Don (2006)

I am back from my long vacation and it’s a great relief to have taken this break. The pleasant weather of Nasik has rejuvenated me to take on bigger things in life which I am expecting to be coming my way in the next days (or weeks). The salient feature of this current visit was the discovery of a vibrant and a youthful Nasik city, especially elating for me because Nasik is claimed to be a pilgrimage hot spot in India. The 3M syndrome seems to have finally hit this sleepy city now – the Malls, the multiplexes and McDonald’s, identifiable with the true blue globalized economy of India. Not to mention the other ‘M’ – the powerful Middle-class which was seen shopping at various places and thronging the streets for the Diwali celebrations. So thank god for not making me visit the Godavari ghats and the shrines this time around. BTW, you can view some of my favorite shots from the recent trip here.

Let me come to the point now. Being the first in a series of remakes (Umrao Jaan, Guide, etc.) which have been planned by eminent directors and producers of Bollywood, I was awaiting the theatrical release of DON. Much has been said and written about the movie and the expectation it has raised for the film industry who has now turned to repackaging older movies for success. I won’t be biased in my opinion because frankly I am not a great admirer of Shahrukh Khan’s acting abilities. Nevertheless Don is a character which could only have been portrayed by a star like Shahrukh. The magic has been further enhanced by the packaging of the movie; from the typography to the action sequences down to the haunting background score; comparable to the current James Bond or the Bourne series. In a nutshell, I am amazed at the brilliance of Farhan Akhtar’s adaption of the original Don.

Director Chandra Barot’s Don was released in 1978 where Amitabh Bachchan essayed the character and won the Filmfare Award in the Best Actor category for his dual role. The film was made from an unnamed script written by Salim-Javed which had a central character called ‘Don’. The adaptation retains the names of some characters from the original. It’s a privilege to note it down here just for the record – DCP DeSilva (earlier played by Iftikar & presently Boman Irani), Roma (Zeenat Aman and Priyanka Chopra), Kamini (Helen and Kareena Kapoor), Anita (Arpana Choudhary and Isha Koppikar), Malik (Om Shiv Puri and Om Puri), Narang (Kamal Kapoor and Pawan Mallhotra), Mac (Mac Mohan and Shakeel Khan), Deepu (Master Alankar in the original. Not sure about the name of the child artiste in the current version) and lastly Jasjit (Pran and Arjun Rampal). Quite a few songs have also been remixed but I did not quite enjoy them.

Great Diwali treat for me and hopefully a film which would make it’s predecessors feel proud. Don’t miss the end though. The sting is truly in the tail.