DUNKI – Shahrukh Khan | Raju Hirani | Movie Plot Based on Real Story of Illegal Migration.
This blog covers the real story of illegal migration on which the DUNKI movie is based upon. It will give you the entre picture of Dunki migration and why people do it for great America dream.
The film ‘Dunki’ is based on the story of people wanting to go to America without documents / illegally and risking their lives. Raju Hirani has portrayed this story in a comic style which he always does in all his movies but in the end will give a strong message through this movie.
Every year, lakhs of Indians migrate to the USA, UK, and other western nations in search of quality of life and money. But only a few can make it to the Great Dream Destination. For them, death is more lucrative than life.
Now, as Punjabi people have Canada, so do Gujarati people have America. It’s very surprising that despite the Gujarat model we are talking about, people are still leaving that same Gujarat and going to America.
On January 14, 2022, four people were killed on the American-Canadian border. After investigation, it was found that they are from the same family. In that, there were a 3-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl besides the husband and wife. On the other hand, the US is also heard to have done the same on the Mexican border. Brijkumar Yadav was crossing the border with his wife and 3-year-old child.
He had to cross the Trump wall to enter America. After falling from the same Trump wall, Brijkumar Yadav dies. Later, the mother and children are properly brought together. But later in the investigation, it turned out that these people wanted to enter America illegally. After knowing these 2 incidents, I only have 1 question in my mind. What is such a big deal to go to America or Europe that people are risking their lives?
In this blog, we will talk about the real Dunki story, which talks about why people want to leave India and go to America illegally. And how do these people reach America illegally? And what happens to them after reaching America?
According to the 2019 report of US Customs and Border Protection, 1.5 lakh Indians tried illegally to enter America alone. They mostly try to enter through two illegal routes. First, the US border with Mexico, and second, the US border with Canada.
There are two ways to enter America. The first is legal, and the second is illegal. We all know the legal way. Apply for a visa first, and then go to America if you get your approved visa. But if you don’t want to do all this and want to go to America without a document, then there is a way to do this. The name of that road is Donkey Flight, or Kabutarbhaji. We pronounce donkey as donkey in English, but in Punjab and Haryana, donkey is pronounced as Dunki. That’s why the name of the upcoming film by Shah Rukh Khan is Dunki.
The era of illegal immigration from the United States has not begun in recent times but has been going on for a long time. In the 90s, it used to go through Kabutar Baji. In this case, if a film is being shot, then the crew members would go to America with it, or they would go to America with some dance group. Then, after reaching America, they would deliberately separate from the crew members and will start living in America illegally. In 2011, the case of Kabutar Baji was revealed, in which a couple, Jitendra Kumar Hiralal and Damini Soni, a 21-year-old girl, were trying to take Komal Patel to America as her fake daughter.
But when they were about to board the Ahmadabad, Delhi, and Chicago Air India 011 flights, the CBI team caught them. For this, the couple, Jitendra Kumar Hiralal and Damini Soni, had demanded 32 lakh rupees from Komal’s family. Out of which, they had already been paid 16 lakhs and the rest of the payment Komal made after reaching Canada But now this pigeon-piggy road is not working as much.
So now there is a second way for this, which is called Donkey Flight. Donkey flight is a Punjabi proverb that means jumping to different places. And this statement is very similar to the movement of these immigrants. In this case, if someone wants to go to the USA, Canada, or the UK, they are taken to their destination country from many different countries and places.
In this blog, we will take the example of America and understand how this whole process operates. There is a village in Gujarat, Dingucha, where there is only one trend: everyone wants to go to the USA. If we don’t go to America, then our child’s life and future are not secured, according to what they believe. Now, generally, for those who want to go to America, legally or illegally, their only goal is to earn money and second is that America’s quality of life is better. But the reason for the Patel community in Gujarat is very different. The large population of Dingucha village belongs to the Patel community and everyone here wants to go to America and earn money, but there is one more reason why they want to go to America. That reason is marriage. To understand this, we first have to understand the structure of the Patel community.
The Patel community of Gujarat is divided into many groups of villages like 88 villages, 122 villages, etc., which are the community names. The scene of the Patel community is that the person who belongs to which group will get married to the same group of villages. For example, if someone belongs to a group of 88 villages, then they cannot get married in a group of 122 villages. Now, there is another problem in the Patel community: the sex ratio there is very bad. As per 2019 data, there are approximately 600–700 females for every 1000 males in the Patel community. That is why the girls parents now have a condition to get married to their daughters: a boy’s family should have someone or the other in America. Now, if there is a family from which there is no relation or family in America, then their marriage is very difficult. And this is a very big reason for the boys of the community there to go to America. Now, as Punjabi people have Canada, in the same way, Gujarati people have America.
