| Director | Rajkumar Hirani |
|---|---|
| Genre | comedy drama |
| Runtime | 161 min |
| Country | India |
| Budget | ₹85 crore |
| Box office | ₹470.6 crore |
In 2020 London, Manu Randhawa escapes a hospital and approaches immigration attorney Puru Patel to secure an Indian travel visa. Puru explains that her previous asylum claim, wherein she legally testified that her life was in danger in India, makes repatriation virtually impossible. Terminally ill with brain cancer and desperate to die in her homeland, Manu contacts her former lover, Hardayal "Hardy" Singh Dhillon, in Punjab after a 25-year separation. Manu requests that Hardy meet her, Buggu Lakhanpal, and Balli Kakkad in Dubai to orchestrate a covert return to India, prompting a lengthy flashback to 1995.
In Laltu, Punjab, impoverished and uneducated friends Manu, Buggu, and Balli desperately seek to immigrate to England to alleviate their families' financial distress. Hardy, a disciplined ex-soldier from the Indian Army, arrives in the village to return a debt of gratitude to Manu's late brother, who had saved his life. Learning of the family's plight, Hardy commits to fulfilling Manu’s migration goals. After being defrauded by a rogue travel agent, the group enrolls in an ineffective English coaching center to clear the IELTS exam for student visas. There, they befriend Sukhi, who is desperate to rescue his ex-girlfriend from an abusive marriage in London.
Only Balli passes the examination and relocates to England, sending back deceptive photographs to imply immense material success. The illusion collapses when Sukhi learns his ex-girlfriend has committed suicide out of despair over his exam failure; a distraught Sukhi subsequently commits suicide. Devastated by the tragedy, Hardy vows to bypass the restrictive visa apparatus entirely, leading Manu and Buggu to London via the highly perilous, illegal backdoor immigration route known as the "Donkey Flight" (Dunki).
The transit proves harrowing, involving lethal border crossings through deserts, mountains, and a suffocating 27-day confinement inside a cargo container that claims the lives of three fellow refugees. Upon arriving in London, they discover a disillusioned Balli working menial jobs to survive; his certified college was a fraudulent front. To gain legal residency, Puru advises Manu to enter a sham marriage. When Hardy violently intervenes to protect her from an aggressive groom, the group is apprehended.
To avoid deportation, Puru urges them to exploit British asylum jurisprudence by falsely claiming state-sponsored persecution in India. Hardy, bound by fierce patriotism, refuses to fabricate anti-national allegations and delivers a scathing courtroom critique of a global border system that criminalizes poverty. While the court orders Hardy's immediate deportation, Manu, Buggu, and Balli reluctantly accept the asylum terms, eventually obtaining British citizenship.
In the present, Hardy learns of Manu's terminal diagnosis. Denied legal entry into India due to her political asylum status, Manu and the group rendezvous with Hardy in Dubai. To circumvent the border restriction without subjecting Manu to the physical trauma of another illegal overland trek, Hardy orchestrates a calculated counter-strategy. He arranges for the group to surrender their British passports and board a shipping container in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, bound for Europe.
Per Hardy's instructions, a local agent intentionally tips off the Saudi authorities. During interrogation, Hardy misleads officials into believing they are undocumented Indian nationals attempting to infiltrate Europe. This structural ruse forces the Saudi government to deport them directly back to India, successfully fulfilling Hardy’s promise to repatriate Manu via a commercial flight rather than a lethal border crossing.
Returning to Laltu, the friends witness the structural improvements their remittances brought to their families. Hardy confesses his lifelong love and proposes to Manu. Overwhelmed with joy, Manu accepts, but succumbs to her illness moments later. The film concludes with an epilogue detailing the global reality of undocumented migration, highlighting the millions who perish anonymously on donkey flights, never returning to their homelands.