Plot Summary – Four friends from a sleepy little village in Punjab share a common dream: to go to England. Their problem is that they have neither the visa nor the ticket. A soldier alights from a train one day, and their lives change. He gives them a soldier’s promise: He will take them to the land of their dreams.

Original Title: ਡੰਕੀ
Original Language: Hindi

★ 

Watched 05 Jan 2024

This movie frustrated me to no end. I was initially planning on writing a detailed, structured review about my many problems of this film but that would be putting more thought into it than the actual creators of the film. I have not seen a film this devoid of logic, pathos, or coherence. Things happen because the plot requires them to. Not a single character in this film is shown to have an ounce of intelligence. Tapsee phones it in doing her outspoken woman character again but lacks the nuance she usually brings to her roles. Shah Rukh Khan is dystopian in this film, he looks like a cartoon version of himself and it seems like a stunt double did the whole film with SRK’s face digitally added in post. The humor is so dated and well-worn out. You can’t be making the same jokes in all your movies and expecting people to laugh even for the 100th time. All this would be fine if the moral core of the film was something to admire. This is the most politically confused and poorly thought out message I’ve ever seen in a film. I cannot understand how a film can pretend to cover such a deep nuanced issue in such a callous, and frankly jovial way. You can show flawed characters, but glorifying them is a whole other thing. I was just very disappointed in a film that’s been getting so much praise elsewhere. Just cause the issue is real, doesn’t mean the film has to be important.