डंकी

it against the rest of the film. The first few sequences generate fun intrigue – why is taapsee at a hospital? Who is hardy and why do they desperately want to go back to him? Why is the travel agent telling these people they can't get Indian VISAs when they’re clearly Indian? You want to know. Loud jaunty music underscores these goofball antics which then shift to Punjab as a flashback. The comedy though stretches for far too long. An inexplicable 4th wall breaking voice-over starts dumping exposition in each sequence, characters are introduced and then maintained as “types”. The Punjabi are punajbing, Shahrukh khan says “oh ji papa ji”, and “mera plan toh sun lo”, constantly dialled to 11, his acting choice hinging on little more than the Punjabi bade loud hote hain stereotype. Manu is besties with one guy who works as a barber, the other sells salwars to ladies, never explaining why in a 90s Punjab small town she is never seen with women. As long as the plot progresses, details don’t matter. Essentially everything, up until the interval, has kind of a fake plasticky sheen one sees in those lyra lyra anytime anywhere advertising.