The questionable subject of Dunki - Page 5

Originally posted by: _symphony

I guess we saw different films. Doesn’t the end credit of the movie say that it was only 140 years (repeating it again) ago that the law of needing a visa to travel across borders came into force hence questioning the enforcement of the law itself. 

The movie made clear that they should have looked for solutions in the own country— Where? I never see any of the three protagonists ever trying to find a job in their own town. 

The way Judge who asked all important questions and raised security concerns was shown as inhuman. 
SRK raises points about illegals coming in and working as Britisher’s toilet cleaners. - trying to guilt trip. 

When all 4 reaches UK, they shout and scare away a couple walking. It was shows as funny and not something crass. 
End credits talks about Country borders existing for last 140 years and world was divided earlier. - dead giveaway of stupid idealistic trope. 

Of course movie wants you to sympathize with illegals and wants you to be ok with millions pouring in and it’s your fault if you doubt their intentions. 

Thing is they didn't showed the struggle of immigrants who took the dunki route properly. Except for that desert sequence, nothing was there that would've made us sympathize with the group. 

Also they should've thrown more light on what the three friends did in UK for the last 25 years and their desperation to return to India. 

I think there are a lot of people like them also in real life...

I feel this is a fine characterisation of the relation between Hardy and Manu and their difference (and also completely different to the bond Veer Zaara have who get a kind of 'reward' for being true to themselves and their love for the other).

I think Hardy wasn't strong enough to persuade Manu...a bit like Suri he wanted that Manu makes the decision to acknowledge the value of their bond.

We don't get to know what Manu did for a livelihood in London except for also working as a living statue and as a taxi driver. We know that Balli had a tailor shop he sells to another Indian and Buggu worked in the same  restaurant all the time.

The fact that Manu only strongly wants to return to India to 'die at home' and only then contacts Hardy seeing him (again) as a 'solution maker' shows where her focus really had been all the long. Tapsee performed that character very well. She really was the leading lady before and after the dunki (like shown during the first song e.g.) while Hardy was the leading man during the dunki(s) and at the end (but leading a life together was not their 'karma' in this movie...maybe next time...she at least said "I do").

Originally posted by: _symphony

 

The problem is the things you are mentioning are never shown in the film. Manu is shown doing a job at a dhaba but nowhere the director establishes that she is trying to get a better job but failing. None of them have any educational aspirations nor any financial aspirations. Leave that they dont even know what kind of jobs their neighbours who went to London are doing. There’s this movie, Aa ab laut chalen where just within 10 mins into the movie it gets so well narrated how Akshay Khanna’s character thinks if he goes to the US his financial problems will get resolved as a neighbour’s son is living there and his mom keeps on raving about his luxurious life there. If a movie that came 20+ years ago could establish so well why cant this movie? Nobody gives any background here. Who wants to do what and why.. everything is left to the assumption of the audience. And then they suddenly start criticising the IELTS, the visa law, the immigration law. 

I agree to the first part. INdeed, the only aspirations the three have are those of the financial kind:

Manu earning enough money to get back - for her father - the property he lost to debts.

Balli earning enough money to make her mom stop to machine-sewing all the time.

Buggu earning enough money so that his mother would do woman work in woman clothes.

These three are like a Trimurti doing things together with Manu having the leading position.

All three were unhappy in their respective jobs they did in Laltu. Buggu was bumped, Manu and Balli left.

Basically, in 1995, they were nothing special but they thought they could become as special as others had become in the town who had left Laltu for London.

That is the setting at the beginning of the movie and I think that is enough to understand why they would fail to get a visa and use the dunki option (which is already clear from the title).

Yet it is - as a criticism of the system - important to know how their unlogical dreams get exploited (even the student visa is a fraud).

Afterthought: SRK has now produced 3 movies that are criticising certain systems and also in Pathaan, he expresses criticism about a system. It definitely is something remarkable. It reminds me of Raees where he did that, too.

Originally posted by: YoursTrulyOne

Thing is they didn't showed the struggle of immigrants who took the dunki route properly. Except for that desert sequence, nothing was there that would've made us sympathize with the group. 

Also they should've thrown more light on what the three friends did in UK for the last 25 years and their desperation to return to India. 

They showed different parts of dunkis taken by real life people...some are life threatening, some are tiring, some are rightout atrocious, some are dangerous, some go wrong etc.. However, I stress that the movie didn't intend to make the viewer "sympathize" with them but to see the dangers - unknown beforehand - they took for a questionable aim.

As the two dunkis were the main plot, it wasn't necessary to know more than we got to know (I wrote in a previous post what the audience get to know about their livelihood during the 25 years). We also don't get to know what exactly Hardy did back in India (except what he did for Manu)...it's not important for the story Hirani and SRK wanted to tell.

Balli and Buggu only wanted to return because Manu wanted to return...otherwise they wouldn't have changed their life, I guess. They always did the things together...a friendship that was stronger than any other bond.

Afterthought (again): I love that the movie also is about resilience, a SRK- and Indian trait, imo.

