Film: Dunki
Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal, Vikram Kochhar, Anil Grover, Jyoti Subhash, Deven Bhojani
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Genre: Comedy-Drama
Rating: 1.5/5
Release Date: 21/12/2023
By Yogesh Mishra
DIRECTOR Rajkumar Hirani’s Dunki is one of the most anticipated movies of the year. Prior to the release of Dunki, Shah Rukh Khan had given back-to-back hit movies like Pathaan and Jawan. Does he continue the same flow of his speedy success in Dunki as well? Let’s try to find out.
The story revolves around Manu Randhawa (Taapsee Pannu), who faces financial challenges to run the family, especially repaying the debt to get her mortgaged house back. It was not just Manu but also many other villagers like Balinder Lakhanpal (Vikram Kochhar) and Balli Kakkad (Anil Grover), etc., who had similar issues. They were all planning to go to London to earn money, but the common problem among them was that none of them knew English. That’s why they didn’t get the visa. Although all of them take an English-speaking class at their village run by Geetu Gulati (Boman Irani), they still cannot learn to speak English fluently. Meanwhile, Manu’s martyr soldier’s colleague Hardy Singh (Shah Rukh Khan) comes to that village and tries to help them get to London without a visa through the Dunki route (an illegal way to enter a city or country). By using extraordinary ways and routes, they finally enter London illegally but find that the earning opportunities there are not that easy, or can say nothing was there as it was assumed or dreamed to be. Do they really fulfil their dreams there? Do they come back to India? What happens to them for using such illegal ways to enter London? To know the answers to these questions, one must watch the film.
Shah Rukh Khan and Taapsee Pannu are the main attractions in the film. Although they have performed nicely and given their best, the poor storyline and the unwanted extra length of the movie ruined the entire good things in the film. The subject matter was put together so nicely, but as the story leads towards its climax, it starts making people bored. Although Boman Iran and Vicky Kaushal had a small part in the film, they still impressed the audience with their mind-blowing performances. Apart from them, other artists like Vikram Kochhar, Anil Grover, Jyoti Subhash, Deven Bhojani, etc. have also justified their parts.
Songs like “Lutt Putt Gaya,” “Nikle The Kabhi Hum Ghar Se,” “Main Tera Rasta Dekhunga,” etc. are quite good, but again, even the impressive music of Pritam and the score by Aman Pant could not help the audience enjoy the movie as a whole.
The five key reasons why we can say that a movie is not up to expectations or is not enjoyable are: 1.) The poor storyline and loosely written screenplay and dialogues 2.) Characters in the film had no such justifiable reasons to take the Dunki route. 3.) Unwanted extra length of the movie. 4.) Lead cast SRK and Taapsee Pannu had nothing to do better than what could have been in the storyline. 5.) Extremely high expectations of the audience from SRK and one of the most successful directors, Rajkumar Hirani.
Overall, this film is not really able to meet the expectations of the audience in many parameters. Despite the best possible starcast, director, locations, and, of course, a decent budget, the film disappoints the audience. It can still be recommended for hard-core fans of SRK to watch at least once.
