of moments for this reason.
2. The three new characters who join the journey of the main characters were used and dispensed with after making it appear like the 'donkey flight' is life-threatening. Moments later, SRK and Taapsee have mild fun!
3. The naivete of the protagonists, at times, feels too unreal. After a point, their unpreparedness comes across as a sign of their foolishness rather than a socio-economic handicap.
4. At times, the scenes lack the gravity of a mainstream Bollywood movie. They feel like they have been written for a small-scale independent film.
5. The 'Sham marriage' episode.
Vox Verdict:
'Dunki' has an engaging first half with some quality humour. But the second half is wafer-thin. Rajkumar Hirani sets out to create sympathy for poor migrants. But his protagonists never look poor and desperate in the first place. They are just clueless duffers.
Rating: 2.25/5
