Dunki

Dunki

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.

Director

Rajkumar Hirani

Release

21 Dec 2023

Run time

161 min

Language

Hindi