Can one compare Apples and Oranges? : Dunki Movie Review

 A very warm and merry Christmas to everyone.

This will be a short attempt at writing a movie review of Dunki from the perspective of an Indian living outside their own country for the past 4 years, but still retaining an Indian citizenship.

I had an idea about the basic premise of this movie of how a few Indians with the dreams of a better life or being able to support their family try to go to the UK using the so-called "Donkey" illegal route, having failed to obtain a visa because of various shortcomings. However, the mixed and polarising reviews about the movie had left me confused, regarding what to expect.

As a result, I entered the packed movie theatre in Munich on Christmas Eve with very low expectations and just to have a jolly time.

The movie starts on a light-hearted note and some classic Rajkumar Hirani slapstick humour which had the audience including me breaking out into roaring laughter, followed by moments of emotion and then as expected, towards the second half of the movie- some action, drama and more emotion. There were also a few SRK scenes that felt like Hirani was making a parody of some classic Shahrukh films. The song placement and background scores were also appropriate and perfect. "Lutput gaya" was the typical fun song we expect from a Hirani film, "O Maahi" by Arijit was also very touching; but, the song that pulls your heartstrings is Javed Akhtar's beautiful lyrics in "Nikle the kabhi hum ghar se" with Sonu's soulful performance. 

All the actors also brought their A-game. They got their time to shine with much credit to Raju Hirani for not making it into just an "SRK film". Vikram Kochhar and Anil Grover as Baggu and Balli did a great job as actors whose performances I had not seen before. Boman Irani, the Hirani-regular as I would call it also did not miss. Finally, the biggest challengers to SRK, playing toe-to-toe with the superstar's performance were Taapsee Pannu and Vicky Kaushal. The latter as the character Sukhi was the heart and the soul of a fraction of the movie.  When the theatre broke for an interval (happens once in a blue moon in Germany only for Indian movies), I was left even more confused as to why some people were so disappointed with the film. Sure the humour or the story could not touch Munna bhai or 3 Idiots, but it was not so bad to dishearten so many.

However, when the second half started, I realised soon why this was the case. I had entered the movie theatre and over the course, the movie itself made me build up certain prospects which I hoped would be met with after the interval. That ended up being far from the case. There was a part of the movie which, I felt, was glossed over rapidly, although it was supposed to be the main focus of the film. The stakes were too low and for some reason towards the end, I did not find myself understanding or rooting for the characters. There is a very important scene in the climax of the movie where SRK compares apples to oranges and calls them the same. Here I am using apples and oranges as a euphemism to differentiate between two factions of an immigration issue which would otherwise act as a spoiler. Although we can agree to disagree over the director's opinion on the matter, I felt that I was not convinced regarding how this apple and orange comparison would relate to the struggles of the main four characters in the film. Since the movie failed to justify the decisions taken and the processes applied by these characters, I started to feel annoyed and frustrated by the slapstick humour that continued after the climax and was also saddened by the conclusion. 

Once the movie ended, there was a mixed reaction across the movie theatre- some people clapped as the credits came on, some sniffled and some were like me-"Meh". I realised I finally understood the whole spectrum of audience emotions once the film ended. I assume, that for most, it was mainly about relatibility. The Indian diaspora in the movie theatre had students studying here, expats working here, or now German citizens of Indian origin with whom the story had resonated, but to different degrees. 

This movie had an underlying message highlighting the immigration issues to Western countries but at some points of the movie, it felt more as if the message was being beaten into the audience's head. As far as an SRK-starring movie, this is not an "SRK movie" which is probably to the movie's credit. There is no dramatic hero entrance and a much more balanced screen time with Taapsee allowing her and some of the rest of the ensemble to shine. Jawan was focused more on entertainment and Dunki was more focused on giving the audience something to think about, but the execution had its shortcomings. One of the first few scenes in the movie with Baggu's character had set a tone for me and the rest of the expat audience regarding what we expected from the movie; I believe that if some of the editing and plot choices of the movie were executed correctly, there would have been an alternate universe where I would be in tears or also giving a standing ovation, as I had last observed in a movie theatre like for 3 Idiots.