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“Either sex sells or Shah Rukh Khan,” Neha Dhupia once said famously and it skyrocketed to become her primary claim to fame. In the era of free internet and communal fringe outfits, Khan’s thunderous resurgence stands celebrated while the cinema screens replaced moans of ecstasy with roars for the nation. The sentiment of patriotism (and its questionable variants) fetches a default audience in 2023 with our filmmakers pricking pins at the right trigger points. In his latest offering Dunki, Rajkumar Hirani, too, hoists the flag of nationalism but, luckily, sans hate commentary and chest-thumping dialogues.
The year is 1995 when Hirani’s film transports us to Laltu in Punjab. Every youngster in the village dreams of a ticket to Great Britain. If Mannu (Taapsee Pannu) has bereavement and a mortgaged house to deal with, Balli (Vikram Kochhar) and Buggu (Anil Grover) are bogged down by unemployment and similar domestic woes. One day, a former military officer from Pathankot, Hardy (Khan) enters the scene and their lives change forever. The trio’s London dream begins to take shape with Hardy making their arduous quest his own. In the process, he falls for Mannu’s firebrand ways and meets new and disparate people while never quite sacrificing his love for the nation.
In its most humourous chapters, Dunki sees Hardy and the gang try every trick in the book to grab the treasured stamp on their passports. Their tryst with the queen’s language – with a generous smattering of Punjabi humor – is designed to make you smile. The comedic bits remain in the traditional Hirani zone even though the writers spare us from the eardrum-bursting cacophony that the ‘Balatkar’ speech in 3 Idiots was. That said, the filmmaker’s decision to not inject forced political correctness into his storyline (like Karan Johar did in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani) feels admirable.
With illegal immigration being a less-ventured theme for post-millennium Indian cinema (a middling CIA in Malayalam would hardly qualify), Dunki is a monumental opportunity. Above all, the makers get Shah Rukh Khan to headline it – the version of Khan that delivers resounding speeches in a courtroom. On or off the screen, is there anyone who would say no to this? This time, the impact gets elevated as we get a classic Hirani monologue injected with patriotism at the correct decibel levels. The key sequence towards the end of the latter half somehow sums up the simplistic logic that international borders are unnecessary (‘Panchhi Nadiyaan’ anyone?). However, Khan and Hirani sell the premise so well to make a teary-eyed auditorium break into an instant applause.
Surprisingly, Hirani keeps the melodrama quotient low in Dunki. The tearjerking moments materialize from an organic space and the filmmaker refuses to let them simmer. Much like Sanjay Kapoor’s hilarious ‘dead sister ki saheli’ logic in Zoya Akhtar’s Luck By Chance, the film averts straying into dull patches. As a result, one might feel a mild disconnect when the light and overly intense moments oscillate one after the other. Dunki, in its generous 161-minute runtime, also appears longer than it is – not because the narrative lags but because its characters go through a gamut of adventures across terrains and geographies to later reverse the journey. The writers (Hirani, Abhijat Joshi, Kanika Dhillon) pick ideas such as immigration, poverty, terrorism, unemployment, and inequality to spin a story that seldom veers out of the safe zone, thereby delivering a product that is broad-stroked yet entertaining. To give Hirani credit, not for a microsecond did I expect a finer nuance – be it in the issues the film espouses or in the character motivations. Dunki’s worldview is diminutive and is also fairly harmless and acceptable as every other Hirani film (except Sanju).
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In Dunki, the filmmaker does not craft an out-and-out Shah Rukh Khan showreel. For sure, the film abounds in big moments for the actor who is in absolute elements as the Punjab-bred patriot. Still, the plot-driven film offers every principal player enough range to shine. Moreover, it’s wonderful to watch Khan as an ‘equal’ in a group of many. Observe the scene where he munches a slice of lemon with Sukhi (Vicky Kaushal) and you will know what I mean. Taapsee Pannu is sheer delight as the ‘pind di kudi’ Mannu. She strikes an interesting balance as she displays naivety, ambition, and vulnerability in part that fills the film’s orbit with a whiff of fresh air. Vikram Kochhar and Anil Grover aid the leading duo with excellent individual turns besides developing solid chemistry as a unit.
In a nutshell, Dunki is as Hirani-esque a film as it could have ever been. Aside from a bunch of regular faces, we observe how Pritam’s music – which sounded lifeless in the soundtrack – livens up the proceedings. Vicky Kaushal, in a special appearance, becomes the sacrificial goat a la Manisha Koirala in Sanju, Sanjay Dutt in PK, and so on. The Saudi Arabia official (with a catchphrase ‘Omar No Hamar’ providing comic relief) might beat 3 Idiot’s Chatur in being an airhead. There is a lengthy flashback, a deadly disease, and a beautiful proposal scene – the latter being an ode to Khan’s romantic legacy. Khan’s characterization as a lover, intentionally or otherwise, drives in memories of Veer-Zaara – lingo and styling included. However, between Hardy and Mannu, there’s no Lata Mangeshkar and there are no Swiss Alps. Set amid wrestling lessons, it’s love at first slam in Dunki and we approve it in unison. I’ll also credit the filmmaker for making Khan wake up from a self-imposed slumber to fall in love once again for us. We deserve romance and we deserve Shah Rukh Khan. The universe knows.
Rating: ★★★ 1/2
