Dunki (2023) opens in London, where three elderly friends – Manu (Taapsee Pannu), Buggu (Vikram Kochhar), and Balli (Anil Grover) – make plans to return to their hometown Laltu in India after 25 years abroad. When trouble crops up in the shape of their inability to acquire visas, Manu hits upon an idea to get back home the same way they left it, and to execute her idea she needs one Hardy (Khan), a lover and guardian angel she hasn’t seen since he was deported from the UK.
Hardy, too, has spent the last quarter of a century waiting for news of Manu, and when he gets it, he abandons a chance at completing a hat-trick of victories in the local elderly athletics competition and dives headfirst into making preparations for her and the other two to make their way back to India.
Dunki then flashes back 25 years to Laltu, where Manu, Buggu, and Balli are all desperately trying all sorts of schemes to make it to the UK, including paying an agent who ends up duping them. Enter Hardy, or Hardayal Singh Dhillon, a soldier recently discharged from hospital, where he was recovering from wounds sustained during combat. It turns out that Manu’s brother saved Hardy’s life whilst losing his own, and that’s why Hardy is in Laltu. He swiftly becomes a part of the group, which soon collects Sukhi (Vicky Kaushal), who wishes to help the love of his life escape her abusive husband in London. The group joins an English-language class as preparation for the IELTS, but only Balli gets through the final exam, leaving the other four in a fix.
From London, Balli calls Sukhi to break to him the news of his lover having committed suicide. In turn, Sukhi douses himself in kerosene and commits self-immolation, devastating Manu, Buggu, and Hardy. At the funeral, the latter vows to get Manu and Buggu into the UK by the last resort available: the Dunki route.