Shah Rukh Khan’s film Dunki has entered the Rs 200-crore club. On day 13, the Rajkumar Hirani film collected Rs 3.85 crore (across all languages), according to a Sacnilk report. Dunki, which marks the first-time on-screen pairing of SRK and Taapsee Pannu, has amassed ₹200.62 crore (total) at the domestic box office. Dunki was released on December 21. Boman Irani and Vicky Kaushal are also part of the film. Recently, the official Instagram page of Red Chillies Entertainment shared a special Instagram post to announce Dunki’s international box office numbers. The film has minted Rs 400.40 crore globally. Dunki has been jointly backed by Red Chillies Entertainment, JIO Studios and Rajkumar Hirani Films.
Dunki also marks the debut collaboration between Shah Rukh Khan and director Rajkumar Hirani. In a conversation with SRK and Taapsee Pannu, Rajkumar Hirani shared his desire to work with ‘King Khan’ for two decades. He said, “Mai ek kahaani batata hu aapko. Mai film institute mein padhta tha. To vahan to sabka struggle yeh rehta hai ki bahar nikalke film banani hai aur banegi kaise? Producer kaun milega? Actor kaun milega? To vahan ek common room tha, kabhi kabhi hum baitheke vaha TV dekhte the. To vahan ek din ek series chal rahi thi Circus. Aur usme ek scene tha, platform pe. And I vividly till date remember. Mujhe camera angle bhi pta hai kitna tha. Aur ek monologue sa chal raha tha. [Let me tell you a story. I was studying at the film institute, and there, everyone struggled with the idea of making a film and how it would happen. Who will be the producer? Who will be the actor? There was a common room where we would sometimes sit and watch TV. One day, a series was running. There was a scene on a platform, and I vividly remember it to this day. I even remember the camera angle. There was a monologue]”
“And there was an actor performing, who I did not know. Maine dekha, maine kaha, ‘Bada kamal ka actor hai yaar ye. Ab hum yahan se paas out honge, hamare saath Bachchan sahab (Amitabh Bachchan) thodi kaam kar lenge. To ye actor hai yaar, mai isko nazar mein rakhta hu. Mai nilkunga, aur mai isko approach karunga, aur iske saath film banayenge.’ Jab tak mai nikla tab tak vo Shah Rukh Khan bahut bde star ban chuke the. To uske baad mujhe 20 saal wait karna pada. [When I saw him, I said, ‘This actor is amazing. Once we pass out from here, it is not like we will get to work with Bachchan sir (Amitabh Bachchan). This is a good actor. I’ll keep an eye on him. I will approach him, and we will make a film together.’ By the time I graduated, Shah Rukh Khan had become a huge star. After that, I had to wait for 20 years,” Rajkumar Hirani added.
