Farhan Akhtar tries an Indian James Bond but why did he have to choose a script of an old Indian blockbuster for this purpose? Maybe he consulted his father Mr. Javed Akhtar to write such a script and he said why not pick up one from my old tried and tested ones! And in 2006, you are treated to a film that is based (well, almost!) on a script written in the late 1970’s.
“Don 2006” is stylish and is twisted and convoluted beyond the recognition of the 1978 Don. Any resemblances to the original should be considered purely coincidental in fact. That’s the way in which Farhan Akhtar has adapted the script. Any comparisons to the original will only make you feel worse having watched Don 2006.
So, let’s steer out of comparison mode but not totally. The story, atleast the major part, is based on the Don 1978. Don is caught by police (DCP) and replaced with a look-alike “Vijay” to infiltrate the group and pass on information to the police. Then in a rare turn of events, the DCP dies and Vijay is left alone to fight it out all alone. So far so good and even Don 2006 sticks to this. Well, almost!
Farhan Akhtar brings in his intellect here. He hasn’t considered the Don 1978 script to be sacrosanct. He has made massive changes to make it interesting. And succeeds to an extent too. But then, it raises so many questions in your mind that when you are out of the theater you are busy debating certain things with everyone around you that you are not exactly thinking whether the movie was good or not. Now, I don’t think that’s the way one would want to end this movie after so much of effort to make it more interesting.
The Kareena cameo is not choreographed well enough. Farah Khan can do good work to party songs and dance numbers. She is not your person to do “seduction” numbers. I mean Kareena danced like she wanted to make Don dance with her and not sleep with her! The Farah Khan ability comes out very well in the “Khaike pan banaraswala” song combined with Shah Rukh Khan’s energy, the song is a pleasure to watch. (Utterly out-of-situation, but as Farhan Akhtar says, “Don would be incomplete without the song” and I agree)
The movie could have been shot better. The blurry look doesn’t help the slick image that Farhan wants. Paris (the action sequence to introduce Don was shot here. Why? You ask? Because Don is an international criminal!) was shown in such a hazy light that I was rubbing my eyes to believe what I had seen! If you want the movie to look slick then please hire a good cinematographer. A Ravi K Chandran or a Santosh Sivan would have done very well. Who is Mr. Mohanan? All people with names ending with “N” don’t make good cinematographers! (P.C. Sriram for example) The worst piece of cinematography I have seen is of that sequence on the Petronas Towers.
The editing, the scenes jump from one to another. Especially the scene involving DCP, Don and Roma where revelations are made and suddenly next scene is Don is in the school. Looks like a rearrangement of scenes in the hindsight. It is definitely a very amateurish attempt to cover up the twists and turns. At many other places too, the movie jumps. Not at all a good sign of editing a movie. If I had to rate editing alone, I would have given it zero stars.
The direction, considering the potential of Farhan Akhtar, could have been better definitely. Personally, I didn’t like the way he had characterized “Don”. Don is a womanizer (that tilted head with winged hands caricature of the ballet rehearsal at Paris was enough to establish that) and he drools over girls dressed in bikinis. He is a courier boy who goes to deliver his own stuff to seal business deals. He is a criminal wanted by the Interpol and only 5 cops including two old cops are on this search. The police have no photo of the enemy (Vardhan) of Singhania (Don’s boss) but have a shot of Don with which he could have entered a modeling contest (Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahi, namumkin hai tho Vardhan ko Don bhi nahi pakad nahi paaya! Ab uske bare main socho!) Finally, Don is a small-time arms dealer who grew big because of the disintegration of Russia. Why is this required at all?! If he could have worked on his characterization a bit more, such stupid things wouldn’t have been necessary to convince us of the gravity of the situation. Anyways, Farhan Akhtar fails completely in characterizing Don – his main character, but succeeds in keeping us glued to the seats till the eternally long movie ends. (Is there some rule that all SRK movies need to extend beyond three hours or something like that?)
