A house with a plane replica atop it in Punjab’s Jalandhar gave Rajkumar Hirani the idea for Dunki, his upcoming movie with Shah Rukh Khan and Taapsee Pannu.
The trio sat down for a conversation in which they discussed the origins of the film, its behind-the-scenes stories and how SRK, known as the King of Romance in Hindi cinema, filmed a romantic sequence with Pannu in a graveyard.
Dunki, a comedy drama based on an illegal immigration technique ‘donkey flight’, is slated to be released worldwide on Thursday.
In a 29-minute interaction shared by Shah Rukh on his official X page, Hirani said the germ of the film’s story came from the imagery of the house with a large cemented replica of an Air India plane on its terrace, something he initially found funny.
“There are many houses in Punjab that have planes on the rooftops. I was quite amazed by that and that’s what piqued our curiosity. Family members of those children who live abroad find it fashionable to put these planes on top of their houses,” said the filmmaker, known for 3 Idiots and Munna Bhai films.
When he started researching for the film, Hirani said he discovered how people who seek a better life in countries such as the UK and Canada take the illegal ‘donkey route’, called dunki in Punjabi, out of India when they court visa troubles.
There’s also a holy place in Jalandhar’s Tahlan village called Visa Wala Gurdwara, where people aspiring to go abroad offer prayers.
“There are shops outside that sell toy planes. Thousands of devotees offer these planes and show their passport to the gurus inside the gurdwara with the belief that they will get the visa,” the director said.
Shah Rukh reiterated that Dunki is all about homecoming. (IANS)
