STATUTORY WARNING: If you have not seen DON, I recommend you watch it first and then read my views on it. The content of the review may reveal a suspense in the movie 😉
Year: 2006
20th October, 2006 saw the release of DON, starring Shahrukh Khan as DON; Priyanka Chopra and Arjun Rampal among others. Farhan Akhtar marketed the movie as “his” version of the 1978 Nariman Irani’s mega blockbuster Don, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman and Pran. It certainly is “his” version, as he not only changed quite a few sequences but also the end completely!!DON, as a movie, is technically well made. Its got grandeur, style and great music – a perfect masala for a sure shot box office success. In fact, the very fact that it was promoted as a “remake” surely had everyone wondering what Farhan’s magic would do. The movie, undoubtedly is well made. What it grossly lacks is the brilliance of the actors which formed the essence of the original Don.
Shahrukh has been portrayed well, with all the style and grandeur but even when donning the best designer suits, he can not match the charisma of the original Don (Amitabh). In Don-I, when Amitabh enters, you can feel the sense of power oozing from him. He terrifies as well as amuses you, unlike shahrukh, who is simply incapable of having that kind of command over the role and the audience!!!
Priyanka is probably the only actor in the entire movie who manages to do a better justice to the role enacted by actors in the original make. She scores over Zeenat by a hundred. As for the rest of the actors, they grossly fall short.
Now, coming to the end of the movie. It is shown that DON is actually alive and his look-alike Vijay died long ago. Such an end probably satisifed the creative instinct of Farhan, but in retrospect, it kind of glorifies crime. It gives the audience the message of “The victory of evil over good”. May seem like not-a-big-deal. But, just think about the effect this may have over the mind of a 5-yr old who probably is a huge shahrukh khan fan and would do anything to imitate him.
Personal creativity set aside, actors and directors have a far bigger social responsibility than they assume. More on this in the next blog.
To conclude, DON is a good movie with bad actors and an unacceptable end!
Well … you sound so much like.. Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN 🙂 But you have everything… covered in it.
Way to go!!!
SRK was pretty brilliant, though not as good as AB. And the one thing I really liked was Kareena Kapoor’s dance. Everybody says that Helen did infinitely better than her but I just saw Helen’s dance and I think Kareena is, unexpectedly, probably better.
hi there….
nice to see u blogging… keep doing.. it is nice platform to put down ur thoughts rather than bugging ur friends 😉 (dont come to kill me now…)
I liked the new DON! Shahrukh was great but AB was brilliant! What drove the original DON was AB’s style and the aura he had… but what makes this DON a good movie is the grandeur, the sets, the music and of course the dance of Kareena. The “Uma Thurmon” [Kill Bill] version of Priyanka Chopra was also good! good job done! Overall the new DON was a good attempt, definitely not a failure.. 🙂
As far as social msg is concerned,not all movies have a positive and encouraging ending, so is DON!!!
DON was on my list of crappiest acting in a movie ever. Right up there with Battlefield Earth and SAW. Yeah.
If you want a social message go to such movies. If you want entertainment go to DON. I dont know how u go to a movie at 10 PM expecting a socially responsible message 😉
In the blog, the vocabulary and the review is awesome- though i dont agree to some views of yours. Movie’z a new try. Old wine in new bottle. Enjoy the grandeur and relax.
There has been no match to the Big B, and there will probably never be one either. But looking at the glam industry today, if there is anyone who comes a close second to exuding that kind of charisma as a DON must, it’s got to be SRK, and in my view, he did justice to his part fully. On the contrary, I beg to differ from your view that Priyanka outscored Zeenat Aman. The Zeenats and Parveens had a league of their own which no actress in today’s era can match up to. As for the ending, I think it was a brilliant one, and the stark truth that emerges therefrom is that in today’s date, evil does triumph. So it has a largely realisitc ending.
PS: I liked your review, but for the benefit of people who haven’t watched the movie, you should have left a caveat saying: “WARNING-Details of the story follow”!!
Hey, Thank you all for your comments… 🙂
About the evil triumpth part, I think I was not clear enough. Will address this part in the next blog and will try not to be ambiguous and more lucid 🙂
And Nishant, Thank you for the suggestion. I have now included a warning at the beginning 🙂
will try to be ambiguous.. i think u already are 🙂 good job dude.. i buy the statuatory warning totally 😉
will try to be ambiguous.. i think u already are 🙂 good job dude.. i buy the statutory warning totally 😉
Thanks Balaji 🙂
Nice review write-up:-)
Of-course SRK can never match the character-feeling portrayed by AB. In fact, the image built in our minds of SRK will resist accepting this DON-character.
leave the 5 yr old kid… i think its a one off case.. u cant make all sides happy… also the usual ending wud have compromised with the creativity of the cinema… and again its a harsh truth that evil wins much more than the good… so a real good movie…shah rukh ws brilliant not leaving priyanka chopra far behind 😉
First point never give out a suspense while writin a review about any movie.
