Shah Rukh Khan’s upcoming film Dunki, is based on the illegal immigration technique of “donkey flights”. To promote the same, the makers launched a promotional video titled “Dunki Diaries”. The video showcases the behind-the-scenes stories, the inspiration behind the film, and the camaraderie between the actors and the director. The promotional video, released today, features Shah Rukh Khan, Taapsee Pannu, and Rajkumar Hirani in a candid conversation about the film.
Dunki is a comedy-drama film directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Red Chillies Entertainment and Jio Studios. It stars Shah Rukh Khan as Hardayal “Hardy” Singh Dhillon, a man who dreams of going to London for a better life, and Taapsee Pannu as Manu, his love interest. The film also has a special appearance by Vicky Kaushal as Sukhi, Hardy’s friend. The film is scheduled to release on December 21, 2023.
In Dunki diaries, Hirani says that he was intrigued by the sight of many houses in Punjab that had a concrete airplane on their roofs. The video also features a gurudwara in Punjab where people visit with their passports to pray for smooth immigration overseas.
Shah Rukh Khan explains that the essence of the film is the bond of 5 friends in the movie. The three of them also narrate amusing stories and behind-the-scenes moments from the film. In the end, they also launched a new song, Banda from the film.
Rajkumar Hirani shares how he came up with the idea of Dunki and shares his research
The director proposed saying they should tell the audience why they made the film Dunki and how he came up with the idea. SRK showed a picture of a house where an airplane is cemented on top of it.
Elaborating on the picture, Rajkumar Hirani said, “Actually yeh ek ghar hai Jalandhar mein, Jalandhar ke aas pass. Jaha yeh ghar aap dekh rahe hai uske upar yeh itna bada jahaj cement ka bana hua hai. Aisa ek ghar nehi hai, aisa kai ghar hai jaha chhato pe jahaj lage hote hai. (This house is in Jalandhar, and the airplane is real. There are many houses like it in Jalandhar). So I was quite amazed by it. I wanted to know why is it like this.”
He further added, “Woha culture hai ki jin gharo ke bacche yeh ghar ka koi ek family member videsh pohoch jay, London, Canada, America jaha pohoch jay, toh wo ghar ke upar chhat pe ek jahaj laga deta hai. (There is a culture in Jalandhar when a family member goes abroad, they cement an airplane on top of their house).” He also revealed that under the airplane, there are water tanks.
“So I laughed first because I found it funny. Then I started to watch videos. Then I found out the story that one member of each family in Jalandhar wants to settle abroad. Uska wo culturally background hai ki 50s mein World War ke baad, soldiers were fighting for them. Fir World War khatam ho gaya woha kaafi logo ki kaami ho gayi, there were fewer men to work in UK for textile industries toh unhone Punjab se kaaji logo ko bulana shuru kiya ki aa hamare yeha kaam karo. Toh wo jaake waha pe kaam karne lage. Fir 62 or 61 mein ek act aa gaya jisse yeh band kar diya. Toh inke parivaar divide ho gaye. (After World War, UK went short of men to work in the Textile industries and that’s why they asked for people from Punjab. Then an act came and everything stopped and families got divided).”
Rajkumar said that people here thought that life was good abroad but the visa became an issue and then the illegal crossing started. He added, “Jis route se wo log jaate the usko Donkey route kehte hai toh wo Dunki mana ho gaya and I started researching the story.”
Hirani then shared that to research more about the film, he even attended English classes at a local organisation claiming that they could help people pass the IELTS exam. He also came across Visa Gurudwara where people visit with their passports to pray for smooth immigration overseas.
Dunki is based on real stories and real plight of people
Shah Rukh Khan said that Dunki is a social comedy rooted in reality. He said that facts are shown in the film. Shah Rukh Khan said that people might find it hard to believe some actually travel with such peril to make a livelihood abroad. He spoke about how people travel across oceans and seas in boats to foreign lands.
Shah Rukh Khan said it is heart-wrenching to know how many lose their lives in that fashion. People who follow the refugee crisis will also know about it.
