Dunki: Unsatisfactorily Excellent

When one has a stellar film resumé comprising of Sanju, PK, and 3 Idiots, the audience expects excellence of the same standard whenever they walk into theatres to watch a movie directed by that particular director. With Dunki being Rajkumar Hirani’s much-awaited collaboration with Shah Rukh Khan, the expectations were set sky-high, and the movie is a curious case for deciding whether the expectations were met or not. 

 

In short, the film centers around a group of five friends who aspire to go to London in a bid to earn money and acquire a wealthy lifestyle to come out of the clutches of poverty and financial despair. 

 

The film’s initial half, which is focused on primarily being comical, turns out to be quite hit or miss. The humor doesn’t land quite a few times and comes off as cringe. Some completely avoidable scenes could’ve been removed to cut down on the run time of the movie, which does start to feel like a drag towards the business end of the third act. However, Vicky Kaushal turns out to be the saving grace of the first half, putting on a ravishing display of his acting skills, which leaves a lasting impression, so much so that his 20-something minutes' cameo carves an intriguing and emotional subplot that acts as a pedestal for the second half to take off. 

 

The second half is an emotional rollercoaster, one which serves as a testament to Hirani’s mastery of the art of filmmaking. As an avid movie watcher, I have always been a firm believer in determining the quality of a film, especially drama, based on how it fares in the emotional quotient of things. Dunki does exceedingly well in this very emotional quotient – throughout the second act, a series of cut-throat sequences are skillfully put together which effectively showcase the grotesque journey that the five friends undertake. This part of the movie strikes the right chords when it comes to evoking emotions out of the audience – it makes you root for the group, making you feel tense when they put a wrong foot ahead, and happy when things go their way.

 

Chal Ve Watna, a soulful melody by Pritam and Javed Ali positively contributes to the intriguing screenplay and is the standout of the excellent music album. However, it is pertinent to mention that despite the amazing album, the songs start to come in too thick and fast in between quick intervals during the movie, making them slightly annoying to deal with. 

 

It is during the final act that the weariness of the 161-minute runtime finally starts to creep in, with the movie losing balance on the scale of emotions, tilting too much to the dramatic side of things, leaving too much on the viewer’s plate to deal with. The movie could have easily been cut short during this phase and could’ve been made to conclude about 10 minutes earlier. The social message that the director aims to give is also very contradictory and is quite flawed from a lot of angles. 

 

To talk about the cast, everyone nails their roles, and the actors succeed in making us feel an emotional connect with the protagonists. It is quite refreshing to see Shah Rukh Khan in a completely different avatar than his former two action flicks on the big screen. Initially, his accent comes off as forced and off-putting, but during the course of the movie, it grows on you as Shah Rukh wonderfully adapts to his new role and plays it to perfection. The emotional sequences throughout the movie are driven by his acting prowess and an artistic display of a variety of emotions. Taapsee Pannu is exuberant, bringing Manu’s character to life. She acts her heart out throughout the movie. The chemistry between the two seems to be naturally forged and has a lot of heart. Anil Grover and Vikram Kochhar also do an amazing job.

 

All in all, Dunki is a good movie, although it slightly pales in comparison to Rajkumar Hirani’s previous ventures such as PK and Sanju. I feel that the movie relies a bit too much on its second half to hit the home run, which in my view, does suffice in the end. Various things could have been done better, but for me, the Hirani-SRK collaboration did pay off, although slightly unsatisfactorily. If you do plan on watching this, make sure to carefully manage your expectations and wake yourself out of the masala movie slumber induced by Jawan and Pathaan.