Shah Rukh Khan is back to work with a bang! Following a two-year hiatus post the failure of Aanand L Rai's Zero, the superstar is charged up yet again and is starting afresh with three films in slate. Siddharth Anand's YRF spy thriller Pathan would be his official comeback venture which would be followed by South filmmaker Atlee Kumar's commercial potboiler featuring SRK in a double role. Rajkumar Hirani's social drama, the most exciting of them all, will get off the ground only after Pathan and Atlee's film are wrapped up.
Now, Peepingmoon.com has learned that SRK and Rajkumar Hirani's much-anticipated film is not a regular Bollywood social drama but rather deals with a broader immigration issue. Sources have exclusively informed us that the yet-untitled film is based on the issue of "donkey flight" — an illegal backdoor route that has emerged as a popular escape path for Indians hoping to immigrate to the US and Canada. "Donkey flight is referred to as the illegal method of entering a foreign country via multiple stops in other countries. It's a popular method adopted by thousands of youngsters every year after they fail to enter the target country via legitimate means. Hirani's film deals with this wide subject in his trademark style with a narrative filled with emotional as well as light-hearted moments. It's a story of a Punjabi guy and his arduous journey of immigration to Canada," a source close to the development told us adding that the film depicts the illegal passage of Indian Punjabis to Canada, and how the travel agencies lay elaborate traps to lure young customers looking for a better life in foreign.
In the Punjab region, thousands of young people each year dodge immigration checks to head to Canada and other developed countries in search of better living standards and employment opportunities, using schemes devised by well-funded illegal immigration agencies that employ creative methods to exploit every possible loophole in existing policies and visa systems. The term 'Donkey Flight' is based on a Punjabi idiom meaning to hop from place to place. It describes a common play that would-be immigrants would use, in which they apply for a tourist visa for a European Union Schengen country. This visa allows them to roam freely in Europe's border-free zone, intending to leapfrog over into the UK and Canada.
The SRK-Hirani film, our sources say, will go on floors around May 2022. Taapsee Pannu is said to be the frontrunner to play the leading lady, however, she hasn't been signed as yet. Shah Rukh is currently filming for Atlee's yet-untitled robbery drama and will head abroad for a month-long schedule in October to shoot the major action sequences of Pathan before diving his full attention to Atlee's film from November 2021 to March 2022. He is expected to take a short break before starting the Rajkumar Hirani film. Meanwhile, Hirani is more or less done with the scripting and has already begun recce in Punjab.