The music of the movie is a highlight that keeps us interested. Mainly because the songs are recycled from the past and made to suit today’s sound. But I have a problem with the title song. Shaan’s voice sounds too hollow to be a Don’s voice. A voice with slightly more gruffiness in it would have done the job better. Maybe Shankar Mahadevan himself should have moderated his voice around a little bit and sung. Naresh Iyer would have been a great choice for this song. The background music is catchy. Giving the movie a James Bond feel is the background music.
The stunts and the special effects department could have done better in the Air drop sequence or for that matter the Petronas towers sequence. Both of them fall flat. Like “Lakshya”s war sequences most of the stunts here fall flat. First, because there is not a strong enough concept behind it and second it is shot badly. Very badly. An out-of-context thought here: What was the white villain doing in the prison and the aeroplane? Why was he required? To tell us that Don is an international criminal? Why couldn’t Farhan Akhtar move away from the clichés (that usually surround a Salim-Javed script) and give us a convincing version of the original? Well he tried. And it worked. Well, Almost!
Shah Rukh Khan does his part. After “Swades”, he has tried a non-mushy mushy movie for which we should nominate this film to the Oscars. There is no trembling voice here. No smiles and teary hand-waves showing ‘tatas’. Probably, not having seen him in such a role for a long long time I thought he was about to change into the Karan Johar wardrobe any moment. No slow motion running. (He would be dead in that case! LOL!) Good pair of coolers he wears. Makes quite a style statement by wearing his tie inside. The only person who could have carried all this off was Govinda. Sad to see SRK substituting for Govinda. But no, credit where it is due. SRK isn’t as irritating as he is in his other movies. And so he has done his part.
Let me not talk about other performances as I would tend to disclose the plot in that case. Let me just say that Bomman Irani is not wasted while Om Puri is given nothing short of shit. Priyanka Chopra is pleasant. Kareena tries in vain to be sexy and dies in the process. Arjun Rampal limps his way for a fight scene with SRK. The cast is irrelevant in Don. Well, almost!
Rating: ***
Legend:
*Stay at home
**If you have the time to kill, go ahead, but not recommended
***Watch if you are a film buff!
****Go watch it on the big screen!
*****Don’t miss watching this one on the big screen! Avoid piracy!
Hmmm…
I have to agree, the kareena dance number was such a disappointment.
Both with her and the choreographer!
Glad that you liked SRK…(atleast to some extent)… finally we agree on something ;-)
The only person who could have carried all this off was Govinda. Sad to see SRK substituting for Govinda.
Govinda as DON ?
What made you think that Govinda(Raja Babu/Anari No: 1 /Joru Ka Ghulam, Hadh Kar Di Aapne, Kunwara/etc…) can make a more stylish DON than SRK?
Maybe Salman,Sanjay Dutt…but Govinda???
Shark:
:)
Jo:
The previous sentences to that were all about wearing a good pair of coolers and wearing his tie inside. Unnecessary style statements for a character of Don’s nature.
For these kind of antics I thought Govinda was better suited. SRK looks suave and sophisticated in leather jeackets and versace suits.
Of course, Sanjay Dutt would have made an excellent Don but not Salman. And in the case of Sanjay Dutt, the characterization would have to be changed around to a more sturdy and strong Don.
I know you HAD to say SRK did well, unless you wanted to be eaten alive by a laarge fish ;)
“The Kareena cameo is not choreographed well enough.” I confess: one of the strongest motivators to watch the movie was the song. I hate Kareena, but lately she is improving and the song did do justice (in my humble opinion) :) (wiping off the saliva)
Ulta, Khaike Paan.. song was a disaster.. the original had more of Amitabh but here somehow the spotlight was on the other girls around (or was it my wrong?)
the hype was pumped up (esp with the slick trailer) but movie fell short of expectations. I totally agree with your rating. Mostly music and SRK charisma is keeping it alive (yet).
will take your word and dare to watch a SRK movie… else it is really tough to sit through his acting in all movies except swades.
Pavan:
Hehehe… Eaten alive, eh?! ;)
Well, Kareena’s costume was well-chosen and yes she has a droolable hour-glass figure. But can’t agree on the choreography. Those small, quick pelvic thrusts with her hands moving as if she was about to have a fit is definitely not how I expected a “seduction” song. “Kaate nahi katati yeh din yeh raat” is a classic. Saroj Khan is the king of seduction songs! Farah Khan has a lot to learn yet on that front.
