Dunki

Dunki is the soundtrack to Rajkumar Hirani's 2023 Bollywood film of the same name, released on December 21, 2023. The album was composed by Pritam Chakraborty, marking his first collaboration with Hirani and his fourth with lead actor Shah Rukh Khan. Lyrics across the album were written by an ensemble of India's finest lyricists, including Irshad Kamil, Swanand Kirkire, Javed Akhtar, IP Singh, and Varun Grover. The label is T-Series.

The film follows a group of friends from Punjab who undertake the "donkey route", an illegal multi-country overland migration through Afghanistan and Iran toward the United Kingdom, after being unable to obtain legal visas. The title comes from the Punjabi slang for "donkey flight," referring to the practice of hopping through multiple countries to reach a destination. The narrative moves between the original dangerous journey decades prior and the friends' present-day predicament in London, longing to return home.

The soundtrack mirrors the film's emotional range. Energetic, folk-inflected tracks sit alongside intimate ballads of longing and devotion. "O Maahi" (sung by Arijit Singh, lyrics by Irshad Kamil) functions as the emotional core, a declaration of eternal devotion set against the backdrop of displacement. "Nikle The Kabhi Hum Ghar Se" (sung by Sonu Nigam, lyrics by Javed Akhtar) captures the nostalgic pull of Punjab. Shah Rukh Khan himself named the latter as his personal favorite from the album. The title track and "Chal Ve Watna" explore themes of identity and patriotism.

Critical reception of the album was warm. The Times of India called it the best Hindi film soundtrack of 2023, praising Pritam's ability to underline each emotional mood. The Hindu singled out several tracks for evoking goosebumps. The film itself received mixed critical reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes awarding it a 46% critics' score, though its cultural resonance and box office performance remained strong.