Don (2006 Hindi film)

Don

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Farhan Akhtar
Produced by Ritesh Sidhwani
Farhan Akhtar
Screenplay by Farhan Akhtar
Javed Akhtar
Based on Don (1978)
by Salim-Javed
Starring Shah Rukh Khan
Priyanka Chopra
Arjun Rampal
Isha Koppikar
Boman Irani
Music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Midival Punditz
DJ Randolf
Cinematography Mohanan
Edited by Neil Sadwelkar
Anand Subaya
Production
company
Distributed by Eros International
Release dates
  • 20 October 2006 (2006-10-20)
Running time
 169 minutes
Country India
Language Hindi
Budget ₹350 million (US$5.2 million)[1]
Box office ₹1.05 billion (US$16 million)[2]

Don (also known as Don: The Chase Begins ) is a 2006 Indian action thriller film directed by Farhan Akhtar, and produced by Ritesh Sidhwani under Excel Entertainment. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan in a double role, opposite Priyanka Chopra, while Arjun Rampal, Boman Irani, Isha Koppikar and Om Puri appear in supporting roles. It is a remake of the 1978 film of the same name, and follows a simple man from the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) in western India who is secretly recruited by a police officer to masquerade as "Don," the ruthless leader of an international chain of drug smugglers. Don was 2006's biggest hit after Aamirs Fanaa

The film hit theaters worldwide on 20 October 2006, and screened at the Berlin Film Festival.[3] Upon release, the film received positive critical response.[2] It spawned a sequel in 2011, Don 2, with Akhtar, Khan, Chopra, Irani and Puri reprising their roles.

Plot

The illegal drug trade based in Kuala Lumpur is booming.An Indian team is sent to Kuala Lumpur which is headed by Deputy Commissioner of Police De Silva (Boman Irani), who targets the illegal drug operations of Singhania (Rajesh Khattar). In order to put an end to the illegal drug trade, they must capture "Don" (Shah Rukh Khan) who manages Singhania's business in Kuala Lumpur. Singhania was one of the two closest and most trusted men of Boris, a kingpin who was presumed to be dead by the police. Boris's other lieutenant was a man called Vardhan, but his whereabouts are unknown. De Silva explains that Singhania had killed Vardhan upon learning that Boris was about to hand over his drug business to Vardhan.

Don kills Ramesh (Diwakar Pundir), one of his close associates, who had attempted to leave the cartel. Ramesh's future wife Kamini (Kareena Kapoor) decides to help the police arrest Don but in the process she is also killed. Now, Ramesh's sister Roma (Priyanka Chopra) plans to avenge her brother and his fiancé. She manages to infiltrate Don's gang.

Don travel to India for a cocaine transaction. An Indian police team led by De Silva follow them there and capture Don, who is fatally injured while trying to flee from the police. De Silva keeps this a secret from the department and media as he decides to track down an exact look-alike of Don named Vijay (Shah Rukh Khan) from Mumbai, asking Vijay to pose as Don so the police can get to Singhania. Vijay agrees when De Silva promises to admit Deepu (Tanay Chheda), a kid Vijay looks after, to a school in Kuala Lumpur.

Meanwhile, Jasjit (Arjun Rampal), Deepu's father, has just been released from prison. Jasjit is hellbent on killing DCP De Silva. Jasjit's vendetta against De Silva began many years ago, when Jasjit, committing a crime in order to save his family from a gang of criminals, was arrested on the orders of De Silva, thereby preventing Jasjit from saving his wife from death. Jasjit does not know what happened to his son after Jasjit went to prison. It is implied that the criminals responsible for the death of Jasjit's wife were none other than De Silva's own men.

