Rajkumar Hirani’s last outing Dunki (2023) wasn’t able to impress both audiences and critics. Although the film was fronted by superstar Shah Rukh Khan, its box office performance was modest when compared with Rajkumar’s earlier successes, as well as the actor’s own 2023 blockbusters Jawan and Pathaan.
In a recent conversation with Sanjay Arora for his YouTube channel, Rajkumar discussed the possible reasons why the film didn’t work with viewers.
The director reflected on how different stories connect with different sections of viewers. He said, “Every film will touch different people differently. When you make 3 Idiots, it is about the education system, which touched every household, so it will reach every household. So, when I am making a film like Dunki, it is restricted to the people who are into illegal immigration.”
He added that even today he continues to receive messages from people who have lived that experience and appreciated its representation. “I get messages from Canada, America, from people who have actually done it and whose life has been affected. People who are living there are saying, ‘We are living here, but we are suffering,’ and they are like, ‘Why did we leave our country, we should have stayed there.’ So, of course that section of people is limited.”
Rajkumar further explained that it is easy for the middle-class which is the theatre-going audience of the country to gets visas and thus, maybe, they weren’t able to connect much with the plight of the characters in the film. “Our cinema audiences are middle-class audiences who can easily get visas, but there is also a population whose visa can never get approved. We can travel when we get a US visa, but what about those people who don’t have money, no bank balance? They have no chance of getting a visa, meaning they are condemned to stay where they are born, with no chance to travel. I think some people here could not relate to that,” he said.
Apart from SRK, Dunki also starred Vicky Kaushal and Taapsee Pannu. The film made a lifetime global collection of around Rs 454 crore, according to Sacnilk.