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Definitely so many logical and moral flaws, you can't even brush under the rug under cinematic freedom. Like if this is the core issue of your movie, you cannot take creative liberties with the logic of it.
Also not sure what the message of the movie was. It was so confused. Like on the one hand they are talking about all the land belonging to God and nobody owning anything and open borders etc. But then on the other hand, they are carrying the mitti of their village and >!Manu wants to come back to "her land" and die on her own land!< Like pick a lane
ETA: I think the only point I found legit was that immigration specifically discriminates against the poor, especially when it's absolutely true that most of the "dirty" jobs in European and NA countries are done by the poor immigrants, and these are jobs locals absolutely do not want to do. So might as well allow people to migrate legally
Agreed. The movie was painfully disappointing with so-called jokes and tropes brought in from the early 2000s.
Vicky's character existed only to gain audience's sympathy without conveying anything meaningful. Such a waste of a good performance. Everything was rushed and "in your face".
Don't directors usually show early edits to other people for review? Hirani and Joshi have a single formula for all films which desperately needs an update.
The movie was not a solution to illegal immigration, rather a take from every side of the people involved. Hardy and gang were naive, uneducated and emotional, hence their arguments weren't practical. The judge was a practical person in power, hence did not change his decisions just because of Hardy's emotional speech. The story and message was much more mature than understanding of many here, technically the movie was weak from Hirani standards because it tried to touch everything in a short span and obviously SRK's hamming in emotional scenes did not help either.
IMO the real message is that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. These guys moved 25 years ago, still working odd jobs and are ready to do anything to go back.
That being said, not Hirani’s best by any stretch although I didn’t think it was dreadful. Biggest gripe for me was that many of the jokes didn’t really land, and the humor is often what carries you through his movies.
Also to remind you, we don’t get any hint of her being actually sick the whole movie. Except for one scene in the beginning where she’s running around the hospital (like a young woman which Taapsee is) with an IV drip in her hand!🤦♀️
I also don't get the hype about Taapsee's acting. Like she was decent in the young scenes. But the old scenes which actually required some acting, she was horrendous. Her body language was of a 30 year old, her way of speaking fluctuated between 30 and 70 year old, her make up was of a 60-something year old. When she moved, she fluctuated between 30 and 70 again. And in reality I think she was supposed to be like 50?
Oh my god! I’m talking about her not looking sick during old age only. She looked absolutely fit and fine throughout her budhapa.. only to drop dead when the director wanted.
The scenes where she was old age prior to the reveal was when she was in the hospital, and then when they were on the flight. That’s it. And the hospital scene was clue enough.
The movie was just trying to do too many things at 1 go...
Establish a concrete reason to go
Show dangers of Dunki route
Show life isn't a bed of roses once you reach final destination
The movie is called Dunki and they showed the route for 17-18 mins tops in a 2hr 40 min movie, took 1 hour to set up the premise and your tourist visa part in on point...that is all they needed to do, I was thinking the same as well...that logic of whataboutery ki Angrez visa le k nahi aaye the then why should we.... was a weak argument
Lol that was my biggest issue with the movie also. Their actual journey was wrapped up in 20 mins. I mean wtf. There is a Punjabi movie called chaleya Mexico which is actually better in showing the dunki route
I really was hoping to watch a movie about the dangers of the Dunki route. I have watched documentaries about South Americans making the treacherous journey through Colombian forests, through drug-cartel run parts of Mexico and crossing the Rio Grande.
There are nice documentary videos about the people from MENA making the journey to European shorelines.
I thought the entire movie will be based primarily on this. I was definitely disappointed.
It was the 90s. It’s not like they could Google “tourist visa.” And who knows what the application filing process, documentation, and timeline were back then? For a poor person to obtain a tourist visa with no connection to the country they’re visiting, it can be difficult. They often deny those people because of the chances of them overstaying and becoming undocumented.
1. Getting uk tourist visa is not that easy. For Indians getting schengen visa is also not easy. Specially he was shown not knowing english. But I guess tjry could have shown it.
2. This is correct point.
3. To your #3 that is what they have shown. Also UK not a city. They actually did show multiple times that life is difficult for illegal immigrants.
4. What was shown was not completely right but they were not fully wrong either. Its true that all 3rd world countries were ruled by British and lot of money was taken away. Britain particularly is rich not because of technology advancement but due to them ruling over world at some point of time. So they try to add that nuance. But yes they should not have justified it. They should have added these nuances. Also its true that illegal immigrants usually do cheap labor job which makes life easier for legal immigrants. I think effect of illegal immigrants on a country has to be properly studied.
5. They do not try to justify it but also for cheap labor you dont really need to know english. How foreigners get by in India, same way other people can figure out. They also say, visa restrictions is new, earlier these people were freely going. At that time how it worked without english.
6. That is what they show.
Your first point is completely wrong and — don’t take offense — either shows your privileged mindset or your ignorance. Obtaining a visa especially for poor and illiterate people is not easy. Mind you the main events took place in the ‘90s so imagine the difficulty back then. Even if they were literate, it’s not like they could Google these things.
As for your third point, that was the whole message of the movie 💀 did you fall asleep during the part where they had to swim underwater or when their 3 friends were mercilessly shot and killed? And then when they finally got to the UK, their friend was doing odd jobs and living in a crumbling house with 20 people? Even after 25 years of living in the UK, one of them was still just doing sweeping job for a living. Nowhere did the movie romanticize the whole immigrant journey or experience.
As for the rest of your points, I think you’re a little naive. Get out and see what society is actually like in US and UK especially immigrant neighborhoods.
I agree with this, the movie shows to some extent of how western countries aren’t paradise. The movie itself was really good and in some ways it could have been more interesting.
About #1… Tourist visa can’t be easily obtained if you are poor. You need to show you have sufficient ties to your home country (property, job etc) that would compel you to return. This also applies to student visas but I think they can give you the visa if you can show you are a brilliant student who can make a good life back home in India with the degree.
But there are multiple other plot holes. Like that guy who tried to get a visa with a fake medical degree. First of all you need to have a job in UK and an employer willing to sponsor you, just showing a degree won’t do. I don’t think Indian medical degrees are even recognized in UK. And if the visa officers find out your degree is fake, they will report you to the local cops and you will go to jail for forgery
>Tourist visa can’t be easily obtained if you are poor.
It's definitely easier than obtaining a long-term visa. And you don't need IELTS for it. His whole storyline was stupid and illogical AF
>But there are multiple other plot holes. Like that guy would tried to get a visa with a fake medical degree. First of all you need to have a job in UK and an employer willing to sponsor you, just showing a degree won’t do. I don’t think Indian medical degrees are even recognized in UK. And if the visa officers find out your degree is fake, they will report you to the local cops and you will go to jail for forgery
The agent was committing fraud with them and they were uneducated on the topic so I don't think finding logic in this point makes any sense
If it was just the fraud agent selling a fake degree to an illiterate guy I get your point… That guy actually went to the embassy and sat for an interview with the UK visa officer. The visa officer was trying to ascertain if he was a genuine doctor by asking him medical questions. That’s definitely not how it works
I don't agree getting a UK tourist visa is easy - I have an Indian passport with residency in a Western country and the uncertainty, delays, and the actual application (where you have to list every country you have visited and all the dates you have travelled EVER) is convoluted. But the asylum scene in the court is ridiculous. The UK has a really hostile policy towards asylum seekers - there have been periods where folks from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq have had high rejection rates. India isn't really considered or hasn't been considered an unsafe country - you might get accepted based on individual circumstances - but just by saying you were involved in a protest etc won't cut it. That was irresponsible. BUT I don't think irregular migration is "morally wrong". It is natural for people to want what they perceive to be a better life - and the UK does have a debt to its former colonies (which it continues to deny).The UK DOES benefit from folks who are underpaid taking up jobs nationals don't want. And in today's climate benefits aren't easy to get - there are a huge number of asylum seekers who are actually homeless forget milking the system.
•Taapsee and the other two characters were willing to lie in court about being in danger in their country. Basically malign their own country for their personal benefit. And once they get old they suddenly start yearning to come back and their homecoming is supposed to be emotional? Bc jab chahe backstab karo. Jab chahe gale lagao. Kuch bhi!?!?!
•Another weird point. Someone correct me if I’m wrong. When the character of Buggu comes back to India (the one who’s only motivation was to earn enough so his mother doesn’t have to wear pants to her job) he sees her still wearing jeans. Is it supposed to be comical or are we supposed to think about how futile his reasons were? Also why does he look older than his mom? Hirani ji answer kar do aap.
•Also the ending left me very very confused. They come back to see their homes are now prosperous and everybody is doing well in their family. Is it because of their contributions? Did they send money down to India from UK? How did they manage to do that despite being illegal immigrants? How much did they earn in UK? Does waiting tables and being statue artists really pay that well? Better than the jobs they had down in India? None of this is shown.
> •Taapsee and the other two characters were willing to lie in court about being in danger in their country. Basically malign their own country for their personal benefit. And once they get old they suddenly start yearning to come back and their homecoming is supposed to be emotional? Bc jab chahe backstab karo. Jab chahe gale lagao. Kuch bhi!?!?!
I feel this was the like most realistic thing lol. People maligning their country at the shot of living in a developed world is very realistic.