I wish Dunki makers create scene by scene breakdown sheets for every scene and distribute it to the viewers at the entrance. and on ott, screen ke ek kone pe chipak dete

Originally posted by: pathaka

Sorry but thats wayy too much fluffy language without an actual discussion or justification of the film ..”oh but lots of ppl liked it”…good for them …several thought it was pointless …

I don’t judge the actual ppl who feel compelled to cross borders this way…im sure they have their reasons and like Vicky’s character they are probably compelling enough to empathise …there are ppl who are indeed under threat in their country, or have lost their home and family to tragedy and have no other means than exploring avenues in another country …

The film however, did not show why any of the characters having an  absolute need to go to England ….to use treacherous routes to get there. …for a family that they probably won’t even see again …to live in less than ideal conditions 

Even if they were fooled into thinking London will give them a good life, still makes no sense why they would refuse to go back to India with Hardy after the seeing the reality of it ….and insist on personal suffering 

The film didn’t justify any of this …and kept hacking one emotional monologue after another with barely any context or logic to it 

Sabse bada hai rog..kya kahenge log.

After taking the dunki route and managing to reach England what reason would they give for return..that they were deported? That life's no bed of roses there? 

People live under the (often false) notion that people back home would make fun of them. It would make sense for them to work in a store or run a taxi abroad compared to doing the same in India.M

Manu should have returned with Hardy though..coz she surely would've had a better life with him

Originally posted by: _symphony

Nice question! I can answer based on the little idea i have from my friends who wish/didn’t wish to go abroad. 

Canada - Its not v difficult to get Canada’s PR so many people want to go there. I can share about three of my friends/friends of friends who had different perspective about this. One of them has done llm from a decent university in Delhi but he still left his high paying corporate lawyer job in Delhi to go to Canada. But he is a Sikh and has many family members well settled there so he kind of knew even if he doesn’t land a decent job he has people to help. And that’s what happened, for the longest time he only had small jobs. He was driving at the airport. So his motive was only a better lifestyle. Better infra. To settle in and become a citizen there . Canada is beautiful geographically and much more advanced than india in terms of life comforts. Then there was another one who is a dentist here. In Canada you cant do practice as a doctor unless you have a degree from their colleges. He was forced to do small jobs there so he came back as here he had a respectable job with good pay. To do an MD equivalent specialisation in Dentistry the fees there is 1CR. So that was unaffordable for him. Then third is a friend of friend from Patiala. She was so eager to go that her criterion of partner search on matrimonial apps was a person who had Canadian PR. Because she did not want to continue living in her hometown which is a small district. 

US/UK - I am not v sure if it’s legally easy to enter these countries because unlike Canada they dont need a lot of immigrants to do small jobs. The students their do these jobs as part time jobs. But yea the craze to move to these countries is very high amongst affluent business men/IT and other professionals because of the vast currency differences. A friend (java developer) moved to Germany for a project.. expenses taken care of by the company excluding rent for 10 months and his salary changed from 33 lpa to 75 lpa just because he is now paid in euros. 75 lpa is huge even from a metro city perspective in India. Even if he saved half the money he can buy a 1 bhk in Delhi/ NCR from the remaining 33 lakhs. 

Asia - This is new. many of my ex colleagues / friends are now moving to Asian countries for better careers. Bangkok, thailand, dubai, abu dhabi these are new IT/business hubs. They are near to India, have good salaries, good lifestyle , great tech and infra and also availability of indian food. Also the asian food pallette is very much prevalent in these countries. 

Thanks for such a detailed reply.

First part..majority of family members r there..that's so true. There r many who have filed for immigration and waiting since years coz almost all of their immediate family is abroad.

And ya..further studies r a major turnoff.. specially in medical field..but heard dentists r very much in demand outside India..Here the condition is such that u would see at least 3 dental clinics on any main road 😀

IT professionals will of course go if given n opportunity. Mainly coz it gives global exposure in the company. Higher pay is n added benefit. But seeing too many IT people choosing a short term stay nowadays. That way they save some amount and come back to the comfort of their home country. Their main reason to return is the ease of living here. For people living there permanently..they stop converting in rupees after a certain time..coz u spend in the same currency u earn..unless u live a very simple life.

Originally posted by: NimbuMirchi

This is the trend mostly with Gujaratis. They will leave high paying IT job to open a liquor store. 

For one, Gujaratis dhandho genes kick in. There’s that eternal dhandho j karvano ne yar. Aapde Khud aapda boss. 
They make money through jobs and then switch to investment into businesses. 
Motel or store, you hire a workforce to manage different tasks. 
9-5 job binds you for whole day - whole week. 
With the liquor store - you get away couple hours and your employees can manage. Makes it easy to manage kids school and classes schedules. 
Plus you invest in Motels, Liquor stores, Convenient store, you make good money. Both husband and wife don’t have to work. One business and they take turn to go during different hours of the day. Helps you balance work, home and kids.

Was looking fwd to ur response coz u have been living abroad since long. Raising a family in a different country and calling it ur home takes u through different experiences.

So work life balance, return on investment and being ur own boss makes it quite lucrative 👍

Originally posted by: hasini009

I wish Dunki makers create scene by scene breakdown sheets for every scene and distribute it to the viewers at the entrance. and on ott, screen ke ek kone pe chipak dete