Taapsee on romancing SRK, Hirani on shooting in real jail, SRK on Dunki being about friendship
In a segment during the candid conversation, King Khan shared behind the scene pictures and trio discussed the memories around those.
In one of the pictures, Taapsee shared that after working in 4 to 5 action films, Taapsee Pannu thought she would be cast as the love interest of Khan and would get to romance him. However, she was asked to learn wrestling as a part of preparing for the movie. Khan also shared a BTS image of Pannu taking pride after showing off her wrestling skills on the actor. SRK also playfully disclosed Taapsee’s remark about marrying him if he weren’t already taken.
In one of the BTS scenes, you can see the star cast along with Hirani standing in an enclosed space. The director shared that it was a real jail, and he always wanted to shoot in one. They had to stop shooting for a bit because inmates were out playing table tennis and indulging in other activities. Hirani said that the crew was instructed not to indulge or disturb them.
Sharing a BTS image along with his co-stars, Shah Rukh Khan mentioned that though Dunki is about the struggles of five people trying to fulfil their dreams, the crux of the story revolves around friendship. “The five people stand for friendship,” he added. The characters portray how friends get together, care for each other, fight with each other, and stand by each other’s sides.
Later, Shah Rukh showed a picture of himself with Taapsee Pannu sitting on a bench at the graveyard. He took a dig at Rajkumar saying that he wanted to make me do something which he hasn’t done in any movie. “Sir, aap jaha marzi kara lo, toh sir ne kaha main kabristan me karaunga,” said Shah Rukh and the filmmaker laughed. The superstar then said that the filmmaker took him to graveyard to perform a romantic scene with Taapsee. “ Main ye dawe se keh sakta hu ki mere jaisa romance kabristan me koi nahi kar sakta,” he added.
Vicky Kaushal told Shah Rukh that he would’ve married him, had he not married Katrina too soon
Shah Rukh shared an anecdote from shooting the ‘classroom scenes’ in the film. He said, “Classrooms ke jo scenes hain… iske ander ek aisa scene hai jaha main nimbu brother ban chuka hu Vicky Kaushal ka. Log blood brothers bante ha, main nimbu brothers ban chuka hu. Bohut prem ho chuka hai. Ek do baar toh usne mujhe phone kar ke bhi bola ki ‘Katrina se maine jaldi shaadi kar li… agar shaadi nahi ki hoti toh main aap se kar leta! (The classrooms scenes, there is a scene where I have become the lemon-brother of Vicky. People become blood brothers, but we became lemon brothers. We were in love. A few times, he even shared that I married Katrina Kaif too soon or else I would have married you)”
Rajkumar Hirani further added how he was surprised to see that after one scene in the film, Shah Rukh licked a piece of lemon and then passed it to Vicky Kaushal and he licked it too. Shah Rukh then joked that even now they meet sometimes and share the same lemon.
Further, Shah Rukh also hailed Vicky’s performance in a drunk scene from the movie. “Fantastically performed scene,” he said.
Taapsee Pannu recalls turning into living statue for Dunki and earning “some pounds”
During the chat, SRK, the host, showed a behind-the-scenes photo featuring Pannu and Hirani. Taapsee was quick to remember the story behind the photo and asserted, “This was a very memorable moment. By the way, I am the one in the photo, if anyone is in doubt.”
She further continued, “I was standing as a living statue on a street with a bag below. This bag is kept open in front of the living statue to collect the money. Within 5-10 minutes, the camera was rolling and no one knew that the film was being shot. In fact, 5-10 people had put coins there. So, where we were afraid that people might get to know that the shooting was going on, there would be a little problem; we actually collected a few pounds.”
Later, Shah Rukh quipped, “Our producers were quite happy.” Meanwhile, Rajkumar joked, “We managed the London schedule expenses with that only.”
Dunki Diaries is a unique way of promoting the film, as it gives the viewers a glimpse into the making of the film and the personal stories of the people involved. You can watch the entire video here:
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