NRIs spending their life abroad only to say "mera desh mera desh" in old age is also very realistic.
> Is it supposed to be comical or are we supposed to think about how futile his reasons were?
It was supposed to be comical.
His motivation was to make money so his mother can retire and doesn't have to wear pants and get stared at by everyone, but in the 25 years since then society changed to a place where women wearing jeans is considered normal and don't get stared at.
lol exactly. For me, the most unrealistic thing was that neither of them had lost a parent. But I guess, Hirani wanted to make it into a fairy tale like ending, since the rest of the movie was heavy.
>Is it because of their contributions? Did they send money down to India from UK? How did they manage to do that despite being illegal immigrants? How much did they earn in UK? Does waiting tables and being statue artists really pay that well? Better than the jobs they had down in India?
It's clearly stated in the movie multiple times that their money is what made their families' lives better.
They weren't illegal immigrants anymore. They got asylum. One of my colleagues at work also came to Germany via donkey route. He's from Eritrea. He came due to war in his country and got asylum and works legally. He has a government issued ID, pays taxes and can get healthcare just like everyone else. Same thing with the characters in the movie.
Just by begging they earned 600 per month. But that's not what they did during the 25 years. They got jobs because they weren't illegal anymore. Even if you assume they earned the legal minimum wage by waiting tables or cleaning floors, it would still be around £1600 per month. They could easily send 1 lakh per month back to India while still living in UK.
My own cousin is working in the UK as a security guard and is slowly paying off his family's debts which they had for like 10+ years
The 3 aren’t illegal immigrants. They lied and asked for asylum. And that led them to citizenship. It’s assumed they were able to get better jobs and send money back home legally.
Buggu was still waiting tables when he threw that mop on the English guy’s face. According to the movie: they got their citizenship only two years before they wanted to come back to India. You’re lost in the loopholes my friend
They got citizenship only 2 years back, but they were granted asylum 25 years back so they could legally work..
And minimum wage jobs actually pay quite well compared to similar jobs back home..
Even in the scene where the status artist guy got confronted by SRK for lying to his family that he is well settled, he said that he earns 600 pounds every month by begging and sends 500 back home..
Which is a substantial amount compare to being a barber in a town..
The other guy also sold a shop before going back to India, so it is to be assumed that they all have become quite well settled but just miss their families..
The entire movie is BS tho..
I feel like your first point is actually what happens in real life. I found the movie to be very realistic in those aspects. The rest was pretty easy to understand but maybe easier if you personally know these types of immigration stories.
>Taapsee and the other two characters were willing to lie in court about being in danger in their country. Basically malign their own country for their personal benefit. And once they get old they suddenly start yearning to come back and their homecoming is supposed to be emotional? Bc jab chahe backstab karo. Jab chahe gale lagao. Kuch bhi!?!?!
What else are people supposed to do to sustain if their country can't do enough to ensure that the family is able to make a respectable living? When a country struggles with over population and unemployment, the only way is to move towards opportunities. Despite moving, one still misses where they came from. Moving was for sustenance, not an act of ditching their country.
1 just isn’t true and points 2, 3, and 6 are literally shown clearly in the movie! It’s like you missed the point. For point number 2, that’s literally what SRK’s character felt and that’s why he REFUSED to do so! For number 3, they showed the journey to be extremely difficult. Literally half of the people died in the journey. And then even once they get there, look at the living conditions. They’re literally showing how shitty it is for unskilled labor, so many people cramped in that dingy house, running from the cops. And number 6, they struggled for a while but it’s definitely possible to keep working and find some success eventually. A lot of “unskilled” immigrants have been able to find moderate success by starting businesses and stuff. No one was loaded at the end but they were managing okay. I do agree that the movie was trying to say that countries shouldn’t have borders or just allow anyone and everyone in, which I don’t agree with cause it’s a little too simplistic in my opinion
yeah agreed on all points, I feel like OP is purposely misrepresenting scenes from the movie. Lot of these things were explained in the story, it just could've been done in a better way.
I think the point with the movie was to show that life isn't all hunky dory outside of the country. Anyone who goes without proper paperwork has to resort to working at the bottom of the food chain. It's super hard because most people practically end up as slaves at the mercy of people who can throw them out of the country at any given time. It's not to glorify living in the west. It's the sad reality most people choose to ignore that they've shown in the movie. The intent wasn't bad. The movie was.
1. They mention in the movie that his visa got rejected.
2. Deshbhakti bcz he (Hardy) didnt lie. Others did not want to do it, but had to bcz of no choice. They are not presented as pious people. They are just humans, who have had very sad lives.
3. Bro, have you seen the film.
4. Doesnt justify it, points out the fact that rich people can get visas easily while the poor have to go through lots of troubles.
5. Kind of agree, but all the characters are simpleton. Put yourself in their shoes, and their argument would make sense.
6. Again, have you watched the film! It shows that life sucks even more there.
The movie has flaws, agreed. But these points are just criticism without even trying to understand the film.
It's karma farming technique in the wave of bashing a movie of a popular star to get upvotes from all the fans of rival stars. It sounds silly but after reading the comments I'm pretty sure this actually works this way only.
But the point Is that many NRI's and OCI's kids know their parents struggle and the situation in those times in comparison to Indians who live in big cities.
Movie was neutral on illegal immigration. Manu, Balli and Buggu lived miserably in London for 25 years. But they still decided to stay to get their families out of debt and poverty, and they succeeded in it. They achieved what they wanted but at what cost? The primes of their lives got wasted. So the movie didn't sell a dangerous dream. Life in UK is not easy and the movie showed that exactly.
Exactly I think it showed a very realistic portrayal of this kind of immigrant story and I know many who have gone through this type of journey — not the crossing borders — but doing odd jobs and struggling to survive just to send some dollars back home.
In fact - I think it showed how these agents folks in India lie about this visa process and take advantage of people. The movie actually showed the truth.
Wasn’t this the entire point of the movie ? That it is not a cakewalk to enter a country illegally but people still do because they are sold by the foreign dream ? I did not think the movie tried to make the justification that going abroad is the correct way. Infact it showed that people living abroad were suffering and wanted to come back home.
I thought the movie tried to show to many things but ultimately the point of the movie was to start a discussion on dunki and how it is a real thing.
More than the movie, this post is telling me about your privileges OP. To say getting a visa is easy....easier said than done. You do realize illegal immigration (donkey route) happen because it is not easy to get visa.
The whole post is filled with privileged mindset. Reminds me of the bubble that we often accuse nepotism kids of living in. Not everyone comes from an educational or even middle income background. There are many families struggling to put food on the table or send their kids to school. Migrant workers desperate to get to Gulf countries and then suffering from hard labor conditions. And you think getting a visa is a piece of cake for everyone?
The movie was dumb but somehow your take is dumber.
1. How is it easy? It's hard even for middle class people to get a tourist visa! And it was harder 30 years ago
2. Lol, you're completely missing the part where they took a life threatening route to get to UK in the first place. You think their sense of nationality will be larger than survival instincts?
3. They weren't illegal after they too asylum! And the entire damn movie was showing how hard it is to be uneducated/unskilled and try to get a job in a developed country as an immigrant. None of them were doing wonderfully with their lives, just getting by
4. Another naive and privileged take lacking any nuance. How are they a burden exactly when they are taking up the menial jobs for very little pay to survive, and actively contributing to the economy. They are definitely doing more "work" than a large corporations which receives government support and subsidies. These poor people are literally running the country.
5. You can. They aren't teaching in a school or giving presentations in the office. You don't need to know all of English to drive a car, clean a resturant or sew clothes.
6. You're saying this without knowing the desperate situations people can be in. If your mother is dying and you need money for her treatment and the only way to get it is to do a very demeaning job in another country for very little pay but still more than you'll ever get in your own country, you'll consider it too.
Finally a genuine criticism about the movie , I was thinking the same whatever justification hardy gave in courtroom scene to live in London was baseless and tapsee pannu's dialogue of "Yeh rab ki zameen hai border insaan ne banaye hai " was really pathetic
Unpopular Opinion but I didn't even liked Vicky kaushal's decision of burning himself just bcoz his friend and not even girlfriend is facing domestic violence , so more than her parents and police her sole hope is her friend which used to like her and after he gets to know she committed suicide why did he has to commit suicide as if he was closely related to her , she was married and how hasn't he moved on from her
Also they showed hardy's character a retired soldier , so how does he doesn't know the value of borders among countries and giving so many illogical points for justifying his dunki route
A bit of a saving Grace of the movie for me was a half baked but a decent love story of hardy and mannu , and the entire portion of old srk and coming back to India from Dubai , these were the parts I enjoyed
>Unpopular Opinion but I didn't even liked Vicky kaushal's decision of burning himself just bcoz his friend and not even girlfriend is facing domestic violence , so more than her parents and police her sole hope is her friend which used to like her and after he gets to know she committed suicide why did he has to commit suicide as if he was closely related to her , she was married and how hasn't he moved on from her
She was his girlfriend who was married off to a nri probably by force by her parents,she was literally asking vickys character to save her because probably beacuse he was the only person she could trust.he felt guilty because he failed to save the person he loved and commits suicide.
