Don - Movie Review

Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin, namumkin hai – this dialogue in Amitabh Bachchan’s deep baritone still resounds fresh in the memories of his fans.

Twenty-eight years after the Big B immortalized the character of a don in Chandra Barot’s movie Don (1978) , Shah Rukh Khan reprises the role in Farhan Akhtar ’s movie ‘Don’.

‘Don’ will not be a scene-to-scene adaptation of the original flick by director Chandra Barot. The remake will be a modern, contemporary version in which SRK, as Don, uses all the state-of-the-art gadgets and technology.

The movie stays loyal to the plot of the original. But it improvises on the treatment of the story through stylish cinematography, crisp editing, innovative direction, high-octane stunts and special effects.

Isha Koppikar plays the role of the real Don's girlfriend Anita

Besides Shah Rukh Khan, the film stars a host of actors including Priyanka Chopra, Isha Koppikar, Boman Irani, Arjun Rampal, Kareena Kapoor, Om Puri and Sushma Reddy.

Shah Rukh Khan plays Don, the leader of a ruthless drug mafia in Malaysia. Don’s cleverness has made it virtually impossible for the Indian police to catch him. But eventually, the ever-elusive Don is cornered by the cops. He is seriously injured in a police encounter. And soon the word spreads that Don is dead.

Arjun Rampal plays Don’s foe-turned-friend Jasjeet

It is then the chief cop De Silva (Boman Irani) makes his ingenious move. He sends a Don look-alike Vijay, a bumpkin, into Don’s gang. Vijay’s task is to impersonate as Don and help the police catch all the big fish in the dirty business.

While Vijay passes off as Don initially, his partners-in-crime, particularly his girlfriend Anita, begins to sense a change in the man. In the meantime, Don comes closer to Roma (Priyanka Chopra) who is working amongst the gangsters for a personal reason.

Things take a turn for the worse after the cop who had sent Vijay on the secret mission is killed. None in the police force know of Vijay’s mission. On the other hand, the mafia becomes more and more suspicious of their Don. So, Vijay finds himself hunted not just by the gangsters but also by the cops.

Caught between hell and high water, Vijay has only one option – to complete his mission and bring the truth to light. In this struggle he is fully helped by his sweetheart Roma and his friend Jasjeet.

Stunts
The film will have Shah Rukh doing many dangerous stunts, which includes jumping from a height of 15,000 feet. Shah Rukh performed this stunt under the guidance of Hollywood stunt expert Joe Jennings, who has directed fights for movies like ‘Charlie's Angels’, ‘XXX’ and ‘Air Force One’.

Music
The film’s music has been given by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and lyrics are written by Javed Akhtar.

‘Don’ has five songs, of which two (‘Yeh Mera Dil’ and ‘Khaike Paan Banaras Wala’) are the remixed, club versions of the same songs from the original. The film also has ‘Main Hoon Don’ but it’s entirely different from the one in Bachchan’s movie. Apart from these, there is also a Ganpati song ‘Morya Re’ and a song called ‘Aaj Ki Raat’, picturised on both Priyanka Chopra and Isha Koppikar.

One big challenge for Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and singer Udit Narayan was to recreate the magic of Kishore Kumar’s immortal song Khaike Paan Banaras Wala. The new version of the song has many improvisations. The song has Shah Rukh Khan rendering a few lines with gusto. There is a brief pause in the song before Udit again takes over from SRK.

‘Don’ is undoubtedly among the most awaited movies of this year. The film has been shot in India, Kuala Lumpur and Paris. 

E-mail this to Friends

Register to get complete access to all the sections/features of the website. (eg. commenting, discussion forums and more)
This website is 100% FREE, no charges ever and registration is quick!
If you already have an account then please login using the login box below main menu.

Click to register