Dunki

About the film

Dunki is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film based on the illegal immigration technique donkey flight, co-written, co-produced, edited and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, under Rajkumar Hirani Films, along with Jio Studios and Red Chillies Entertainment. It stars Taapsee Pannu, Shah Rukh Khan, Boman Irani, Anil Grover and Vikram Kochar alongside Vicky Kaushal in a special appearance.

The film was officially announced in April 2022. Principal photography began the same month and occurred sporadically in several legs. It wrapped by late-April 2023, and filming locations included Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kashmir, Budapest, London, Jeddah and Neom. The film's songs were primarily composed by Pritam. Shekhar Ravjiani served as a guest composer. The film score was composed by Aman Pant, the cinematography was handled by C. K. Muraleedharan, Manush Nandan, Amit Roy, with the editing by Hirani himself.

Plot

In 2020 London, Manu Randhawa escapes a hospital and approaches immigration attorney Puru Patel to secure an Indian travel visa. Puru explains that her previous asylum claim, wherein she legally testified that her life was in danger in India, makes repatriation virtually impossible. Terminally ill with brain cancer and desperate to die in her homeland, Manu contacts her former lover, Hardayal "Hardy" Singh Dhillon, in Punjab after a 25-year separation. Manu requests that Hardy meet her, Buggu Lakhanpal, and Balli Kakkad in Dubai to orchestrate a covert return to India, prompting a lengthy flashback to 1995.

In Laltu, Punjab, impoverished and uneducated friends Manu, Buggu, and Balli desperately seek to immigrate to England to alleviate their families' financial distress. Hardy, a disciplined ex-soldier from the Indian Army, arrives in the village to return a debt of gratitude to Manu's late brother, who had saved his life. Learning of the family's plight, Hardy commits to fulfilling Manu’s migration goals. After being defrauded by a rogue travel agent, the group enrolls in an ineffective English coaching center to clear the IELTS exam for student visas. There, they befriend Sukhi, who is desperate to rescue his ex-girlfriend from an abusive marriage in London.

Only Balli passes the examination and relocates to England, sending back deceptive photographs to imply immense material success. The illusion collapses when Sukhi learns his ex-girlfriend has committed suicide out of despair over his exam failure; a distraught Sukhi subsequently commits suicide. Devastated by the tragedy, Hardy vows to bypass the restrictive visa apparatus entirely, leading Manu and Buggu to London via the highly perilous, illegal backdoor immigration route known as the "Donkey Flight" (Dunki).

Production

In late November 2020, Rajkumar Hirani, who had previously approached Shah Rukh Khan for the roles in the films Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003) and 3 Idiots (2009), which were rejected by Khan, was reported to join hands with the latter for his next directorial. Hirani narrated the story to Khan during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. The film marks Khan's first collaboration with Hirani. By August 2021, the screenplay was completed and the film was announced in April 2022. Hirani co-wrote the film with Abhijat Joshi and Kanika Dhillon. Cinematographer Amit Roy was chosen first, but he left the film due to creative differences with Hirani and was replaced by C. K. Muraleedharan. This marks his fourth collaboration with Hirani after Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), 3 Idiots (2009) and PK (2014). As per reports Manush Nandan, Amit Roy and Pankaj Kumar also worked on the film as cinematographers.

Mukesh Chhabra was the casting director. Taapsee Pannu was cast as the female lead in January 2021 marking her first onscreen collaboration with Khan. Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment produced her film Badla (2019). Vicky Kaushal was announced to be playing a significant role in the film. Boman Irani joined the cast in October 2022.

Principal photography commenced in April 2022 in Mumbai. The Mumbai schedule ended in June 2022 and the international schedules commenced in July 2022. Filming took place in Budapest and London in July 2022, and was completed a month later. A bike sequence featuring Khan was filmed in Mumbai in October 2022. A 12-day schedule took place in November 2022 in Saudi Arabia, which included the locations Jeddah and Neom. In Riyadh, few shots were taken of the Al Rajhi Grand Mosque, which was shown in the film as part of Jeddah's skyline whereas the Al-Hukm Palace was depicted as the building of a Saudi immigration court. A three-day schedule happened in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh in December 2022. In January 2023, the underwater sequence featuring Khan was filmed in Mumbai. Meanwhile, Khan who was also working on another project Jawan finished his shooting in April 2023. The same month, the team moved to Kashmir for a four-day schedule that took place in Srinagar, Pampore, Sonamarg including Thajwas glacier and Pulwama. A song sequence was shot in Kashmir choreographed by Ganesh Acharya. The filming was wrapped up in Sonamarg, Kashmir by April 2023. The film was shot over 75 days out of which Khan shot for 60 days. The film is reportedly budgeted at ₹120 crore, including the marketing cost.

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