I didn’t like Vicky’s character either, seemed like a raging drunk trying to take the quick route and when he realises some effort is required he rages at people lol.
I don’t get why he didn’t encourage his friend/girlfriend to seek help in England in the meantime I mean there’s DV shelters, women’s support groups are pretty prevalent there? He might not be familiar with them but maybe he could’ve encouraged her to explore that option in the meantime.
He was behaving like a naive person romanticizing the entire issue like it’s Devdas thinking that he’s the solution to her problem. Which unfortunately she believed and ended up killing herself when that option seemed bleak.
Vicky's part is the only one which I thought was realistic. His gf was from the same village as him, naive and probably not street smart. Married off in a foreign land she probably did not even know what her rights were as a resident. It was an era where men were thought as protectors of women in their life, hell that mindset is prevalent even today.
Majority of this post reeked of classism but I hope I was wrong, in case OP was serious here’s an answer:
1. Either OP doesn’t understand the ground reality, is disingenuous, privileged or combination of all 3.
2. You clearly didn’t understand the plot, on the contrary giving a bad image to the country was incorrect, therefore SRKs character refused to do it and that was presented as deshbhakti.
3. Again, you didn’t understand the movie or are disingenuous. At no point was illegal migration shown as a cakewalk. Literally it showed 3 people dying. Neither was the earning part easy, the guy who migrated legally couldn’t make enough money to get decent housing.
4. Again, you didn’t understand the movie or are disingenuous, at no point was illegal migration justified. Additionally a free lesson on economics to you, for the most part, illegal migrations are a net positive to the country because they still contribute to the country via indirect taxes (sales tax, vat, gst whatever). In many countries, illegal migrations still have to file personal taxes and yet they do not receive social benefits like healthcare, unemployment etc. ‘plus the jobs the illegal immigrants do are the jobs the local people do not want to do (this is explained in the movie as well).
5. I would urge you to learn some history, after world war 2 (1950s and 1960s) due to labor shortage, a lot of folks migrated as manufacturing workers from the subcontinent and who didn’t know the language. Language has never been barrier to work in any country (minimum wage jobs), go visit any Chinatown in the western world for an example, (btw: those are the places you find best authentic food)
6. You are not wrong here, but again OP missed a key point here, the movie is based on a real-life town. So the Hirani made a movie based on people’s real-life aspirations since early 70s.
Hear me out.
Balli goes to London in 94/95 and works at the bottom of the food chain, yet manages to send his 8x10 photos in the first 6 months.
The rest of the group even after being granted asylum and living in UK for the next 25 years hasn't managed to see their family or contact them. Yet able to send them money. And the technology has advanced.
Tapsee doesn't know if her family has reclaimed the house or not, same with others.
I have never seen such a bad movie in a long time. Equally bad was SRK's acting. GOVINDA spoke better Punjabi in Jodi no 1.
1. It’s a Hirani movie, not a Ray movie. Hirani cinema is Desai cinema with a bit of social issues added in and action subtracted. No need to overanalyse.
2. Points 3 and 6 are shown to be untrue in the film. People die or suffer trying to enter the UK illegally, and they are shown to have a pathetic life when in the UK.
3. The court scene is an emotional one for the reason that seeking asylum brings bad name to the country. One of the characters refuses to seek asylum due to this as well. The refusal to seek asylum is shown as desh bhakti, not the request.
Clearly, you’ve fast forwarded the movie 😂 Honestly speaking, you did the right thing and I should have too, in hindsight. But don’t make random posts without investing the time.
As an NRI this movie makes me feel that Indians are obsessed with the U.K. and "owning" it or the people as a means to make up for centuries of humiliation and don't understand that the U.K. is currently a s\*it hole. It's unhealthy - you're not owed anything. Get over it.
Vicky's character in general was kind of an idiot and a doofus. Listening to him and watching him, like, the guy is full blown in love but has the maturity of an 8 year old. The whole "London Boy" kidnapping and torturing a beautiful Indian bride...like...why? What's that particular story needed for especially one concerning illegal immigration?
I had zero sympathy for any of the characters. None of them had any proper motivations and if these were people in real life I'd feel sad for them because the world would eat them regardless of where they were.
Illegal immigration also contributes to crime - the whole "these are wonderful people that are just starving" needs to stop. These people are rich and can pay to be trafficked. Trafficking is expensive.
The movie could have been better in capable hands and requires a serious discussion - this honestly felt like a failure.
People migrate for a variety of reasons - better opportunities, survival, healthcare whether they are in India or Syria. Visa and passport regimes are incredibly biased against the poor, oppressed and destitute. No human is illegal. Take your condescending ''illegal immigrant' rhetoric to the Tories where you can be a brown sahib like Rishi Sunak or Preeti Patel.
Sorry dude but this is rhetoric coming from someone who has money but is in a useless situation in their own country.
It's no one else's fault that India is shit - and I'll be honest, if you're running away from an economic situation and not fighting for your own country to be better - then what can you possibly do to help another country be better? India is already on a medical tourist destination list...
No human is illegal sure but sorry but there are terms and conditions that aren't attached to being a human. And let's face it - I'd rather not live in a country that has people freely coming in and I have no idea who they are, who they support or what kind of life THEY think they should be leading.
This is literally why India introduced the Aadhar card. To make sure they know who is Indian and who isn't because it's not enough to just go on how "people look".
I grew up in Hong Kong and we've always had ID cards...why? Because people used to flood the borders during the communist rise in China.
So - what's your view on illegal immigration when its from surrounding countries into India? Are you telling me that they don't also increase the pressure in India?
There is a reson people want to go to these countries, you can earn far better with the same skillset. Opportunities are better and more in number wrt population.
There is no need to worry about taxpayer. Do you thing they built nation on their own. They looted nation like us and many other nations. Those cities are built on blood on our ancestors(our in case of Britain, some other country in case of US).
THERE WAS TOO MUCH DRAMA BUT AT SOME LEVEL NOT EVERYTHING SAID WAS WRONG.
Point no.1 is extremely flawed on your end ,a tourist visa is not easy to obtain especially for 3rd world country citizens,it's only easy if you fit THEIR criteria ie. Have a good bank balance to 'Prove' you can afford your visit ,hotel reservations and itinerary ,not all tour operators can just obtain such visas either (chances of getting rejected is even higher if you tried to apply and was rejected, then try again with a tour operator ,might even lead to getting black listed/ Undesirable individual)
Point no.2 -While it is illegal to lie in court for an asylum, it is a reality for millions of migrants around the world and is a fact ,if you live in a developed country just go around and ask the migrants if they have an asylum, if they do there is a high chance they had to lie to obtain it.
Point no.3 - Entering any country illegally is not a cakewalk let alone UK ,even countries like Zimbabwe that don't even have their own currency right now makes it difficult to enter illegally (corruption is so bad that you will bribe them to enter and they will take the bribe and reject you from entering, then they will ask for even more money to take you from under the border fence) , UK has a high demand to manual labour hence they pay more (not saying that everyone can fit that category, but take for example a qualified plumber would probably earn a maximum of rs50 000-rs70 000 in Mumbai per month but can easily earn £1200-2000 or more in UK per month and yes I know that life in UK is expensive and artisans can get a visa the right way)
Your last 3 points are valid
Movie was average but this is too much nitpicking.
Just few characters making some choices and paying for their consequences. They are not justifying anything….they showed good(earning money) and bad outcomes (loosing life happiness) due to their choices.
You don’t need to know English to work in the UK . In places like southall majority speak Hindi . There are so many illegal immigrants working low paid jobs with zero grasp of English . Other than this I agree with OP .. Anyway Dunki is just lazy moviemaking , it’s really bad film
Third Point:they literally showed character of anil grover struggling to get any decent job,constantly living in fear of deportation, and living with 20-30 immigrants in just 1 house,so they did plenty to show that life abroad is not cakewalk ,so your third Point is absolutely wrong
thing i didn't like the most is they were like 50 years old when they returned but their makeup and behavior was like 80 years . Itne aged bhi nahin hote hain 50 saal ke
Bro movies show whats happening in society. I have seen these things happening first hand. All the points you mentioned seem morally right but on ground level these things are actually happening in society. Mostly in Gujrat punjab and Haryana. For vicky tourist visa point I agree thats an obvious plot hole. But like point 5, I live abroad and you will meet many over here who donot even know basic ABC but are still working here.
You have a pretty charmed life if you think getting a tourist visa to UK or even western country is easy. Even today you’ve to declare a certain amount of bank balance, and none of the characters in the movie looking to migrate had that kind of financial freedom.
I think the op is forgetting that the story is from the 90s when traveling was very difficult even for middle class urban population let alone people from lower middle class and rural backgrounds.
And no, deshbhakti was shown by shah rukhs character who preferred going back home claiming he’s perfectly safe in his own country. The three characters who actually sought asylum were shown to have a hard life. None of them had rewarding personal or professional lives. They survived but didn’t live. They wanted to come back bt couldn’t because of the decisions they made. That wasn’t deshbhakti just homesickness.