I have consciously avoided comparing with Amitabh Bachchan on every front. Otherwise, the movie’s review would have been very very different! SRK and AB can never be compared. Can’t fault you for looking at the girls in the background! :P
The trailors..hmm… very right. But yeah only dead people would have missed the stylish promos. Even Louis Phillipe is resorting to using Don as a style icon. How depressing! :(
For me, it was music and the ‘twisted story’ that kept it alive. Because SRK is constrained by the faulty characterization of Don.
Preethi:
Go ahead. But keep your expectations low. All the best! :)
The movie was authentic bullshit from SRK himself.He is more of a loverboy(It suits him) and can no way show resemblances of a don typo.
It was like watching a VijayaKanth/Balalayaa(he was atleast better)movie and parts of the screen play was handsomely inspired from movies like Connair, Matrix,MI-III and obvoiously VK movies.
I really can’t undersdtand how people speak in hindi(tamil is understandable) in KL and the worst of all, the reporters even ask questions in hindi.
The numbers were quite a consolation along with Priyankaa..
SRK sucks bigtime except for his tolerable grace in “Mein hoon Don”
It is a big disppointment from Farah Khan!!
Saravanan:
Agree with you on loverboy roles suiting SRK more.
Inspired by Vijaykanth movies, huh?!! ROTFL! I didn’t think DON was that bad.
Well, that leeway a film-maker can take I guess to get his point across to the tamil audience.
Priyankaa: Agree! (btw, did she add that extra ‘a’ to her name?)
Tolerable grace in “Mein hoon Don”?: Ooops.. missed that one!
Farah Khan: Yes. Over-rated I would say!
The Don 1978 was released in Tamil as Billa with RajiniKanth as hero know! there was also a rumer that the producer of Billa, actor balaji is going to retake the same film (and “Thi”) again with the current trend.
Nice rewiew Friend:)
I have not yet seen the movie, but have happenend to with the “Yeh mera dil” song on TV. You are right!! Kareena does not ooze any sex appeal in that song.. does not look like a seduction song at all…
Jeevan:
That’s useful piece of info. Who will play “Billa”? Never heard of actor balaji
PizzaDude:
Yes! Sex appeal is what is absent out there. And seduction song? My foot!
had just written a blog on the same. gave the same rating but differed on most aspects.
liked kareena , didnt like priyanka, irani or om puri…
pure srk adrenaline ther. and i thot i like dthe tie combo.
didnt like khaike govinda wld have been better here but nobody can ape the big b . he rocked in the original..
no effervescence if u want me to use the word for whats diff in the song comp to the original… to put it simply no bubbly..
Saw your review. Liked it. Though we differed we rated the movie the same.
Big B is Big B. Nobody, means n o b o d y, can ever come up equal to him. They might utmost ape him. But even that will turn out to be a caricature more than any useful stuff!
hey adi!
this is a surprise. how is life? Its good to read your movie reviews again.
Sandeep
Sandeep:
Life is going great! Glad to see you here!
Keep blogging!
long time no post?
Congratulations on your new website. :)
Hey! Congrats on the new site :)
Super Site Friend:)
Hey Adi, congratulations on your new site :-).
But I must tell you, your movie reviews and mine are exactly the opposite. I thought Don was a silly movie, worse than Vijaykant attempt! Stylish doth not make a good movie.
Adi,
Congrats on the new site…. are you using wordpress?
1. Nice touch-n-feel, seeing the static ABOUT page, I think you are using wordpress.
2. Photo is not loading on the home page.
3. Comments are not enabled on the blogspot site.
Shark:
So, here I am! And thanks! :) But no post yet! Plain bored I am. Waiting for some inspiration!
Gini:
Thanks!
Jeevan:
Thanks!
Anu:
Just to make a point, even KANK was not a good movie! ;)
Vijay:
Thanks!
Yeah…wordpress!
Viky:
1. Right!
2. Some problem with that photo loading actually. It happens very slowly at my end too. Don’t know how to set it right.
3. Purposely disabled that. So that you could come here and comment! :)
Hey Adi, Congratulations on getting your own domain. Where are you hosting your blog now?
