Don Movie Preview

Remakes seem to be an un-fazing fad in Bollywood. We aren’t simply talking transatlantic translations here, moreso updating Indian classics. We’ve already had traditional adaptations such as Devdas (re-jigged thrice now) with remakes of cult classics Umrao Jaan and Sholay in the works, it’ll be interesting to see a contemporary take on both these and 70’s caper Don.

The hugely intelligent Farhan Akhtar is regurgitating the 1978 classic, originally written by Javed Akhtar - his father, and Salim Khan. It starred the then (and now) superstar Amitabh Bachchan as Don. Akhtar has come back with what seems to be a stylized darker version of the same, with Shahrukh essaying the double role of Don and Vijay, while Priyanka Chopra plays Roma.

Synopsis:

Shah Rukh Khan plays (believe it or not) an underworld don, in pursuit of whom is Officer Jasjit (Rampal). But things go wrong and he’s murdered... The police now have to maintain his cover, so they find an identical street layabout Vijay (Shah Rukh again) and recruit him into the force. Jasjit trains him in all aspects of the law, and he soon finds himself undercover in the same gang as his predecessor.

His job is to bring down the gang and arrest or kill all its members. This plan is put in jeopardy, when his only child is kidnapped by a rival gang, and his senior officer is killed. When his own cover is compromised, life gets slightly complicated...

Three reasons Don is so eagerly anticipated:

The biggest star from India right now, he was honoured by BAFTA a couple of weeks back in their Bollywood retrospective.

2 Farhan Akhtar maker of path-breaking movies like Dil Chahta Hai and Lakshya has remade Don. He is the ultimate enfant terrible of Bollywood (I promise not to use that phrase again…) as contemporaries remember him as an utter brat as a kid, always up to mischief. A huge fan of the original, Akhtar has allegedly watched the film over 40 times… which should make for interesting viewing.

Akhtar’s debut made such a thundering impact, it left everyone gasping. A contemporary and cosmopolitan take on youth in India today, Dil Chahta Hai broke new ground with its’ approach, and gained cult status. Reality bites, nowhere more so than in a Farhan movie – but it’s his treatment that’s special.

But then nothing counts like lineage, and in terms of talent he couldn’t do any better. His father Javed Akhtar wrote some Indian classics such as Sholay, Deewar and Zanjeer, going on to write lyrics for every song worth it’s salt in the last two decades. Mum Honey Irani has written some of the biggest money-spinners in the last decade, including Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and more recently Krrish.

3 Don – The Chase Begins... Again The movie itself is a cult classic. Never lauded as a fabulous or perfect movie, it was kitsch, fast-paced, had some oft-quoted songs and was atypical in terms of a seventies action romp. It starred the then superstar Amitabh Bachchan, and was a huge commercial success. So it seems a tad sacrilegious to tamper with it. Almost like trying to remake The Italian Job... But it was far from the perfect movie; the original was plagued with production issues and a history of it's own. So it may be a chance to improve on that - a la Ocean's Eleven.

Much of the movie has been shot in Malaysia, with hi-tech gadgets and state of the art special effects, so this is sure to be the ultimate white-knuckle ride. But what Farhan makes of the movie is what people will be eagerly waiting to see. It is also being produced by Ritesh Sidhwani / Excel Entertainment - one of the youngest, hippest, most innovative and respected production stables. This coupled with the biggest star in the business, and those classic tunes re-mixed three decades on - we look forward to this chase.

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