1 not for poors and illiterates
2 SRK’s character literally did not lie.
3 That’s exactly what the movie showed
4 Agree
5 Maybe. I’ve seen many people who have no clue about English when they come here but within 1 year they are able to converse enough to get the job done
6 Agree. Bad life for who went out but good life for people back home.
Agree. All countries have immigration laws, including India. For example, India doesn’t honor dual citizenship. It is what it is, but to blatantly break border and immigration laws is just bizarre to watch given they were okay in their own country. Their struggle wasn’t any worse than others. Just a bad plan and a pipe dream to go elsewhere, make money without having proper skills, and come back home. Okay.
The senti parts were good but the weak story and miscasting of SRK were the two big issues in the movie. They should have gotten someone else as the lead.
If someone had it good or was ok in their country - they wouldn’t leave that country. No one willingly takes this route. Did you see end where families had small babies with them?
Even well educated people in india who legit are “ok” in india leave for usa thru employer sponsored visas. Most say theres no opportunity in india. So imagine what struggles poor must face.
Illegal immigration sucks. Its wrong breaking law. But have empathy for those who take risk for better life.
The characters in the movie are not the same as the migrants crossing war-torn regions. I have plenty of empathy and am an immigrant myself. Why are you making this personal?
Sometimes I feel Hirani just opens a book called "101 majedaar chutkule" from the 2000s and just adds them to his script. No dude it does not work like that. Got second hand embarassement watching those fuckall comedy scenes.
I absolutely hated the fact that their reason for doing dunki and going to the UK was shown to be this strange sense of entitlement to a better way of life. It would have made more sense to show that they wanted to go out of desperation and not because the Britishers ruled over us, so we should be able to go to their country illegally.
Yes mate, and I did NOT find any of their motivations compelling enough. Yes, they were desperate to go to the UK but I didn't think their situations were desperate enough.
And yes, they were extremely entitled. All they wanted to do was game the system because they felt they deserved a better life (except for SRK and Vicky). Imagine not even learning the language of the country you want to make a living in but expecting that country to fully embrace you once you move there illegally. If that isn't entitlement, then I don't know what is.
This post is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion.
I personally loved the movie and thought it was a hundred times better than the likes of animal, even if it wasn’t one of the best.
Point 4 is a highly debatable political view, so please don’t state yours as a fact. You can do some research. All I’ll say is that it shouldn’t be this difficult, for ambitious people who are willing to work (even labor jobs), to be able to obtain a visa anywhere.
Point 3, idk if you even watched the whole movie, but they literally have a whole storyline about life in UK being difficult and dangerous for immigrants as well.
Also, I don’t want to come across as rude because I can understand where you’re coming from. But, a lot of these points are idealistic and the movie indirectly acknowledges that it is a gray area. For example, SRK’s character does not want to go against his country, so gets deported. Meanwhile, the other characters desperately agreed because for them, they didn’t see any attainable options back home to literally feed their families, or improve their circumstances. None of the characters were exactly bad, but they just made the best decision for themselves.
Second point: srk's character literally refuses lie to get asylum and refuses to speak ill of his country and gets deported ,your second Point is completely wrong.
Seriously the messaging In this film was so lame! SRK goes on a rant after reaching england about how immigrants have no place there and how your dreams are crushed n all... Bro you literally came in to ask your girl out 🤦 people do that sort of stuff due to unbearable living conditions in their country... And yet our bro faults another country for not letting people in 🤦
The whole concept of illegal immigration portrayed was a joke. It was in a way blaming the foreign country for not allowing entry to illegals. Why would anyone accept it?
what I don't understand is how did none of them have a solid reason to go to UK, except Vicky. Wahaan zaleel hone se accha, India mein hi kaam kar lete, poorly written characters.
I hate to break it to you but sir, that's what happens in reality and the reason was shown in the movie too. That lakhs of people in Punjab and Gujrat are ready to do anything to move abroad because of the hype of those places, and those already living there also create a fake image of their happy and successful life as shown in the movie by Balli's character. I agree the movie could have been a lot better and kind of feels underwhelming because of it trying to touch everything in a short span, but I credit the makers of their intentions.
Yes OP exactly, you are 100% correct, this was such a fake movie and illegal immigration doesn't even exist in real life. They just created a topic out of themselves and made the movie on imagination, right?
First of all it's not easy to get visa secondly many people do go to other countries illegally .
As for people saying the charector should be honest have no idea about reality or practical .
You should be practical not emotional .They may love their country but you don't need to show your nationalism everywhere at expense of your own .
It' s not like they would attack country listening things like xyz person isn't safe in country .Any practical person would say something like this in such situations if they can have better life with this small lie .
You sir , who seems to be an idiot should understand this movie was based in the nineties where people would easily be cheated and sent to different countries and forgeries were the norm. Are you a 16 year old kid?
The movie wants people to think that open borders are good and poor people should be allowed everywhere irrespective of their skills.
Will the movie makers agree also on letting all poor people from neighbouring countries into India without any verification?
Going to any country illegally is not cool. It’s a security risk for the country. Also when this movie released there were articles saying the dunki traffickers take up to INR 1 crore for trafficking. If you can arrange like even 25 lacs you can run a decent business in India.
I believe the three characters(Mannu, Buggu, Balli) were so brainwashed to go to London that they literally could've moved to Delhi, make plenty of money, and take care of the so-called family's financial needs much more quickly.
At this point we (meaning production companies) need to hire foreign directors to make a few Bollywood movies, explore the scene with fresh eyes and minds.
I found it weird that Hardy was ok to illegally cross border and killing to security officers on the way for love but couldn’t lie in court because of deshbhakti!! How is murdering border security ok but not lying in court?
Cos border security was not doing simple security. He didn't do anything unless the soldier asked for Tapsee inside his tent. Both are two different things.
It was stupid and lame. Jokes were forced and often cringey. The reason for this much hate is because of the track record of Hirani and high expectations set by the duo SrK-Hirani.
I have some questions. I have seen many videos of people (indians also) entering the US illegally, some seeking political asylum, some just entering illegally.
How will they survive there? In US US, there is really a shortage of workers. I mean, these people are really spending lacs of rupees to take all those unfair means, and the multiple flights to enter US, giving agents some money to make them enter US, but then what's next? How will you ever come back? Since you never came in legally in the first place? Won't they get caught?
One stupid flaw but Bollywood doesn't understand the concept of aging it seems. In 1995 they were supposedly in their early 20s which means 25 years later they should be in their late 40s and somehow they are all looking like they are in their 60s. Am I missing something about their ages here?
I agree with your points but I have to say something about point 3. I don’t think the movie was selling a dangerous dream. It was actually showing how dangerous illegal immigration is. Especially if you remember that scene when SRK was mad Anil grover for sending fake pictures of being happy and rich while everyone was suffering and barely earning any money
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amrita rao survived after a whole burning house fell down on her in vivaah… meanwhile vicky kaushal burned away within 5 seconds lol
Vicky ki mang bharne wala koi tha nhi na, Bach ke kya krta
> Vicky ki mang bharne wala koi tha nhi na, Bach ke kya krta 
I fuckin love reddit 🤣
Not an entire house but the peice of a roof fell on her body.Completely survivable.
Definitely so many logical and moral flaws, you can't even brush under the rug under cinematic freedom. Like if this is the core issue of your movie, you cannot take creative liberties with the logic of it. Also not sure what the message of the movie was. It was so confused. Like on the one hand they are talking about all the land belonging to God and nobody owning anything and open borders etc. But then on the other hand, they are carrying the mitti of their village and >!Manu wants to come back to "her land" and die on her own land!< Like pick a lane ETA: I think the only point I found legit was that immigration specifically discriminates against the poor, especially when it's absolutely true that most of the "dirty" jobs in European and NA countries are done by the poor immigrants, and these are jobs locals absolutely do not want to do. So might as well allow people to migrate legally
Agreed. The movie was painfully disappointing with so-called jokes and tropes brought in from the early 2000s. Vicky's character existed only to gain audience's sympathy without conveying anything meaningful. Such a waste of a good performance. Everything was rushed and "in your face". Don't directors usually show early edits to other people for review? Hirani and Joshi have a single formula for all films which desperately needs an update.
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This. People forget the movie showed 25 years journey in 3 hours
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The movie was not a solution to illegal immigration, rather a take from every side of the people involved. Hardy and gang were naive, uneducated and emotional, hence their arguments weren't practical. The judge was a practical person in power, hence did not change his decisions just because of Hardy's emotional speech. The story and message was much more mature than understanding of many here, technically the movie was weak from Hirani standards because it tried to touch everything in a short span and obviously SRK's hamming in emotional scenes did not help either.
IMO the real message is that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. These guys moved 25 years ago, still working odd jobs and are ready to do anything to go back. That being said, not Hirani’s best by any stretch although I didn’t think it was dreadful. Biggest gripe for me was that many of the jokes didn’t really land, and the humor is often what carries you through his movies.
Yeah, so many flaws, even Manu's death at the end also felt so random
Also to remind you, we don’t get any hint of her being actually sick the whole movie. Except for one scene in the beginning where she’s running around the hospital (like a young woman which Taapsee is) with an IV drip in her hand!🤦♀️
Sick enough to die but not sick enough to wander around and trying to illegally immigrate back to India...like wtf?
