Christmas is here & all the film industries have been looking to cash in on the holiday season. The biggest among them is definitely Rajkumar Hirani's "Dunki" (despite the presence of Prasant Neel's "Salaar") after all it featured his maiden collaboration with SRK. Raju's track record over the years has been enviable & King Khan has been on a roll this year with "Pathaan" & "Jawan". This has led to immense expectations & it would be interesting to see as to how much they will mint at the box office.
Just as in most of his previous movies, Raju had penned the script with Abhijat Joshi while Kanika Dhillon has also contributed. They have touched upon the topic of illegal migration, known as 'donkey flight' or 'dunki' in Punjabi. The movie unfolds in Laltu where Hardy (Shahrukh), a soldier who had come over to return the radio of a fellow soldier, Mahinder (Suhail Zargar) who had saved his life during a mission. Over there, he gets to know that Mahinder had passed away & that the latter's sister, Manu (Taapsee Pannu) & her friends, Buggu (Vikram Kochhar) and Balli (Anil Grover) were trying to migrate to England in search of a better life. However, they neither had the means nor the required qualification to get the visa & that's when Hardy agrees to help them out by opting for 'dunki'. However, it was easier said than done.
The template is pretty much similar to what Raju had opted for in the past whereby he conveys the main subject in a hilarious manner in the first half. Subsequently, the tone turns rather melodramatic & the victim of the core issue is shown ("Munna Bhai", "3 Idiots"), before the protagonist drives home the point in an emotional climax and a happy tail end. In the previous movies, the central point was conveyed effectively & the comedy aspect adds on to the enjoyment element; which unfortunately is not the case here (the humour does work). I dont mean to say that it had me bored, but the impact of illegal migration was way too diluted be it their journey & the sequences in England. As a result of which we barely empathise with the gravity of the situation that such immigrants go through. Another aspect that didn't quite gel was the appearance of the characters after they meet 25 years, coz I felt they looked much older than the role demanded.
On the technical side, Pritam's music was fine though the melodies weren't quite memorable. The frames were colourful & had that 'feel good' aura to it, & interestingly quite a few had worked on the cinematography such as C K Muraleedharan, Manush Nandan, Amit Roy & Kumar Pankaj. Coming to performances, SRK has done his part well though I felt some of his emotional segments didn't come across convincingly. However, his energy and aura carries the movie despite its evident shortcomings. Taapsee has done justice to her role, however the chemistry between her & SRK wasn't so palpable. Both Vikram & Anil have done their parts well while Boman Irani was rather wasted. But the standout performer was undoubtedly Vicky Kaushal who impresses in a special appearance as Sukhi.
Verdict: Certainly failed to match the expectations that was expected from this dynamic duo & the primary reason for that was Raju's treatment of the subject which lacked the impact that it deserved. However, it is still an enjoyable movie & worth a watch though I do rate it as Raju's weakest movie to date!!!
Rating: 2.75/5
Regards...Ben
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