Dunki Review - Shah Rukh Khan Shines In A Trademark Rajkumar Hirani Entertainer

Dunki Review: Rajkumar Hirani finally teams up with Shah Rukh Khan for the social comedy Dunki. The Hirani-SRK combo was supposed to happen two decades ago, but for some reason it did not, and for good (others did so well, I mean). Now, the combo finally happened with Dunki, and for the first time, Hirani's movie doesn't have a peculiar and incredible main lead character. You see Munnabhai, 3 Idiots, PK, and Sanju; every film has an amazing lead character who isn't a normal person (even Sanjay Dutt had such a ride-filled and blasting life). Dunki has all the common people trying to get abroad and then trying to come back. So, it is a new genre for Hirani, and he masters it like a boss. He created that magic with a fictional script and characters, and here he makes it work again with the characters and story inspired by true events. Dunki tries to get even with human emotion, but again, it's the same formulaic Hirani trying to leave a mark with normal characters. He finds a new zone with his old formula of laughter, emotion, and social message. Dunki has an additional patriotic touch, too.Set in Laltu, Dunki is about Manu (Taapsee Pannu), Buggu (Vikram Kochhar), and Balli (Anil Grover), who want to go to London. They can't speak English, they can't get a visa, they are conned by crooks, and there comes a soldier named Hardy (Shah Rukh Khan) to help them all. Hardy teaches Manu Kushti so that she can get a sports visa. He then finds a new idea about student visas and asks Manu, Buggu, and Balli to join English classes. There they meet Sukhee (Vicky Kaushal), who is mostly seen as a frustrated man because he wants to go to London within 3 months anyhow. Sukhee has a girl over there waiting for him, and Hardy sees his pain since he has gone through it once before. Together, they all learn English from Gulati sir (Boman Irani) and are ready to go to London, but then tragedy strikes. How the gang goes through that, followed by the illegal Dunki route to London and what they had to go through in the foreign country, is all that you get to see in the film.If you check the history books, Hirani and Abhijat Joshi's pair has never failed to deliver. But this time they were accompanied by Kanika Dhillon, who was from a different league of feminist dramas. In the first half, Dunki makes you laugh and cry with certain scenes, especially the interval block. There are some highs in the trademark Hirani style, and this time there is a Punjabi humour attached to it. Overall, it's a fun ride, but there is a strong social message about the dark secrets of illegal migration and its consequences. It's not just about going through the "Dunki route," but also about what happens when you don't have any identity in the foreign country. Dunki tells you why one has to come back to their motherland to find their freedom and existence.Shah Rukh Khan, the actor, was still missing in the drama genre. The last ones I can remember were Fan (2016) and My Name Is Khan (2010), where he completely stunned the audience. This year, he had two action films, and we hardly talk about "acting" in crazy massy movies. So, Dunki was supposed to be that "character-driven" role for him, and he did what people wanted him to do. He excels at mastering the age-gap scenario as he plays two parts, young and old, in the movie beautifully. Romance, comedy, and some action—he does everything. Taapsee Pannu has surprised in the role of Manu. She is daring, she is beautiful, she is cute, and she acted well too. Vikram Kochhar and Anil Grover have some fun in between, whereas Boman Irani joins the party with his so-called teacher wala English. Vicky Kaushal has done an outstanding job in his supporting role, and like Shah Rukh Khan said in The Dunki Diaries, that drunken scene is just amazing. Raju Hirani movies enjoyed that ground-breaking chartbuster music, but he always found a sensible and meaningful use of the same. O Maahi and Ve Watana are those meaningful situational songs here, while Lutt Putt Gaya is a fun number, and Bandaa has some different vibes. The cinematography was decent, while the editing was okay. Dunki gets good support from the art design and production design teams to make the world look real. Rajkumar Hirani hits a SIXER with Dunki. He has had 5 back-to-back huge hits and highly acclaimed films, and now he makes it six in a row. In some scenes, you will fall off the chair laughing, and then some scenes will make you so emotional that you will need an extra box of tissues. Go, have a blockbuster Christmas with Dunki in cinemas.