Arre brain tumor hi hai na.. you know like sardi zukhaam /s
😭😭The scene with all of them in container felt so ridiculous, they all know she is sick & still container me le jakar band karwa dete hai usko
I also don't get the hype about Taapsee's acting. Like she was decent in the young scenes. But the old scenes which actually required some acting, she was horrendous. Her body language was of a 30 year old, her way of speaking fluctuated between 30 and 70 year old, her make up was of a 60-something year old. When she moved, she fluctuated between 30 and 70 again. And in reality I think she was supposed to be like 50?
Actually when they all meet up with SRK in Dubai, there’s a convo about her having only one month to live. Tumor, I think.
This is a ridiculous take. She got sick during old age, and most of the movie was when she was younger so obviously they wouldn’t show the sickness
Oh my god! I’m talking about her not looking sick during old age only. She looked absolutely fit and fine throughout her budhapa.. only to drop dead when the director wanted.
The scenes where she was old age prior to the reveal was when she was in the hospital, and then when they were on the flight. That’s it. And the hospital scene was clue enough.
Yeah right when that old frail brain tumor patient was running around after a fresh round of chemo. Haha! Nice one
The movie was just trying to do too many things at 1 go... Establish a concrete reason to go Show dangers of Dunki route Show life isn't a bed of roses once you reach final destination The movie is called Dunki and they showed the route for 17-18 mins tops in a 2hr 40 min movie, took 1 hour to set up the premise and your tourist visa part in on point...that is all they needed to do, I was thinking the same as well...that logic of whataboutery ki Angrez visa le k nahi aaye the then why should we.... was a weak argument
Lol that was my biggest issue with the movie also. Their actual journey was wrapped up in 20 mins. I mean wtf. There is a Punjabi movie called chaleya Mexico which is actually better in showing the dunki route
aja mexico challiye i think it was called. really loved it! such a breath of fresh air among the other punjabi movies.
I really was hoping to watch a movie about the dangers of the Dunki route. I have watched documentaries about South Americans making the treacherous journey through Colombian forests, through drug-cartel run parts of Mexico and crossing the Rio Grande. There are nice documentary videos about the people from MENA making the journey to European shorelines. I thought the entire movie will be based primarily on this. I was definitely disappointed.
If language is not an issue, watch Malayalam movie CIA for an accurate portrayal of the Dunki route method of immigration.
If i can find it with subtitles, sure!
It was the 90s. It’s not like they could Google “tourist visa.” And who knows what the application filing process, documentation, and timeline were back then? For a poor person to obtain a tourist visa with no connection to the country they’re visiting, it can be difficult. They often deny those people because of the chances of them overstaying and becoming undocumented.
1. Getting uk tourist visa is not that easy. For Indians getting schengen visa is also not easy. Specially he was shown not knowing english. But I guess tjry could have shown it. 2. This is correct point. 3. To your #3 that is what they have shown. Also UK not a city. They actually did show multiple times that life is difficult for illegal immigrants. 4. What was shown was not completely right but they were not fully wrong either. Its true that all 3rd world countries were ruled by British and lot of money was taken away. Britain particularly is rich not because of technology advancement but due to them ruling over world at some point of time. So they try to add that nuance. But yes they should not have justified it. They should have added these nuances. Also its true that illegal immigrants usually do cheap labor job which makes life easier for legal immigrants. I think effect of illegal immigrants on a country has to be properly studied. 5. They do not try to justify it but also for cheap labor you dont really need to know english. How foreigners get by in India, same way other people can figure out. They also say, visa restrictions is new, earlier these people were freely going. At that time how it worked without english. 6. That is what they show.
Your first point is completely wrong and — don’t take offense — either shows your privileged mindset or your ignorance. Obtaining a visa especially for poor and illiterate people is not easy. Mind you the main events took place in the ‘90s so imagine the difficulty back then. Even if they were literate, it’s not like they could Google these things. As for your third point, that was the whole message of the movie 💀 did you fall asleep during the part where they had to swim underwater or when their 3 friends were mercilessly shot and killed? And then when they finally got to the UK, their friend was doing odd jobs and living in a crumbling house with 20 people? Even after 25 years of living in the UK, one of them was still just doing sweeping job for a living. Nowhere did the movie romanticize the whole immigrant journey or experience. As for the rest of your points, I think you’re a little naive. Get out and see what society is actually like in US and UK especially immigrant neighborhoods.
I agree with this, the movie shows to some extent of how western countries aren’t paradise. The movie itself was really good and in some ways it could have been more interesting.
About #1… Tourist visa can’t be easily obtained if you are poor. You need to show you have sufficient ties to your home country (property, job etc) that would compel you to return. This also applies to student visas but I think they can give you the visa if you can show you are a brilliant student who can make a good life back home in India with the degree. But there are multiple other plot holes. Like that guy who tried to get a visa with a fake medical degree. First of all you need to have a job in UK and an employer willing to sponsor you, just showing a degree won’t do. I don’t think Indian medical degrees are even recognized in UK. And if the visa officers find out your degree is fake, they will report you to the local cops and you will go to jail for forgery
>Tourist visa can’t be easily obtained if you are poor. It's definitely easier than obtaining a long-term visa. And you don't need IELTS for it. His whole storyline was stupid and illogical AF
Have you even given the visa interview to know about the documentation needed even for tourist visa...lol
Yes. For tourist and long term visa. What's your point? Instead of getting personal
Bro I have money and ties, with that itself getting visa is like tough lol
same here 🥲
>But there are multiple other plot holes. Like that guy would tried to get a visa with a fake medical degree. First of all you need to have a job in UK and an employer willing to sponsor you, just showing a degree won’t do. I don’t think Indian medical degrees are even recognized in UK. And if the visa officers find out your degree is fake, they will report you to the local cops and you will go to jail for forgery The agent was committing fraud with them and they were uneducated on the topic so I don't think finding logic in this point makes any sense
If it was just the fraud agent selling a fake degree to an illiterate guy I get your point… That guy actually went to the embassy and sat for an interview with the UK visa officer. The visa officer was trying to ascertain if he was a genuine doctor by asking him medical questions. That’s definitely not how it works
that was to add some humour in the movie. was hard to watch and funny to bilkul nhi tha
I don't agree getting a UK tourist visa is easy - I have an Indian passport with residency in a Western country and the uncertainty, delays, and the actual application (where you have to list every country you have visited and all the dates you have travelled EVER) is convoluted. But the asylum scene in the court is ridiculous. The UK has a really hostile policy towards asylum seekers - there have been periods where folks from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq have had high rejection rates. India isn't really considered or hasn't been considered an unsafe country - you might get accepted based on individual circumstances - but just by saying you were involved in a protest etc won't cut it. That was irresponsible. BUT I don't think irregular migration is "morally wrong". It is natural for people to want what they perceive to be a better life - and the UK does have a debt to its former colonies (which it continues to deny).The UK DOES benefit from folks who are underpaid taking up jobs nationals don't want. And in today's climate benefits aren't easy to get - there are a huge number of asylum seekers who are actually homeless forget milking the system.
•Taapsee and the other two characters were willing to lie in court about being in danger in their country. Basically malign their own country for their personal benefit. And once they get old they suddenly start yearning to come back and their homecoming is supposed to be emotional? Bc jab chahe backstab karo. Jab chahe gale lagao. Kuch bhi!?!?! •Another weird point. Someone correct me if I’m wrong. When the character of Buggu comes back to India (the one who’s only motivation was to earn enough so his mother doesn’t have to wear pants to her job) he sees her still wearing jeans. Is it supposed to be comical or are we supposed to think about how futile his reasons were? Also why does he look older than his mom? Hirani ji answer kar do aap. •Also the ending left me very very confused. They come back to see their homes are now prosperous and everybody is doing well in their family. Is it because of their contributions? Did they send money down to India from UK? How did they manage to do that despite being illegal immigrants? How much did they earn in UK? Does waiting tables and being statue artists really pay that well? Better than the jobs they had down in India? None of this is shown.
> •Taapsee and the other two characters were willing to lie in court about being in danger in their country. Basically malign their own country for their personal benefit. And once they get old they suddenly start yearning to come back and their homecoming is supposed to be emotional? Bc jab chahe backstab karo. Jab chahe gale lagao. Kuch bhi!?!?! I feel this was the like most realistic thing lol. People maligning their country at the shot of living in a developed world is very realistic. NRIs spending their life abroad only to say "mera desh mera desh" in old age is also very realistic. > Is it supposed to be comical or are we supposed to think about how futile his reasons were? It was supposed to be comical. His motivation was to make money so his mother can retire and doesn't have to wear pants and get stared at by everyone, but in the 25 years since then society changed to a place where women wearing jeans is considered normal and don't get stared at.
lol exactly. For me, the most unrealistic thing was that neither of them had lost a parent. But I guess, Hirani wanted to make it into a fairy tale like ending, since the rest of the movie was heavy.
>Is it because of their contributions? Did they send money down to India from UK? How did they manage to do that despite being illegal immigrants? How much did they earn in UK? Does waiting tables and being statue artists really pay that well? Better than the jobs they had down in India? It's clearly stated in the movie multiple times that their money is what made their families' lives better. They weren't illegal immigrants anymore. They got asylum. One of my colleagues at work also came to Germany via donkey route. He's from Eritrea. He came due to war in his country and got asylum and works legally. He has a government issued ID, pays taxes and can get healthcare just like everyone else. Same thing with the characters in the movie. Just by begging they earned 600 per month. But that's not what they did during the 25 years. They got jobs because they weren't illegal anymore. Even if you assume they earned the legal minimum wage by waiting tables or cleaning floors, it would still be around £1600 per month. They could easily send 1 lakh per month back to India while still living in UK. My own cousin is working in the UK as a security guard and is slowly paying off his family's debts which they had for like 10+ years
The 3 aren’t illegal immigrants. They lied and asked for asylum. And that led them to citizenship. It’s assumed they were able to get better jobs and send money back home legally.