Agreed with you on certain points.. like weak actors for strong roles..I think only Booman irani did justice to his role.. rest were not even close to good..Kareena was no way close to Helen nor Arjun Rampal close to Pran..i think abhishek wud hav done a better job with Don thn SRK..
Farhan could have tried so much with action and stunts but i guess he failed ..
Farhan tries to compensate with twist in the end..but i guess Farhan was disappointing after DCH and Lakshya..
Don… a good( but failed ) try to better the perfection!!
Muzic – comparable.
Don-Image – far lagging.
SRKvsAB – far lagging.
PCvsZeenat – comparable.
i would say it was competition with the best and no harm in losing to the best. My respect from Farhan remains intact.
The change of story: I would say its intuitive, but at the same time praise-the-devil kind. But considering the amout of rage in movie, its not so ill-effective.
MyCatch: Don one time says the Disc did not has the data, but its shown that Arjun rampal checks the data and finds it useful too.
agree with Balaji here. Enjoy the movie and relax 🙂 seems your blog has already started drawing crowds, which I have been vying for since long time 😛 lage raho
U hv already killed my interest in the movie 😛 ……but good that at last u hv put the warning…..Its really heartening to c u being regular at postings….keep the tempo going….. 🙂
i think you are just a little bit biased….Even senior AB had the best things to say about this movie. This movie is not about comparing two people who are super stars in their own right. The original Don had a different feel, different characters, different storyline and totally different audience. I think you should review the movie once again keeping aside the original movie and belive me Farhan Akhtar in no way has tried to make SRK portray the same image as Senior AB. Because of the similar storyline the rights had been taken and to somewhere provide the same feel the songs are also borrowed .
Btw almost all movies today glorify crime , one way or the other …. the Hero almost always has to fight for his rights… doesnot that glorify crime too? 😐
That stuff seems to be straight out of a taran adarsh Show (he is a movie critique). i totally agree with the conclusion that u have made. Adding to it, i am sure i will not be waching this movie EVER, my own reason being that i can not bear the sight of the older Don being mutilated by a creaivity inspired freak.Same holds true for ALL the remixes.
Though i am OK with the creativity license and all, i personally feel that the attitude of the emerging generation of directors is too blatant to be taken seriously. Akhtar started off well with Dil Chahta He, his decline as a MATURE director has been heralded by this freak show.
When you are about to touch something as sacred as don, the least u can ensure is that u are fit for it. To understand what i mean..watch SARKAR, an ode to Godfather, by RGV. he maintained the sacredness, and that is why he could have been the director to look up to for the remake. As luck would have it we are likely to see his experience in the remake of SHOLAY.
The problem with our generation is ” NOTHING IS SACRED”
Well the line “Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin namumkin hai” falls flat in the old movie…if the Don dies in the first 25 minutes of the movie, the line does not make much sense…Farhan moved on and made this line the mainstay and according to that, the climax makes sense. Super sense…
AND as someone pointed out, if yoy going in for a 10 pm show on a Friday for socially relevant mesages, man GROW UP. Give me a percentage of movies with a good message. Thoda toh audience and junta ki intelligence ka dhyaan rakh lo. As if they all will start killing at the drop of a hat. Crap!!!
To Manan: Boss NOTHING IS SACRED and a problem with our generation…come on man, stop speaking as if you are the most righteous person and poori duniya ka sabse doodh se dhula insaan. Problem with our generation…speak of your problems – dont be our spokesperson. What the Hell man…cynicism and hypocrisy smells…SARKAR according to RGV in his own words was just to get a chance for him to worship AB and Godfather. And I cannot see sacredness remain there and not in DON.
Hello Amit,
..Well your post was almost an outburst, for a moment i forgot that we were talking about a lousy movie.
Read your post again, i can see only anguish in it. Nowhere did i state that i preach to be the ultimate in terms of values, u took it in the sense that someone was pointing a finger at you. Why did u feel the guilt buddy? 😉
Would u rather that i say “the problem with YOUR generation is..”, but that would have excluded me, so that should explain the ‘OUR’ in my post.
Ram Gopal Verma did a splendid job, and the majority would agree with me here, sadly..the same cannot be said about Farhan Akhtar’s DON… irrespective of some people crying hoarse from their rooftops, it remains little more than a miserable attempt. all it could accomplish was to make people to go back and see the Original DON to get rid of sour taste left by this DON.
One last thing, this site is about airing our views, the least we can do to respect it is to be civil in our language.