Vijay is admitted to the same hospital as Don by De Silva. Vijay soon gets all the scars and marks which Don has on his body. Suddenly, Don dies of heart failure and the masquerade becomes inevitable. When Vijay as Don re-enters the gang in Kuala Lumpur, he claims to have lost his memory, and the more he learns about Don, the more he claims to remember. Don has a disc containing some of the cartel's vital information about deals and contacts. As part of the plan, Vijay agrees to find and bring this disc to D'Silva. When Vijay finds the disc, Roma (who is now a close associate of Don) decides to accompany him. When they arrive, Roma attempts to kill Vijay (assuming he is Don). However, DCP De Silva intervenes and tells Roma about his secret plan to reach to Singhania. Roma decides to help the police to capture Singhania and joins the two in their plan. Vijay hands over the disc to DCP De Silva.

Singhania comes to Kuala Lumpur for a meeting with his clients. There DCP De Silva murders him by adding poison to his drinks, and then stabbing him. Suddenly, the Malaysian police and Interpol arrive at the hotel. Vijay and the core gang members are all arrested by Interpol. De Silva is apparently killed in shoot-out. This is unfortunate for Vijay because De Silva was the only person who could prove that Vijay is not the real Don. Vijay also tries to use the help of Dr. Ashok Gilwani, the doctor who operated on him to get all of Don's scars and marks that Don had on his body, but is shocked to hear that even he is dead after a car accident one month earlier. Now Don's inner circle turns against Vijay, having discovered his true identity. Vijay escapes from police custody and tries to recover the disc he gave to De Silva in order to prove his innocence.

Jasjit secretly enters DCP De Silva's apartment in Kuala Lumpur and waits for De Silva with a gun, not knowing of his death. There Jasjit finds the disc Vijay gave to the DCP and is shocked by its contents. He soon receives a phone-call saying that if he wants to see his son again, he will have to bring the disc to the men who have Deepu, his son, hostage. At this meeting, it is revealed that DeSilva was alive all along and is actually Vardhan, Boris' other lieutenant. In other words, Vardhan, posing as De Silva, used Vijay to get closer to Singhania and eliminate his competitor. Jasjit somehow manages to escape with his son from the smugglers.

Jasjit meets Vijay [now at large] and Roma and reveals that De Silva is really Vardhan. With this knowledge the three hatch a plot to help Interpol arrest Vardhan. The next day, Jasjit arranges a meeting with Vardhan in Langkawi, saying he will hand over the disc. The trio inform the Malaysian police and Interpol of the meeting and get Vardhan arrested. Vijay is fighting a final hand-to-hand combat with Vardhan. He prepares to kill him, but stops at Mr. Malik's pleads and is rushed to hospital. Vardhan is arrested. Vijay is acquitted. Before Vijay leaves, Roma confesses her love for him.

In a final twist, it is revealed that Don was alive all this time, and was pretending to be Vijay the whole time. While in the hospital, Don recovered quickly from his injuries, overhearing Vardhan's conversation with Vijay. After Vijay's operation, Don got up from the room where Vardhan and Ashok were absent and went to the room where Vijay lay. He switched places with Vijay, taking Vijay off life support and causing him to die of heart failure. It is also revealed that the disc Don gave to the police was fake. Now with both Vardhan and Singhania removed from his path, Don becomes the master of the entire Asian drug dealing ring.

Cast

Drug lord Singhania's right-hand and an infamous drug dealer who is obsessed with taking over the world where Vijay is Don's lookalike.
A young woman who seeks revenge on Don for killing her brother Ramesh and his fiancee Kamini.
A man who was forced to steal diamonds but failed as he is now an ally to Don.
A policeman who is also known as an ex criminal named Vardhaan.
Don's ally and girlfriend.
The commissioner of the DCP Unit connected with Interpol.
Drug lord Singhania's right-hand man but was sent to a Malaysian prison.
Don and Narang's boss who was killed by Vardhaan.
Jasjeet and Geeta Ahuja's son who is now raised by Vijay.
An unknown man who trapped Jasjeet in a casket if he would steal things for him.