It is very surprising that in the Gujarat model we are talking about, people are leaving that Gujarat and going to America from there. Now, if someone has to go to America illegally from here, then he needs two things. First, a lot of money and an agent Now this agent is the mastermind of this process. He has a complete network. He does the planning here. First, he chooses those who are a little interested in going to America. Then he tells the successful stories of the people who reached there—how they bought a Mercedes within 2 years, how big they live in the bungalow, etc. After that, if they are convinced, then he fills them with a visa application form and says that in a few days it will be approved and you can go to America, but after a few days you will get a call and it will tell you that your visa application has been cancelled, but they have another way through which you can go to America without documents, and only then they tell you the idea of the donkey process.
For this, the agent charges him a lot of money. Like 30 lakhs, 50 lakhs, if it’s a rich family, then crores, crores, crores, anything. They have to pay some amount before they can go to America or any other country. After that, the journey begins for the donkey flight. These agents will not take you directly to America. They will take you to America through 2-3 countries. The main route to enter America illegally is the Darien Gap. The Darien Gap is a 96-kilometer-long forest stretch between Colombia and Panama. And this forest is considered to be one of the most dangerous routes in the world. First of all, you have to walk the entire journey.
On top of that, there is no place to stay in this place. Sometimes it gets humid, sometimes it rains, and to increase the trouble, there are wild animals like jaguars, snakes, and all these things. And there are many rivers here that are very hot. All this is fine, but you will find dead bodies of many people who died while deciding this path who will break your courage, and if these things can’t break your courage, then you will face the Mexican Mafia robbery, murder, and rape, which are very common in this area. They will loot all your stuff at gunpoint, and if you are too much of a coward, they will shoot you. If you get hurt or can’t walk on the middle of the road, the rest of the group will leave you alone and go ahead.
And if you cross the jungle with God’s help, you will reach the villages of Panama. You will cross five more countries from there and reach America. Satpal Singh, one of the immigrants from Punjab who went from the donkey flight to America, told that he had to go to the Mexico border from Guatemala, so a truck came to pick him up. That truck was forcibly filled with 20 people, and there was only so much space in it that they were just standing there somehow. And he had nothing to eat or drink for the next 24 hours. They were given the command that if someone dies on the way, you throw it and keep moving forward. Then, when they cross the Mexico border, they have to take a country out of pass from the government there. After that, they go to the US-Mexico border and get all their documents. This is done so that even if they are caught by mistake, they are not deported. But this journey is not that easy.
They have to cross another mountain, which is called Trump wall. This is a 30-foot-high iron fence that was made faster during the Trump presidency. But for this so-called great American dream, this height is too small. And this passion to reach America also breaks the 30-foot-high wall and makes it cross. As soon as they step into the US, they hand themselves over to the Border Patrol Force.
After this, the police force takes them to the detention center. And after reaching there, they apply for asylum. After that, an officer will come to them and interview them. Now is the time when the migrant tells the story of his pain to the officer. And tries to convince him that if he goes back to his country, he will be killed—that is, he will be prosecuted for this—he defames his home country, tells lies and fake stories. It’s simple: the lie has to be told so that the other person is convinced that if you go to your country, you will be killed.
And if he thinks all this is true and sees a genuine fear in you, then yes, your luck is fine. He may allow you to apply for asylum. And if he thinks this is a lie, he will deport you from there. And many times, people have been deported.
And even if the asylum officer is accepted by fate, the court process is quite long. Until then, they are kept in detention centers. Now again, the role of the agent comes into this story. The same agent sent them to America. He sends a lawyer to his network at the detention center, who gives them asylum.
And then here they are given a GPS-mounted shield so that they can track where they are going, how their movement is, etc. Then, after a few days, they are taken away by the guard. But they are still not free in any way. They are made to work like laborers. The agent who sent them there gets them work after they leave the detention center.
Until they return the remaining money, they are made to work at the agent’s acquaintance’s place. And in 4-5 years, when they return the agent’s money, they get real American freedom. But they are still not treated well. Because they don’t have citizenship in the US, the minimum wage policy is not applied to them. So where they go to work and work additional hours.
They are given a lower salary than other people. Then they don’t get any bonuses or anything which means no other perk is given. But when America reaches that point, these illegal migrants prove to be very beneficial for America. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2022, the US labor force was only 18.1% of the people outside.
And these people are ready to do service occupations for less money, like construction, driving, cleaning, transportation, and other labor work. Because of this, the native citizens there mostly do professional work like management, IT, office work, etc. According to Wikipedia, in 2016, immigrants had added $2 trillion to American GDP and a federal tax collection of $458.7 billion. Now that you think about it, how will the country that is getting such a huge amount every year take strict action against these people? After all, it is a benefit for them.
But the question is, after taking so much risk and spending millions of rupees, is it worth it to put your life at risk and fulfill the American dream?
Watch out for this Shahrukh Khan starrer movie Dunki releasing on 22nd December this year, which will take us through the mad dream for America using illegal Donkey route putting ones life at stake and why our own country India is great to fulfill owns dream.