Happy smarting Amit 😉
There u go again Mr Manan…a clear streak of overconfidence and oversmartness…as a superior mortal on earth…
Condescending words – all of them; anguish, outburst, crying hoarse from rooftops…well can understand wht you must be feeling here on earth…so many of us lesser mortals, common people around…boss empathise with you.
Have no doubt you ll come up with a better reply than mine and win over the claps and whistles, but my point made…All the best in life with this ‘attitude’ problem.
And believe me I am no ‘buddy’ of yours…Last thing I would want is be yours…
Farhan Akhtar is a smart guy. Although DON didn’t leave much impression on me, but I can’t deny this fact. Let’s look into perspective this way.
Older DON was a typical story of Good v/s Evil, although with some twists used never before in Hindi Cinema. Where every character is Either black or white. Loyalties may be hidden, but still they are either black or white. Movie’s power lies in Amitabh Bachchan’s powerhouse performance
Come 2006, Farhan Akhtar makes an attempt at remake and I must say he did made a good impression. All real world characters are grey. All of them have hidden motives, all of them have their own agenda. Although a typical masala movie, Farhan puts enough shades in the characters.
AB “Sarkar” vs SRK “DON” comparison, IMHO, is not proper. RGV wanted Subhash “Sarkar” Nagre to be as powerful as Don Veto Corleone. On the other hand, new DON isn’t portrayed as is. While AB was supposed to be a towering persona, SRK’s character wasn’t supposed to be like that. He is not kind of person, whose sight will send chills through your spine. He is a shrewd and cunning businessman, who knows his business well enough to remove obstacle in his own way.As Amit puts it, “don ko pakadana…” literally falls flat in AB movie.
SRK can’t match, never matches and never tries to match with AB, nor does Farhan, but he did decent job. One side where Zeenat is all determined but still typical old bollywod-ian heroine, Priyanka’s Tarantino-esque touch was, IMHO, fabulous.
I think Farhan screwed up the job in portrayal of counterpart of DON. Vijay’s soul was totally missing, resulting in patched up looking “Khaike…”. UP accent came naturally to AB, but SRK looked truely and utterly rubbish. He need not have stuck with UP bhaiya for Vijay’s character, considering Vijay as a character didn’t have much job in the movie. Overall, Farhan does deserve a pat if not accolades
@N!ls : Ever heard of Honeypots
Guys, Pretty interesting conversation happening here 🙂
Lets try and keep the topic to “DON”… maybe extended to AB and SRK… 🙂 But targeting each other would kind of digress the topic… so friends, lets stick to DON… 🙂
Hello Amit,
would have loved to sort out your “Issues” and “Complexes”, but i guess u r too prejudiced to hear me out…. as for my “attitude”…i guess it works more on a particular personality type…i m more sure about it now.
It was a pleasure to read your stuff, wud have been better if u would not have taken it so personally.
take care and happy smarting again 🙂
Agree with all of u 🙂
Ok. I break the silence on this one since there’s been talk of ‘The Godfather’ and its Indianized version – ‘Sarkar’.
A tribute is essentially a formal token of appreciation for a persons high achievements. And a copy, aimed at making money – can in no way be called a tribute. The motive was money and what he called as a ‘tribute’ right at the start of the movie is actually a sad copy.
The Godfatherish essence was missing in the movie:
1. For the Godfather family, everything was business. Nothing was personal. For Sarkar, the opposite was true.
2. The Godfather never let his enemies know what he thinks, does. He never ever becomes angry. Sarkar is a senile old man in this regard.
3. Sonny Corleone worshiped his father. He was talented and devoted. Vishnu is just another f*rt with no values or talent. The only things they share are superficial – a liking for women and a hot-headed nature.
4. Luca Brazi was the only man the Don feared. In Sarkar, the guy dies even before his own introduction. And the Godfather family kills off anybody who goes against the family – including its own son Fredo (Movie II), there are no second comings. And the Sarkar family was dumb enough to allow Vishnu in once again (for the sake of Indian sentimentality).
5. The role of women in the Godfather is limited – and for reasons mentioned in the book. In Sarkar, this notion is not appreciated.
6. Sarkar runs an NGO in the movie. There is no talk of where the money comes from, what his lines of businesses are. The Godfather has a nice little bit when Michael explains the family business to Kay Adams. So – there really is a lot of confusion right from the start as to who SARKAR really is!
7. The Godfather never hogs the limelight. SARKAR waves his hands to crowds who seem to be waiting at his gates at all times.
8. The portrayal of Tataglia, the Turk, Barzini – are deficient to say the least.
So – all RGV does is copy the superficial story line, change the fundamental thoughts and Indianises them for the sake of commercialization. And still calls it a tribute.
If he were going to call it a ‘copy’, it would have been fine. But to call it a tribute?!
IMHO, Nayagan was the only Indian movie that ever came close to show respect to ‘The Godfather’. A few passing thoughts borrowed, but the story line has its own Indian roots and emotions.