Special appearances:

Production

Eighty percent of the film was shot in Malaysia, and was filmed around the tropical Langkawi island as well as the Petronas Twin Towers and the Jalan Masjid India area, which is the "little India" of Kuala Lumpur. Shahrukh Khan was the first choice for the film.[4] Akshay Kumar was offered the role of Jasjit but he rejected it saying he might have accepted if he had been offered the part of Don.[5] Priyanka Chopra and Shahrukh Khan underwent special martial arts training for their roles in the movie and both performed their own stunts.[6]

Soundtrack

Main article: Don (soundtrack)

The music was released on 26 August 2006 by T-Series, at the Inorbit Mall, Malad, Mumbai. Over 30000 people attended the function.[7] The film has seven songs composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Two of the original songs, "Khaike Paan Banaraswala" and "Yeh Mera Dil" were remade for the movie. The song "Aaj Ki Raat" was used in the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire and is included in the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack.

Release

Box office

Don: The Chase Begins Again was released worldwide on 20 October 2006. It became the fifth highest-grossing film of 2006 in India, with revenues of ₹510 million (US$7.6 million) domestically. Box Office India declared it a hit.[8] It also grossed $7 million in overseas territories and was declared a blockbuster.[9] The film grossed a total of ₹1.04 billion (US$15 million) worldwide.[10]

Critical reception

Don generally received positive reviews. Mumbai Mirror's Mayank Shekhar gave it a rating of 4 out of 5, criticizing the treatment of certain scenes in comparison to the original. He questioned the need for the remake, saying, "As adequate and astounding an echo it may be, Akhtar's film can at best hope to share its space, a rack or two lower in history, to an original voice. Let this be an ample aberration, and not a norm. We usually pay to watch films we haven't seen."[11] Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India did not like a few casting choices.[12] Khalid Mohammed of the Daily News and Analysis rated it 2 on a scale of 5, criticising the plot and saying that the " prime justification" for the film's existence was Khan, who was "a thousand notches above the material".[13] Variety stated that the film "could have been much better."[14]

Award nominations

2007 Filmfare Awards
Nominated
2007 International Indian Film Academy Awards
Nominated
2007 Asian Film Awards
Nominated

Sequel

A sequel to the film, titled Don 2 was released on 23 December 2011. Shahrukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra reprised their roles as Don and Roma in the sequel. It also features Boman Irani and Om Puri from the original, with Lara Dutta Bhupathi and Kunal Kapoor as new characters.

Character map of remakes

Title (Language) Director Don Roma DSP
Billa (Tamil) Vishnuvardhan Ajith Kumar Nayantara Prabhu
Billa (Telugu) Meher Ramesh Prabhas Anushka Shetty Krishnam Raju

References

  1. ↑ "Don - The Chase Begin Again". Retrieved 26 December 2010.
  2. 1 2 "Boxofficeindia.com". Boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
  3. ↑ IndiaFM News Bureau (22 December 2006). "Don flies to Berlin Film Festival".
  4. ↑ "'King of Don 2 is SRK'". Sify.com. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
  5. ↑ "Akshay turns down the remake of 'Don' : Bollywood News". ApunKaChoice.Com. 7 June 2005. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  6. ↑ "Priyanka training in martial arts | Bollywood News | Hindi Movies News | News". BollywoodHungama.com. 2 November 2006. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
  7. ↑ "Don music launch amongst 30000 people". Bollywoodhungama.com. 23 August 2006. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
  8. ↑ "Box Office 2006". Boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 2011-08-24.
  9. ↑ "Top Lifetime Grossers OVERSEAS". Boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  10. ↑ "Top Lifetime Grossers Worldwide". Boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
  11. ↑ Shekhar, Mayank (21 October 2006). "Cuts to the chase". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  12. ↑ Kazmi, Nikhat (21 October 2006). "Don". The Times of India. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  13. ↑ Mohamed, Khalid (20 October 2006). "Don? Don't". Daily News and Analysis. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  14. ↑ Elley, Derek (3 January 2007). "Don". Variety.
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