Don: Where’s the Attitude?

Went to watch Don a few days ago with some friends and one of them requested me not to write a review after the movie came to an end. I resisted the urge but the writing bug got the better of me and here I am writing about Don.

I tried my best to leave the comparisons with the original Don aside and I felt that the movie was…umm…well…not bad. Let’s look at the good and the bad points of the movie…

Good…
- As is typical of a Farhan Akhtar movie, this one too is quite sleek and stylish with some brilliant locales.
- The plot was good and the two twists in the movie (even though I predicted both) were quite good and must have taken many viewers by surprise.
- The camerawork was excellent through most of the movie.

Bad…
- The first half is quite slow and jumpy as it cuts from one scene to another without any continuity.
- The effort at developing the characters is quite sloppy. How is a software guy so adept at rappelling down high-rises?
- Why the hell are car chases shot in slow motion? They need to watch The French Connection or Ronin or The Bourne Identity to get a better idea of what you mean by a car chase.

Now let’s talk about the protagonist, the Don, played by SRK. This is probably the worst casting error Farhan Akhtar might ever commit in his film career. A Don is supposed to ooze an I-don’t-give-a-damn attitude. And Farhan got is completely wrong here. He tried to portray the Don as an angry man rather than a cool guy with a imposing personality that blew away people with his attitude.

What we get is a SRK at his hamming best, gritting his teeth, straining the veins in his neck and giving a sly smile when delivering the most popular dialog – Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahi, naamumkin hai. On the other hand, the Big B delivered this dialog in a cool, relaxed manner with a gaze that would burn a hole through you. No silly smirks, no gritting of teeth, no straining of veins. SRK looks more like a playboy, a Casanova and tethers dangerously on the edge of appearing gay!

As for the rest of the cast, Boman Irani does a good job. Kareena Kapoor, Isha Koppikar and Priyanka Chopra are simply present as eye-candy. Arjun Rampal as Jasjit is a character that is completely wasted.

This movie will have two types of audience – those who have seen the original Don and those who have not seen it. Accordingly, the reactions are likely to be split. The first group will not be able to stop comparing and will in all likelihood not enjoy it as much as the second group.

I am from the first group and I will probably give this new avatar of Don a B minus.