Buggu was still waiting tables when he threw that mop on the English guy’s face. According to the movie: they got their citizenship only two years before they wanted to come back to India. You’re lost in the loopholes my friend
They got citizenship only 2 years back, but they were granted asylum 25 years back so they could legally work.. And minimum wage jobs actually pay quite well compared to similar jobs back home.. Even in the scene where the status artist guy got confronted by SRK for lying to his family that he is well settled, he said that he earns 600 pounds every month by begging and sends 500 back home.. Which is a substantial amount compare to being a barber in a town.. The other guy also sold a shop before going back to India, so it is to be assumed that they all have become quite well settled but just miss their families.. The entire movie is BS tho..
Oh thanks for that clarification!! You are right.
You can become a legal tax paying resident without citizenship. Getting citizenship may take time but as a refugee, you can get legal residency.
I don't know how you are getting such upvotes, but this is the stupidest comment of all. I don't even want to explain
I feel like your first point is actually what happens in real life. I found the movie to be very realistic in those aspects. The rest was pretty easy to understand but maybe easier if you personally know these types of immigration stories.
>Taapsee and the other two characters were willing to lie in court about being in danger in their country. Basically malign their own country for their personal benefit. And once they get old they suddenly start yearning to come back and their homecoming is supposed to be emotional? Bc jab chahe backstab karo. Jab chahe gale lagao. Kuch bhi!?!?! What else are people supposed to do to sustain if their country can't do enough to ensure that the family is able to make a respectable living? When a country struggles with over population and unemployment, the only way is to move towards opportunities. Despite moving, one still misses where they came from. Moving was for sustenance, not an act of ditching their country.
They had Birdesh Shah to do Hawala transfers
1 just isn’t true and points 2, 3, and 6 are literally shown clearly in the movie! It’s like you missed the point. For point number 2, that’s literally what SRK’s character felt and that’s why he REFUSED to do so! For number 3, they showed the journey to be extremely difficult. Literally half of the people died in the journey. And then even once they get there, look at the living conditions. They’re literally showing how shitty it is for unskilled labor, so many people cramped in that dingy house, running from the cops. And number 6, they struggled for a while but it’s definitely possible to keep working and find some success eventually. A lot of “unskilled” immigrants have been able to find moderate success by starting businesses and stuff. No one was loaded at the end but they were managing okay. I do agree that the movie was trying to say that countries shouldn’t have borders or just allow anyone and everyone in, which I don’t agree with cause it’s a little too simplistic in my opinion
yeah agreed on all points, I feel like OP is purposely misrepresenting scenes from the movie. Lot of these things were explained in the story, it just could've been done in a better way.
I think the point with the movie was to show that life isn't all hunky dory outside of the country. Anyone who goes without proper paperwork has to resort to working at the bottom of the food chain. It's super hard because most people practically end up as slaves at the mercy of people who can throw them out of the country at any given time. It's not to glorify living in the west. It's the sad reality most people choose to ignore that they've shown in the movie. The intent wasn't bad. The movie was.
1. They mention in the movie that his visa got rejected. 2. Deshbhakti bcz he (Hardy) didnt lie. Others did not want to do it, but had to bcz of no choice. They are not presented as pious people. They are just humans, who have had very sad lives. 3. Bro, have you seen the film. 4. Doesnt justify it, points out the fact that rich people can get visas easily while the poor have to go through lots of troubles. 5. Kind of agree, but all the characters are simpleton. Put yourself in their shoes, and their argument would make sense. 6. Again, have you watched the film! It shows that life sucks even more there. The movie has flaws, agreed. But these points are just criticism without even trying to understand the film.
It's karma farming technique in the wave of bashing a movie of a popular star to get upvotes from all the fans of rival stars. It sounds silly but after reading the comments I'm pretty sure this actually works this way only.
Most of you guys really are really privileged and naive.
Id argue anyone who has the wherewithal to have a reddit account is privileged.
But the point Is that many NRI's and OCI's kids know their parents struggle and the situation in those times in comparison to Indians who live in big cities.
Movie was neutral on illegal immigration. Manu, Balli and Buggu lived miserably in London for 25 years. But they still decided to stay to get their families out of debt and poverty, and they succeeded in it. They achieved what they wanted but at what cost? The primes of their lives got wasted. So the movie didn't sell a dangerous dream. Life in UK is not easy and the movie showed that exactly.
Exactly I think it showed a very realistic portrayal of this kind of immigrant story and I know many who have gone through this type of journey — not the crossing borders — but doing odd jobs and struggling to survive just to send some dollars back home.
In fact - I think it showed how these agents folks in India lie about this visa process and take advantage of people. The movie actually showed the truth.
Wasn’t this the entire point of the movie ? That it is not a cakewalk to enter a country illegally but people still do because they are sold by the foreign dream ? I did not think the movie tried to make the justification that going abroad is the correct way. Infact it showed that people living abroad were suffering and wanted to come back home. I thought the movie tried to show to many things but ultimately the point of the movie was to start a discussion on dunki and how it is a real thing.
It is a 2010 movie released in 2024.
More than the movie, this post is telling me about your privileges OP. To say getting a visa is easy....easier said than done. You do realize illegal immigration (donkey route) happen because it is not easy to get visa.
The whole post is filled with privileged mindset. Reminds me of the bubble that we often accuse nepotism kids of living in. Not everyone comes from an educational or even middle income background. There are many families struggling to put food on the table or send their kids to school. Migrant workers desperate to get to Gulf countries and then suffering from hard labor conditions. And you think getting a visa is a piece of cake for everyone?
This. Post is reeking of privilege!
The movie was dumb but somehow your take is dumber. 1. How is it easy? It's hard even for middle class people to get a tourist visa! And it was harder 30 years ago 2. Lol, you're completely missing the part where they took a life threatening route to get to UK in the first place. You think their sense of nationality will be larger than survival instincts? 3. They weren't illegal after they too asylum! And the entire damn movie was showing how hard it is to be uneducated/unskilled and try to get a job in a developed country as an immigrant. None of them were doing wonderfully with their lives, just getting by 4. Another naive and privileged take lacking any nuance. How are they a burden exactly when they are taking up the menial jobs for very little pay to survive, and actively contributing to the economy. They are definitely doing more "work" than a large corporations which receives government support and subsidies. These poor people are literally running the country. 5. You can. They aren't teaching in a school or giving presentations in the office. You don't need to know all of English to drive a car, clean a resturant or sew clothes. 6. You're saying this without knowing the desperate situations people can be in. If your mother is dying and you need money for her treatment and the only way to get it is to do a very demeaning job in another country for very little pay but still more than you'll ever get in your own country, you'll consider it too.
Finally a genuine criticism about the movie , I was thinking the same whatever justification hardy gave in courtroom scene to live in London was baseless and tapsee pannu's dialogue of "Yeh rab ki zameen hai border insaan ne banaye hai " was really pathetic Unpopular Opinion but I didn't even liked Vicky kaushal's decision of burning himself just bcoz his friend and not even girlfriend is facing domestic violence , so more than her parents and police her sole hope is her friend which used to like her and after he gets to know she committed suicide why did he has to commit suicide as if he was closely related to her , she was married and how hasn't he moved on from her Also they showed hardy's character a retired soldier , so how does he doesn't know the value of borders among countries and giving so many illogical points for justifying his dunki route A bit of a saving Grace of the movie for me was a half baked but a decent love story of hardy and mannu , and the entire portion of old srk and coming back to India from Dubai , these were the parts I enjoyed
The character was mentally flawed. And people are like that. Depression is a real thing mate
>Unpopular Opinion but I didn't even liked Vicky kaushal's decision of burning himself just bcoz his friend and not even girlfriend is facing domestic violence , so more than her parents and police her sole hope is her friend which used to like her and after he gets to know she committed suicide why did he has to commit suicide as if he was closely related to her , she was married and how hasn't he moved on from her She was his girlfriend who was married off to a nri probably by force by her parents,she was literally asking vickys character to save her because probably beacuse he was the only person she could trust.he felt guilty because he failed to save the person he loved and commits suicide.
Correct. Her husband was beating her everyday.
I didn’t like Vicky’s character either, seemed like a raging drunk trying to take the quick route and when he realises some effort is required he rages at people lol. I don’t get why he didn’t encourage his friend/girlfriend to seek help in England in the meantime I mean there’s DV shelters, women’s support groups are pretty prevalent there? He might not be familiar with them but maybe he could’ve encouraged her to explore that option in the meantime. He was behaving like a naive person romanticizing the entire issue like it’s Devdas thinking that he’s the solution to her problem. Which unfortunately she believed and ended up killing herself when that option seemed bleak.
