Farhan Akhtar’s
Don is sadly a major disappointment.
For those who have seen the original, this film,
a contemporary retelling of the Bachchan
classic Don (1978), comes a
distant second and for those who haven’t
seen the original, it is a dull slow paced thriller
full of style, some interesting action sequences
but no substance whatsoever. The film is without
doubt the weakest Shah Rukh Khan starrer to hit
the Indian screens in a long, long time.
 The
original Don is the closest Hindi Cinema
has come to making a good, genuine Hitchcockian-innocent-man-on-the-run
thriller. It was without doubt Salim-Javed’s
tightest and most ingenious screenplay, had well
etched out characters who involved you, moved
at a rapid pace, had innovative twists and turns,
music that gelled beautifully with film and of
course a knockout performance from Bachchan as
both don and the simple rustic, Vijay.
However, much of all this is missing in the new
stylized, hyped up film.
The biggest failure here is the weak screenplay
of the film. A good thriller should not make you
think of loopholes but this one with its sluggish
pace gives you plenty of time to do so. The earlier
Don also had a strong emotional base
that motivated all the various characters but
the new one trivializes this aspect. As a result
the film appears totally hollow. Also, much of
the emotional track of the earlier film and its
treatment was very correct for its time but looks
hopelessly outdated today.
The first half largely follows the original film
with most of the key dialogues intact but with
one new twist at the interval. However, unfortunately
this does nothing for the film so you wonder why
– maybe it was just a way to shake the viewer
who has seen the original Don out of
his complacency. But rather than being utilized
properly this works for the moment but that’s
about it. The most interesting change in the new
avatar however is the final twist. Depending on
your take, you could applaud the director for
being audacious and gutsy or you could react more
with a what-are-you-trying-to-pull Mr. Akhtar?
Acting extra clever? Though initially taken in
by the director’s audacity, as one thinks
about it later, the more one tends to favour the
latter argument. Although, to be fair a few elements
have been worked backwards in the screenplay to
make this a little more believable but it also
leaves several loose ends lying about. Maybe the
makers are thinking of a sequel in these days
of follow ups???
 Coming
to the performances, Shah Rukh Khan tries hard
and gives it all But Bachchan’s shoes are
tough to fill and that too for two roles. Shah
Rukh is naturally second to the Big B in both
of them but he does come off comparatively better
as the stylish don than the other avtaar
of the good hearted but poor Vijay. Priyanka,
Arjun Rampal, Pawan Malhotra (good to see him
on screen) and Kareena are all adequate at best.
Boman Irani has his moments but what is it with
Om Puri and Farhan Akhtar? After Lakshya,
this is the second consequetive time the supremely
gifted actor is totally wasted in the role of
a glorified extra by the director. But essentially
if none of the performances can be spoken of in
superlatives it’s largely because the actors
are defeated by the one dimensional uninvolving,
cardboard characterizations the screenplay affords
them.
On the technical side, special mention must be
made of KU Mohanan’s splendid cinematography
and Aradhana Seth’s rich Production Design
which give the film its style, look and polish.
The Music works best with Shankar-Ehsaan Loy’s
new take on the Don title track. The
Ganapati song is adequate enough but the re-recorded
version of Yeh Mera Dil and Khaike
Paan Baranaswala come again as distantly
inferior to their original counterpoints. And…the
less said about the picturization of Khaike…the
better. The action scenes too are just interesting
in bits - what was that Moonraker fight
in the skies??? The film plods along, feels never
ending and needed much crisper editing.
Our advice? Stick to the original.
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