'Dunki' movie review: Done!

Movie DunkiDirector Rajkumar HiraniActors Shah Rukh Khan Taapsee PannuRating 35Was feeling unwell Missed the first day first show of this film Watched it later at night Itrsquos impossible to remain immune to public opinion on pictures Learnt that many had felt let down by the movie before I stepped into the theatre This helped me sufficiently lower my expectationsWhich is the best way to watch a filmmdashany film but more so Dunki It is directed by Rajkumar Hiranimdashrarest in the Indian mainstream to have earned as much respect as his movies have made moneyOver 20 years he has directed five films Starting with Munnabhai MBBS 2003 wherein the lead here Shah Rukh Khan SRK was the original choice thereAll of Hiranirsquos films since have been kinda iconic in their own rightmdashwith enough in common between them for you to roughly know whatrsquos here already For one there will be actor Boman Irani playing a particularly costumed part cracking a peculiar accentThere could also be a young actor otherwise seen in main roles playing an extended cameo like say Sushant Singh Rajput in PK 2014Itrsquos Vicky Kaushal on board this carefully picked ensemble cast that comprises a bunch of blokes from a small town in Punjab learning English somehow to migrate to the promised land ie ldquoInglaindrdquo in their caseThis couldrsquove been the annual Xrsquomas Aamir Khan release It stars SRK opposite Taapsee Pannu who has as much a role to die for And shersquos as good as it getsSRK 30 on his part cracking it in 2023 is the most competent wersquove seen him on screen evermdashaltogether shorn of his usual mannerisms and tics this grimace that laughter wersquove known and many have loved him for decadesItrsquos almost as if he graduated from another acting school while on hiatus for four years from the big screen And he looks his best when his character ages to his actual self that is pushing 60Felt that for Jawan as well My expectations with that blastfest blockbuster was lower for different reasons It was possibly as many notches over anything Atlee had directed before as Dunki is below Hiranirsquos par Have to say this is still better than Sanju 2018In the sense of its scope and scale to begin with The film encompasses several lives and ambitions with scenes after scenesmdasheither taking the story forward or getting deeper into charactersAll of it in the interest of sunny entertainment as the family drama breathlessly alternates between romance song action with comedy at the base also shining a light on NRIs nonresident Indians who have been SRKrsquos own core audiencebase for longThere is just so much going on that I felt like viewing Dunki the second time on might help digest this overboiled egg better But there is also so much that doesnrsquot landmdashfrom jokes to the general jostlingmdashthat watching it again so soon might be a bit much Even as yoursquore better off either way wholly suspending disbelief and cynicism simultaneouslyAt the centre hence is almost a mythical sorta dogooder SRK blessed with immeasurable kindness determined to take a bunch of Punjabis overseas come what may How fatally desperate are these pind peeps to leave India for a better life Itrsquos not easy to place this motivationI had to summon my own memory from the rsquo90s when lsquosettling abroadrsquo was such a heavenly thing for Indians in general It probably still is Especially in the lower classes The poorest are inevitably best protected in the First World Wersquore placed in the mid rsquo90s The chosen destination is the UK Visas are impossibleThe only way to fly away is traversing on foot through plains and valleys mountains and seas The route is called Dunki corruption for donkey beast of burden where the title comes fromI first read about this phenomenon around 2020 in the context of the United States actuallymdashwhere Indians make for the fifth largest number of illegal immigrants entering through its southwestern border if they survive Most of them are from PunjabHaryanaDunki is therefore a film on immigration at a time in history when world politics is strongly centred on xenophobia and closing bordersHiranirsquos constant cowriter Abhijat Joshi is a professor of English at a university in the US Itrsquos a subject he would be acquainted with enough to reflect on it with fair depth Making this a film with strong legs to stand onmdashno matter what you feel about how it walks the talkIt retains the hallmark of the HiraniJoshi partnershipmdashtheir sugarcoating of bitter pills through charactersperformances situational comedy and idealismLensing the most tragic issues with the bearable lightness of being amusing all through Whether that be on Indiarsquos oppressive education system 3 Idiots drug abuse Sanju to greed or superstitions PK Lage Raho Munna Bhai You sense Dunki trying too hard to fit into the funky template What you canrsquot deny is the originality of its idea while most blockbusters of 2023 the postpandemic year that audiences truly reembraced the theatres have chiefly been regurgitative action setpiecesGiven expectations I was also looking out for the HiraniJoshi gentle gyans on lifemdashrsquojaadu ki jhappirsquo types Liked that bit where if you wanna break bad news to someone fake the worst possible news first so the bad feels not so terrible after allThe only news for me to break here is stepping out of the cinema I was feeling a tad bit better Thatrsquos enough frankly Rest is just a lotta English