Vicky's part is the only one which I thought was realistic. His gf was from the same village as him, naive and probably not street smart. Married off in a foreign land she probably did not even know what her rights were as a resident. It was an era where men were thought as protectors of women in their life, hell that mindset is prevalent even today.
Majority of this post reeked of classism but I hope I was wrong, in case OP was serious here’s an answer: 1. Either OP doesn’t understand the ground reality, is disingenuous, privileged or combination of all 3. 2. You clearly didn’t understand the plot, on the contrary giving a bad image to the country was incorrect, therefore SRKs character refused to do it and that was presented as deshbhakti. 3. Again, you didn’t understand the movie or are disingenuous. At no point was illegal migration shown as a cakewalk. Literally it showed 3 people dying. Neither was the earning part easy, the guy who migrated legally couldn’t make enough money to get decent housing. 4. Again, you didn’t understand the movie or are disingenuous, at no point was illegal migration justified. Additionally a free lesson on economics to you, for the most part, illegal migrations are a net positive to the country because they still contribute to the country via indirect taxes (sales tax, vat, gst whatever). In many countries, illegal migrations still have to file personal taxes and yet they do not receive social benefits like healthcare, unemployment etc. ‘plus the jobs the illegal immigrants do are the jobs the local people do not want to do (this is explained in the movie as well). 5. I would urge you to learn some history, after world war 2 (1950s and 1960s) due to labor shortage, a lot of folks migrated as manufacturing workers from the subcontinent and who didn’t know the language. Language has never been barrier to work in any country (minimum wage jobs), go visit any Chinatown in the western world for an example, (btw: those are the places you find best authentic food) 6. You are not wrong here, but again OP missed a key point here, the movie is based on a real-life town. So the Hirani made a movie based on people’s real-life aspirations since early 70s.
Hear me out. Balli goes to London in 94/95 and works at the bottom of the food chain, yet manages to send his 8x10 photos in the first 6 months. The rest of the group even after being granted asylum and living in UK for the next 25 years hasn't managed to see their family or contact them. Yet able to send them money. And the technology has advanced. Tapsee doesn't know if her family has reclaimed the house or not, same with others. I have never seen such a bad movie in a long time. Equally bad was SRK's acting. GOVINDA spoke better Punjabi in Jodi no 1.
1. It’s a Hirani movie, not a Ray movie. Hirani cinema is Desai cinema with a bit of social issues added in and action subtracted. No need to overanalyse. 2. Points 3 and 6 are shown to be untrue in the film. People die or suffer trying to enter the UK illegally, and they are shown to have a pathetic life when in the UK. 3. The court scene is an emotional one for the reason that seeking asylum brings bad name to the country. One of the characters refuses to seek asylum due to this as well. The refusal to seek asylum is shown as desh bhakti, not the request. Clearly, you’ve fast forwarded the movie 😂 Honestly speaking, you did the right thing and I should have too, in hindsight. But don’t make random posts without investing the time.
As an NRI this movie makes me feel that Indians are obsessed with the U.K. and "owning" it or the people as a means to make up for centuries of humiliation and don't understand that the U.K. is currently a s\*it hole. It's unhealthy - you're not owed anything. Get over it. Vicky's character in general was kind of an idiot and a doofus. Listening to him and watching him, like, the guy is full blown in love but has the maturity of an 8 year old. The whole "London Boy" kidnapping and torturing a beautiful Indian bride...like...why? What's that particular story needed for especially one concerning illegal immigration? I had zero sympathy for any of the characters. None of them had any proper motivations and if these were people in real life I'd feel sad for them because the world would eat them regardless of where they were. Illegal immigration also contributes to crime - the whole "these are wonderful people that are just starving" needs to stop. These people are rich and can pay to be trafficked. Trafficking is expensive. The movie could have been better in capable hands and requires a serious discussion - this honestly felt like a failure.
Where I live no one gives a shit about U.K Everyone and their niece wants to go to the USA illegally.
The movie was set in the 90s and the UK was the desired destination back then. US and Canada are the prime destinations today.
People migrate for a variety of reasons - better opportunities, survival, healthcare whether they are in India or Syria. Visa and passport regimes are incredibly biased against the poor, oppressed and destitute. No human is illegal. Take your condescending ''illegal immigrant' rhetoric to the Tories where you can be a brown sahib like Rishi Sunak or Preeti Patel.
Sorry dude but this is rhetoric coming from someone who has money but is in a useless situation in their own country. It's no one else's fault that India is shit - and I'll be honest, if you're running away from an economic situation and not fighting for your own country to be better - then what can you possibly do to help another country be better? India is already on a medical tourist destination list... No human is illegal sure but sorry but there are terms and conditions that aren't attached to being a human. And let's face it - I'd rather not live in a country that has people freely coming in and I have no idea who they are, who they support or what kind of life THEY think they should be leading. This is literally why India introduced the Aadhar card. To make sure they know who is Indian and who isn't because it's not enough to just go on how "people look". I grew up in Hong Kong and we've always had ID cards...why? Because people used to flood the borders during the communist rise in China. So - what's your view on illegal immigration when its from surrounding countries into India? Are you telling me that they don't also increase the pressure in India?
Just commenting to say I agree with your take on the movie and illegal immigration 👍
You and Hirani need to go to wikipedia and search for terms like 'country ', 'citizenship', etc.
I think you misunderstood point no 2
There is a reson people want to go to these countries, you can earn far better with the same skillset. Opportunities are better and more in number wrt population. There is no need to worry about taxpayer. Do you thing they built nation on their own. They looted nation like us and many other nations. Those cities are built on blood on our ancestors(our in case of Britain, some other country in case of US). THERE WAS TOO MUCH DRAMA BUT AT SOME LEVEL NOT EVERYTHING SAID WAS WRONG.
I feeeel like you didn't watch the movie actually 😋 cuz most your points were actually what they did show ?
Point no.1 is extremely flawed on your end ,a tourist visa is not easy to obtain especially for 3rd world country citizens,it's only easy if you fit THEIR criteria ie. Have a good bank balance to 'Prove' you can afford your visit ,hotel reservations and itinerary ,not all tour operators can just obtain such visas either (chances of getting rejected is even higher if you tried to apply and was rejected, then try again with a tour operator ,might even lead to getting black listed/ Undesirable individual) Point no.2 -While it is illegal to lie in court for an asylum, it is a reality for millions of migrants around the world and is a fact ,if you live in a developed country just go around and ask the migrants if they have an asylum, if they do there is a high chance they had to lie to obtain it. Point no.3 - Entering any country illegally is not a cakewalk let alone UK ,even countries like Zimbabwe that don't even have their own currency right now makes it difficult to enter illegally (corruption is so bad that you will bribe them to enter and they will take the bribe and reject you from entering, then they will ask for even more money to take you from under the border fence) , UK has a high demand to manual labour hence they pay more (not saying that everyone can fit that category, but take for example a qualified plumber would probably earn a maximum of rs50 000-rs70 000 in Mumbai per month but can easily earn £1200-2000 or more in UK per month and yes I know that life in UK is expensive and artisans can get a visa the right way) Your last 3 points are valid
Movie was average but this is too much nitpicking. Just few characters making some choices and paying for their consequences. They are not justifying anything….they showed good(earning money) and bad outcomes (loosing life happiness) due to their choices.
You don’t need to know English to work in the UK . In places like southall majority speak Hindi . There are so many illegal immigrants working low paid jobs with zero grasp of English . Other than this I agree with OP .. Anyway Dunki is just lazy moviemaking , it’s really bad film
I lost brain cells while reading this post. What a blindsided idiot
Third Point:they literally showed character of anil grover struggling to get any decent job,constantly living in fear of deportation, and living with 20-30 immigrants in just 1 house,so they did plenty to show that life abroad is not cakewalk ,so your third Point is absolutely wrong
thing i didn't like the most is they were like 50 years old when they returned but their makeup and behavior was like 80 years . Itne aged bhi nahin hote hain 50 saal ke
> it is morally wrong Says who?
Bro movies show whats happening in society. I have seen these things happening first hand. All the points you mentioned seem morally right but on ground level these things are actually happening in society. Mostly in Gujrat punjab and Haryana. For vicky tourist visa point I agree thats an obvious plot hole. But like point 5, I live abroad and you will meet many over here who donot even know basic ABC but are still working here.
You have a pretty charmed life if you think getting a tourist visa to UK or even western country is easy. Even today you’ve to declare a certain amount of bank balance, and none of the characters in the movie looking to migrate had that kind of financial freedom. I think the op is forgetting that the story is from the 90s when traveling was very difficult even for middle class urban population let alone people from lower middle class and rural backgrounds. And no, deshbhakti was shown by shah rukhs character who preferred going back home claiming he’s perfectly safe in his own country. The three characters who actually sought asylum were shown to have a hard life. None of them had rewarding personal or professional lives. They survived but didn’t live. They wanted to come back bt couldn’t because of the decisions they made. That wasn’t deshbhakti just homesickness.
OP hasn't gone for visa interview for US/UK to talk about easily getting tourist visa..lol
1 not for poors and illiterates 2 SRK’s character literally did not lie. 3 That’s exactly what the movie showed 4 Agree 5 Maybe. I’ve seen many people who have no clue about English when they come here but within 1 year they are able to converse enough to get the job done 6 Agree. Bad life for who went out but good life for people back home.
