Dunki Review: Decent entertainer with strong message but Rajkumar Hirani failed to create magic this time
Dunki Movie Rating: 3 Stars
Just watched Dunki movie in Cinema. Let’s focus on the complete details, story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this movie.
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal, Vikram Kochhar, Anil Grover and Boman Irani
Director: RajKumar Hirani
Release Date: 21st December 2023 in cinema
Story: Movie begins When an ailing Manu (Taapsee Pannu) wants to return to India and she realizes Hardayal Singh Dhillon aka Hardy (Shah Rukh Khan) is the only one who can help her come back to the country she left years back in search of better prospects.
25 years ago, Hardy arrived in Laltu, a remote village in Punjab in search of someone who had saved his life. Instead, he encountered a group of friends, Manu, Buggu (Vikram Kochchar) and Balli (Anil Grover) whose sole mission was to make it to UK, in search of a better life. However, they are unable to get visas as they have neither bank balances nor assets and they aren’t even well qualified.
The committed three try everything to secure an immigration visa – from learning wrestling to fake marriages and degrees, falling prey to scams along the way. Finally, they decide to learn English in hope of securing a student visa. To do so, they have to pass the IELTS exam and enroll in an English coaching class taught by Gulati (Boman Irani).
It is here that they meet Sukhi (Vicky Kaushal) who is desperate to make it to London so that he could go there and fetch his girlfriend who is stuck in a bad marriage. Hardy has another solid reason too to go to London. He is in love with Manu. What happens once they reach London? Is their stay their smooth? Do they earn tons of money? Do they return to India? When? Do Hardy and Manu marry and live happily ever after?
Positives
1. Performances
2. Story
3. Climax
4. Dialogues
5. 1st Half
Negatives
1. Length
2. Direction
3. Music
4. Screenplay
Durgesh Tiwary’s View: When I watched the trailer of this film planned to watch this movie on release date as trailer looks good and big fan of director Rajkumar Hirani films and has King Khan.
Four friends in a small village of Laltu, Punjab dream to go to England. But neither do they have tickets nor any approved visas. Their lives change when a soldier arrives one day and promises to take them to their dreamland. Together, they set out on a perilous journey which tests their courage and ideologies.
Dunki story is fresh as one has not seen a Hindi film with a similar storyline. What’s more, the story has a nice message too. Screenplay is excellent in parts but is also found lacking in other parts. The first half has plenty of light moments which keep the audience in good spirits. The post-interval portion becomes less engrossing and also a bit too lengthy. Other plus points are the scenes showing Hardy’s love and respect for India, the yearning of Manu, Buggu and Balli to return to their motherland, the scene of Balli’s breakdown when Hardy confronts him in England, etc. As the film sprawls across continents and changing landscapes, they dodge bullets, risk their lives and more only to realize that their dream destination doesn’t hold the gleam they imagined. There is a naivety in their dream oblivious of the reality of living as an illegal immigrant. The film rests solely on the shoulders of the performers and they all have brought their A game to the table. The ending is moving, and the stats mentioned are quite hard-hitting and depressing. Thankfully, the final scene is funny, and the film ends on a lighter note.
On flipside, the love story of Hardy and Manu is not very well written because of which you don’t really get emotional in scenes when they separate and again when they meet. The writing is not up to the mark. The makers haven’t focused on the families and their sufferings. Viewers should feel that the characters had a strong reason to move to the UK. But this aspect was not properly touched upon. Secondly, the humorous scenes in the first half don’t bring the house down. Rajkumar Hirani could have also used his snipper a bit more to edit off some of the unimportant bits in the first half. While the main crux of the story is about the tumultuous journey of illegal immigrants from India to a foreign nation, that aspect comes only after the first half ends. It should have been brought up much earlier in the middle of the first half so that the hardships could have been shown much more. Movie is nowhere close to Munna Bhai, 3 Idiots, PK, etc, and hence, audiences will feel a bit dejected, despite the film’s strong points.
Movie about unfulfilled aspirations and reaching out for dreams beyond means and boundaries. Watch the film for its message and for the superb acting display by entire cast. It bears the Rajkumar Hirani stamp of filmmaking with the right message and emotions as a backdrop. However, it is not as outstanding as his previous films as the writing plays spoilsport to a great extent. My view on this movie Recommended.
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