Sarkar is a good movie in its own right. But please do not compare school rhymes to gospels!
my dear friend……..it was just a movie……..meant for pure entertainment………and not ethitcs and morality…….so plz plz stop this bullshit of what effect is it gong to have on children……..understood dude….
Hi Ale,
When I was talking about sick mentality of people! This is exactly what i meant! I am sure YOU dont care! And dude, there are many many movies (like porn)… which r meant for pure entertainment… does that mean you start showing them to your kids?
Give any role to amitabh and he will play it effortlessly, he don’t have to try too hard to play any role.
I dont understand why Shahrukh try to compare himself with other actors specially with charismatic people like Big B.
Without watching the new DON i would say old DON is the best. I didnt watch new one because i saw the trailor of new DON and it really sucks.
Jazzy jargons, international locations, stealing posters of hollywood can’t make a hit.
Amitabh’s DON still rocks. Shahrukh should know his limitations.
schahrukhan cava
Hi,
Please don’t think of this post negatively, I am completely neutral and i think that i have discussed many important things here so please if you guys like an intelligent review please read my post. I mean yes the original don was very suiting and fitting for its days and i sincerely believe that people loved that movie because of AB’s charisma and onscreen uniqueness (like his dances and his voice that were very suited for such a social drama/action movie of the time). But if i am neutral then I’ll say that I’ll be lying to my heart if I did not like the new don by shahrukh khan. Certainly shahrukh is not amitabh and I certainly see no point in comparing the two. They are as similar as orange is to apple. They have very different acting style and both are unique. I really don’t get this media holdrums about shahrukh trying to be amitabh. This seems absolute media rubbish. I think that shahrukh never tried to portray himself as the new AB but he wanted to show his portrayal of don in his own distinctive way. I certainly liked the old don, but i also like this new don (i will be lying if i said that i did not like it). I think this new movie was superbly grandeur, starting from the wide angle shoots through most screenplay, the darker theme of don’s character, the costuming, special effects, everything add up to make this movie almost a revolution in indian cinemas. Shahrukh khan gave a lot of effort, all the fighting motions, and the dances do take its toll on the body. I really liked the fact that shahrukh did not overact and cry for no reason, it was back to his natural self which he showed in his earlier career in movies like bazigaar and ramjanee. I think this movie was excellent but i guess nobody wants to recognize it because the original don was something special and as a regard to the charm that the original brought to audience i guess people are somewhat undermining the new one’s appeal.
And now about comparing the two greatest stars of the indian movie. Well at this point I’ll rate amitabh higher than shahrukh because basically he has had a lot more acting opportunities and acting under his belt that makes him very experienced and accomplished. It has to do with the span of the career, Amitabh has done a lot more acting than shahrukh and that is the reason why he if compared right now can be taken as a better actor than shahrukh. But we must remember that he is almost twenty five years older than shahrukh and by the time shahrukh gets that old, I don’t see any reason why shahrukh can not learn and take his calibre of acting to the grand heights in which amitabh certainly resides now.
DON ko pakarna mushkil hi nahin, namumkin hai
DON ka intezarr to 11 mulkoon ki police ker rahi hai
sharukh is too good in this film and very well perform his role in this film,no doubt he is complete actor and he is also king bollywood
I LOVE DON
Shah Rukh should not compete with Mr.Amitabh Bachchan but he should learn to respect Amitabh. As Amitabh is absolutely belongs to a different league. He is a living legend which shahrukh can never become. He should know his limitations. I don’t know why shahruk and his fans don’t understand this simple fact and they are adament in proving that shahrukh is great. Mr. Shahrukh I don’t know whether it reach you or not but don’t try to compare yourself with the legendary actor. You are the best among your contemporary actors I agree but you are no match to BIg B in any department. It is already proven fact that Don/KBC both failed. Ab to man jao shahrukhji aur aapke fans.
srk is the king.u talk about ab but his 90percent movie fails.eg(eklavaya,nishabd,cheeni).but srks movies is a sucess
Stupid film Big time overacting by the so called “King Khan”. He should be called “King CON!” instead.
I nearle fell asleep while watcjing the movie. Acting sucked, Ending sucked, Script was as thin as paper, Poor direction-in short a very boring idiotic senseless film which has no thing to offer.
SRK is an ant before Amitabh-Stop copying the actor who is millions of notches above you-
to Mr.Shah-Check out facts Mr-Cheeni Kum is a hugeee Hit!!!
N lets see how SRK fares at 65. SRK is nowhere near Big B in-Stardom, Humiliyty, personality, and of course you dont need to talk about acting.
Grande sito!!
shahrukhan you are best
I am FAN von SHAHRUKHKHAN and I LOVE YOU
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