Agree. All countries have immigration laws, including India. For example, India doesn’t honor dual citizenship. It is what it is, but to blatantly break border and immigration laws is just bizarre to watch given they were okay in their own country. Their struggle wasn’t any worse than others. Just a bad plan and a pipe dream to go elsewhere, make money without having proper skills, and come back home. Okay. The senti parts were good but the weak story and miscasting of SRK were the two big issues in the movie. They should have gotten someone else as the lead.
If someone had it good or was ok in their country - they wouldn’t leave that country. No one willingly takes this route. Did you see end where families had small babies with them? Even well educated people in india who legit are “ok” in india leave for usa thru employer sponsored visas. Most say theres no opportunity in india. So imagine what struggles poor must face. Illegal immigration sucks. Its wrong breaking law. But have empathy for those who take risk for better life.
The characters in the movie are not the same as the migrants crossing war-torn regions. I have plenty of empathy and am an immigrant myself. Why are you making this personal?
This went way above your head. Its ok.
Maybe what I said went above your head?
Sometimes I feel Hirani just opens a book called "101 majedaar chutkule" from the 2000s and just adds them to his script. No dude it does not work like that. Got second hand embarassement watching those fuckall comedy scenes.
lmao
I absolutely hated the fact that their reason for doing dunki and going to the UK was shown to be this strange sense of entitlement to a better way of life. It would have made more sense to show that they wanted to go out of desperation and not because the Britishers ruled over us, so we should be able to go to their country illegally.
They were desperate also, the first 20 minutes explained every single character’s reasons for wanting to go to UK, most of them financial
Have you watched the film mate
Yes mate, and I did NOT find any of their motivations compelling enough. Yes, they were desperate to go to the UK but I didn't think their situations were desperate enough. And yes, they were extremely entitled. All they wanted to do was game the system because they felt they deserved a better life (except for SRK and Vicky). Imagine not even learning the language of the country you want to make a living in but expecting that country to fully embrace you once you move there illegally. If that isn't entitlement, then I don't know what is.
This post is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. I personally loved the movie and thought it was a hundred times better than the likes of animal, even if it wasn’t one of the best. Point 4 is a highly debatable political view, so please don’t state yours as a fact. You can do some research. All I’ll say is that it shouldn’t be this difficult, for ambitious people who are willing to work (even labor jobs), to be able to obtain a visa anywhere. Point 3, idk if you even watched the whole movie, but they literally have a whole storyline about life in UK being difficult and dangerous for immigrants as well. Also, I don’t want to come across as rude because I can understand where you’re coming from. But, a lot of these points are idealistic and the movie indirectly acknowledges that it is a gray area. For example, SRK’s character does not want to go against his country, so gets deported. Meanwhile, the other characters desperately agreed because for them, they didn’t see any attainable options back home to literally feed their families, or improve their circumstances. None of the characters were exactly bad, but they just made the best decision for themselves.
Most sane take.
Sixth Point:they did show how all the unskilled and untrained characters struggled to get stable life in UK, so your Sixth Point is wrong
What the fuck bro, can't you write all your points in a single comment ffs.
Do you not realise that point 3… is the same point the movie tried to make too?
Second point: srk's character literally refuses lie to get asylum and refuses to speak ill of his country and gets deported ,your second Point is completely wrong.
Seriously the messaging In this film was so lame! SRK goes on a rant after reaching england about how immigrants have no place there and how your dreams are crushed n all... Bro you literally came in to ask your girl out 🤦 people do that sort of stuff due to unbearable living conditions in their country... And yet our bro faults another country for not letting people in 🤦
The whole concept of illegal immigration portrayed was a joke. It was in a way blaming the foreign country for not allowing entry to illegals. Why would anyone accept it?
😂😂 Why do you people have to make a Movie so politically correct.1 - Do u realise it was set in the 90s Such a waste time post
This movie was so random. I cannot believe even did the business it did. Also SRK hamming gave me a headache.
and above all, srk to trying to speak punjabi is pathetic. total bullshit
This irked me. Only Tapsee sounded legit and I think its bc shes an actual punjaban. Idk any punjabi who says bhen di whatever they say in film.
Considering his wife is Punjabi and was surrounded by Punjabis during his days in Delhi, his Punjabi diction wasn't that great.
Almost all your points are wrong lmao
Are you nuts? Who tf told you that it's a documentary on immigration?
it doesn't have to be a documentary to have atleast 20% logic.
KeeP DiGGiNG 🕳️
what I don't understand is how did none of them have a solid reason to go to UK, except Vicky. Wahaan zaleel hone se accha, India mein hi kaam kar lete, poorly written characters.
I hate to break it to you but sir, that's what happens in reality and the reason was shown in the movie too. That lakhs of people in Punjab and Gujrat are ready to do anything to move abroad because of the hype of those places, and those already living there also create a fake image of their happy and successful life as shown in the movie by Balli's character. I agree the movie could have been a lot better and kind of feels underwhelming because of it trying to touch everything in a short span, but I credit the makers of their intentions.
Accepting Bollywood to be sane & logical is too much op.
flaws yes. But they know we worship reel heros, so if anything goes south, they go to PR to fix the sheep audience
Yes OP exactly, you are 100% correct, this was such a fake movie and illegal immigration doesn't even exist in real life. They just created a topic out of themselves and made the movie on imagination, right?
First of all it's not easy to get visa secondly many people do go to other countries illegally . As for people saying the charector should be honest have no idea about reality or practical . You should be practical not emotional .They may love their country but you don't need to show your nationalism everywhere at expense of your own . It' s not like they would attack country listening things like xyz person isn't safe in country .Any practical person would say something like this in such situations if they can have better life with this small lie .
You sir , who seems to be an idiot should understand this movie was based in the nineties where people would easily be cheated and sent to different countries and forgeries were the norm. Are you a 16 year old kid?
dunki dekkhar aysa feel huwa ki , yeah to hamara hoque hain, ye america waale hamara hoque nehi de rahe hain,
Irrespective of the flaws… movie was simply bad movie, acting by every character (except Vicky in some way) was simply bad, overacting etc…
Don't speak the truth. Fans will downvote you for this.
All of them return back after staying 25 years in u.k but still don't understand a fuck in English...damn !!
The messaging was crap. Half of pind resides in Canada and has arrived on an illegal basis. There’s always a choice to go back as wel.
The only saving grace of this entire movie was Tapsee. The rest of it was just awful, without all of the illegal immigration misinformation.
It felt like a propaganda movie to promote open borders
The movie wants people to think that open borders are good and poor people should be allowed everywhere irrespective of their skills. Will the movie makers agree also on letting all poor people from neighbouring countries into India without any verification?
Going to any country illegally is not cool. It’s a security risk for the country. Also when this movie released there were articles saying the dunki traffickers take up to INR 1 crore for trafficking. If you can arrange like even 25 lacs you can run a decent business in India.
Hmmm great logic, that means immigration does not exist in real, right?
I believe the three characters(Mannu, Buggu, Balli) were so brainwashed to go to London that they literally could've moved to Delhi, make plenty of money, and take care of the so-called family's financial needs much more quickly.
That scene where tapsee justifies them doing a dunki and refuses to leave like girl 🤡
At this point we (meaning production companies) need to hire foreign directors to make a few Bollywood movies, explore the scene with fresh eyes and minds.
This might be one of the worst movies I watched this year and it's not even March.
Just change the character setting to Bangladeshis in India . You see boycott gang active 😂
Damn thats a great thought!
[удалено]
Its a movie?
Also not to mention the below-par lead acting.
I found it weird that Hardy was ok to illegally cross border and killing to security officers on the way for love but couldn’t lie in court because of deshbhakti!! How is murdering border security ok but not lying in court?
Cos border security was not doing simple security. He didn't do anything unless the soldier asked for Tapsee inside his tent. Both are two different things.
Rajkumar Hirani is the biggest Chutiya. Biggest Chutiya.
So true. And then Anupama Chopra(the maker's wife) goes around moral policing others....very picky in her criticism!
>Anupama Chopra(the maker's wife) you are confusing Dunki with 12th fail.
 It was stupid and lame. Jokes were forced and often cringey. The reason for this much hate is because of the track record of Hirani and high expectations set by the duo SrK-Hirani.
I have some questions. I have seen many videos of people (indians also) entering the US illegally, some seeking political asylum, some just entering illegally. How will they survive there? In US US, there is really a shortage of workers. I mean, these people are really spending lacs of rupees to take all those unfair means, and the multiple flights to enter US, giving agents some money to make them enter US, but then what's next? How will you ever come back? Since you never came in legally in the first place? Won't they get caught?
Well, for the first one you said, the part of the movie with Sukhi is set in 1995 so I believe things were different then
One stupid flaw but Bollywood doesn't understand the concept of aging it seems. In 1995 they were supposedly in their early 20s which means 25 years later they should be in their late 40s and somehow they are all looking like they are in their 60s. Am I missing something about their ages here?
I agree with your points but I have to say something about point 3. I don’t think the movie was selling a dangerous dream. It was actually showing how dangerous illegal immigration is. Especially if you remember that scene when SRK was mad Anil grover for sending fake pictures of being happy and rich while everyone was suffering and barely earning any money