I hope your new domain brings you luck and fortune (more no of readers!!). :)
Sudhu:
Thanks ! This blog is brought to you by wordpress.com! :)
Two things I wanted to share/ask:
1) I have been bitten by this bug many times before, and do occasionally feel the urge to get a domain for myself (but I wont). I havent been able to convince myself, due to the overheads associated with it (read: I dont think it is worth the $5 or so per month, though it is peanuts). Could you please give your side of the take, so that I get a perspective? What made you shift from google-hosted service to Whizkris’s? Maybe I shall fish for an answer from yours.
2) wordpress allows people to redirect (yourblog).wordpress.com to your domain, so I guess even blogspot should be able to do. That would be cool (and hence would void the ‘please visit mysorean.com post’) :-)
PS: Try the Akismet or anti-spam plugins for WP..
I thought new domain would mean new posts… ??
Adithya,
Ajith(My current fav. Tamil acotr along with Vikram)
is the hero in Billa-2007.Go to http://www.ajithfans.com ;where you can find its trailers.Heroine is Nayanthara.
Ajith can be better than Rajinikanth(Any doubts?) and even that monkey Shah Rukh,though it’s a doubt whether he can be better than Big B.
Don-2006 was good.True;but Shah Rukh did not acta at all,most of the time he seemed expressionless;it was Farhan Akhtar(Director)’s good job.
Ganesh:
Ajith can be better than Rajinikanth? You are hallucinating my friend!
I agree with the Farhan Akhtar part of your comment! True!
Adithya:
Let your friend thrsh me out.I stick to my stand.
I know this Rajini fans’ nature.
In 2005,Vikram’s Anniyan and that Rajini’s Chandramukhi was released.Which was good? Anniyan!(By 1 million light years.).But these Rajinikanth fans masquerading as ‘high-class’ film critics gave -ve reviews(Deliberately.) after they found Anniyan was of ‘top class’ standards and might be bigger hit than that shit C-mukhi.
In 1999,Ajith’s Vaali and that Rajini’s Padayappa
was released.Which was great? Vaali! Padayappa became a bigger hit than Vaali only because it was ‘hyped’ as Rajni’s last film.(So his fans went to see an avge. movie a 100 times to see their fav. hero for the last time on silver screen.)
Ganesh Kumar:
You seem to have strong opinions about these movies you have spoken about and I have exactly opposite views on each of your points!
Also I feel you are going to the extremes imposing your personal options on society’s choices. It is very clear as to who is more successful.
Whatever Rajni has achieved in the last 15 years itself is enough to outdo any star of this generation!
//It was like watching a VijayaKanth/Balalayaa(he was atleast better)movie //
Here’s an orkut joke.Enjoy!:
1.Did u know this that a collection of balaiah(Balakrishna) movies dvds were found from bob woolmer”s room and it is also found that maharadhi was the movie watched by him before his death;may be it would have been the cause 4 his death and bob might have strangled himself after watching maharadhi what do u say??
Another one:
2.Police said bob woolmer death was not natural they found Maharadhi movie dvd in his room and the culprit is inzamam who gave him that dvd.
Another joke.In Mahesh Babu’s Pokiri there’s a dialogue:
evadi kodithe dhimma thirigi mind block authudho vaade paandu.
(Pandu is he whose shot will make a person’s mind blocked!)
Balayya dialogue:
Evadi cinema choosthe dhimma thirigi mind block authudho vaade balayya.
(Balayya film is one whose viewing itself will make a person’s mind blocked!)
Courtesy:Orkut’s ‘We hate balayya’ club.
Oh deva deva deva devudaa!
(Listen to the song here-
http://teluguone.com/cinema/audio/index.jsp?index=P )
Another Balayya joke:
mere cinema ko dekhna mushkil nahi …….
naa munkin bhi!
Adithya:
I’ve come to know from some blog that Don(1978) was remade as Face/Off(1997) in Hollywood!Read its plot here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119094/plotsummary
Sounds quite similar.Isn’t it?
S.Ganesh Kumar:
Yes, quite similar. That’s an interesting observation actually! :)