Dunki follows the story of a group of misfits who plan to settle in the UK for better prospects, and after their visa is rejected, they try to make their way to their destination via an illegal route(hence the title Dunki). The story from a concept point of view is relevant given that the refugee crisis is so prevalent across the globe, something that has resulted in families getting separated. Two distinct films in different capacities that pop up are The Swimmers and Hit The Road, both gruelling and gut-wrenching films about the ‘Dunki’ experience on celluloid. But given that this is a Raju Hirani film, the story was bound to have bouts of humour along the way. Regrettably, the bad news is that the story here is so banal and dull that it kind of makes the whole movie pointless. The screenplay standing at a shade above 150 minutes is inconsistent with its world building and hence doesn’t have the required payback in the backend of the drama. 

The writers, Raju Hirani, Abhijat Joshi and Kanija Dhillon have adapted the 3 Idiots screenplay skeleton here, something that you can wasily draw parallels with. In fact, the opening sequence of the character of Taapsee Pannu escaping a hospital reminded me of the character of Madhavan escaping a flight in order to meet his friend. The similarities don’t stop here as you are introduced to the aging protagonists who wish to return to their homeland, India, with the help of the character of SRK who is given an SOS. This for me was a slightly indifferent start for a Raju Hirani film given that the events seemed to be manipulative rather than being free flowing. Nevertheless, the drama cuts to a flashback featuring the younger version of the characters, each of whom wish to settle in the UK for better life prospects in terms of money. It is at this point that I fekt slightly disconnected with the drama because the writing did not quite convince me on why did they wish to visit only UK wherein the reality was, that they could have earned money elsewhere too. Yes, you may argue that Farhad why would you knit-pick this detail but I just wish to say that the onus is always on the writers to establish the events without trying to manipulate the viewers. 

The first hour is laced with humour which is a typical trademark of Hirani with an exception that the gags just do not land. Part of me did get an impression that these gags may have worked a decade back but not in the fast changing world of 2023. I also had a bit of an issue with the world building and in particular, the characterization, wherein there were lesser heartfelt moments which would have helped to connect with the characters better in the first hour. As compared to the innocence that was in play in Hirani’s previous films even with respect to the character dynamics between characters(like say the father-son equation in Sanju), the drama fails at this very level here. I was unusually just going through the motions waiting for some magic to happen. And I wonder if the comedy route was the right way to move forward here, given that the topic itself was a serious one. 

In between, you are also introduced to the character of Vicky Kaushal but one fundamental flaw was his late introduction, that didn’t give the viewers enough time to invest in his arc, leading to a supposedly emotional interval block that missed the mark with the emotions. In his outburst, I feel the tone of the scene could have been a little more sombre and less dramatic to fully have an impact on the viewers. Picture this – the camera has a tight focus on the character of Vicky Kaushal as he narrates his backstory against the sound of fire sizzling in the background, with a tiny tear running down his cheeks. Impactful against the one used that had an underlying tone of comedy(not directly impacting the scene but still prevalent). 

While the first half for me was a huge miss, things begin to unfold at a faster clip in the secomd hour. However here too, I would have wished for the ‘Dunki’ struggle to be showcased a lot better(apart from the weird justification of the characters opting for this route at the halfway mark), something that was less tense and more superficial and also something that films like The Swimmer were effective in communicating. The screenplay completely lacks logic once the drama shifts to England including a rather forced courtroom scene and a wedding chaos scene that are flat as a pancake. Also, their hardships weren’t as well established to justify their wish to return to their homeland. What I did like though was the final act wherein all the bearings of a Raju Hirani drama were in play, with some forced but unexpected twists along the way that were well intended and had the beats of emotions playing out. But because there was an issue with the world building initially, you just don’t feel those emotions at all which was such a shame. The film ending with captions about the refugee crisis across the globe was touching but I wished to watch more of that in the film. Overall, the screenplay is extremely flawed and a rare miss in the splendid filmography of Raju Hirani.