Don (2006 Hindi film)
| Don | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Farhan Akhtar |
| Produced by | Ritesh Sidhwani Farhan Akhtar |
| Screenplay by | Farhan Akhtar Javed Akhtar |
| Story by | Farhan Akhtar Javed Akhtar Salim Khan |
| Starring | Shahrukh Khan Priyanka Chopra Arjun Rampal Isha Koppikar Boman Irani |
| Music by | Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy Midival Punditz DJ Randolf |
| Cinematography | Mohanan |
| Editing by | Neil Sadwelkar Anand Subaya |
| Studio | Excel Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Eros International |
| Release date(s) | 20 October 2006 |
| Running time | 169 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Budget |  35 crore (US$6.4 million)[1] |
| Box office | 120 crore (US$22 million)[2] |
Don (also known as Don: The Chase Begins Again) is a 2006 Bollywood action crime film directed by Farhan Akhtar, and produced by Ritesh Sidhwani under Excel Entertainment. This is the second installment in the Don (film series). The film stars Shahrukh Khan in double role, opposite Priyanka Chopra in lead roles; whilst Arjun Rampal, Boman Irani, Ishaa 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 who is recruited by a police officer to masquerade as Don, the leader of an international gang of smugglers.
The film hit theaters worldwide on 20 October 2006, and screened at the Berlin Film Festival.[3] Upon release, the film received mixed to negative critical response, however it grossed over 1.04 billions worldwide, and managed to succeed at the box office, being declared a Hit in India and a Blockbuster in Overseas Markets by Box Office India.[2] It spawned a sequel in 2011, Don 2 which was an even bigger success than the original.
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Plot [edit]
In 2006, the drug trade is booming. The Malaysian Intelligence and Anti-Narcotic Department are called upon for assistance by their Indian counterparts. The Indian team is headed by DCP D'Silva (Boman Irani), who wants to break the drug operations of a drug lord named Singhania. Helping him along the way is Malik (Om Puri). Both of them know that in order to capture Singhania, they must capture his most loyal ally Don (Shahrukh Khan). Don is extremely dangerous - he has even been known to kill one of his own men Ramesh, who attempted to leave Don and his gang without informing Don first. Ramesh's fiance Kamini (Kareena Kapoor) decides to help D'Silva arrest Don but in the process, she is also killed by Don. Now, Ramesh's sister Roma (Priyanka Chopra) manages to get her way into Don's gang by persuading them that she is wanted by the police - her real plan is to murder Don in order to avenge her brother and his fiance.
Don and his gang, consisting of Anita (Eesha Koppikhar) his girlfriend and Narang (Pawan Malhotra) travel to India to trade some drugs. D'Silva and his team follow them there - Don is injured fatally during a police chase. D'Silva keeps this a secret - he decides to track down a look alike of Don named Vijay (also Shahrukh Khan) and asks him to pose as Don so that he (D'Silva) can get the gang arrested. Vijay agrees when D'Silva promises to admit Deepu (Tanay Chheda), a child Vijay looks after, to a good school. Meanwhile, Jasjit (Arjun Rampal), Deepu's real father has just been released from prison and becomes bent on killing D'Silva. This is because Jasjit was committing a crime in order to save Deepu and his wife from a gang of criminals and D'Silva had Jasjit arrested, thereby preventing Jasjit from saving his wife from death.
Vijay is admitted to the same hospital as Don, who is in a coma. Vijay, through an operation, soon gets all the scars which Don has, put on his body. Suddenly, Don dies of heart failure. When Vijay (as Don) re-enters the gang, he will have lost his memory - the more he learns about Don, the more he shall remember. The gang have a disc which contains some of their most vital information. Vijay agrees to take this disc to D'Silva - Roma decides to go with him. When they arrive, Roma attempts to kill Vijay (thinking he is Don). However, D'Silva arrives and tells Roma about his and Vijay's plan. Roma and Vijay now find themselves falling in love. D'Silva soon finds Singhania and kills him. In a police raid, Vijay and the gang members are all arrested by Malik and his team. D'Silva is killed in a blast - this is unfortunate for Vijay because D'Silva is the only person who could prove that Vijay is not the real Don. Vijay escapes and tries to pursue the disc he gave to D'Silva in order to prove his innocence.
Jasjit still continues to try and find his son, Deepu. It is revealed he is in possession of the disc - he receives a telephone call saying that if he wants to see his son again, he will have to bring the disc to the men who have Deepu hostage. At this meeting, it is revealed that D'Silva has been alive all along and is actually Vardhan, the longtime rival of Singhania. Jasjit manages to escape with his son. He meets Vijay and Roma and reveals that D'Silva is really Vardhan - the three hatch a plot to help Malik arrest Vardhan. The next day, Jasjit arranges a meeting with Vardhan, saying he will hand over the disc. Vardhan and Vijay engage in a fight until Vardhan is defeated and arrested. Vijay gets badly injured during the fight, and is rushed to hospital - before he leaves, Roma confesses her love for him. In a final twist, it is revealed that the real Don is alive and was pretending to be Vijay the whole time. In the hospital, Don quickly recovered from the coma and overheard D'Silva's conversation with Vijay. He switched places with Vijay, meaning Vijay died of heart failure. It is also revealed that the disc Don gave to the police was fake. In the end, Don and Anita both escape, knowing the police nor Roma will ever capture Don.
Cast [edit]
- Shahrukh Khan as Don / Vijay
- Priyanka Chopra as Roma
- Boman Irani as DCP D'Silva / Vardhaan
- Arjun Rampal as Jasjeet
- Ishaa Koppikar as Anita
- Om Puri as Inspector Malik
- Pawan Malhotra as Narang
- Rajesh Khattar as Singhania
- Tanay Chheda as Deepu
- Satyajit Sharma as Mystery Man
Special Appearances:
- Chunkey Pandey as Teja aka TJ
- Sushma Reddy as Geeta
- Kareena Kapoor as Kamini
- Diwakar Pundir as Ramesh
Production [edit]
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 and hence he was first approached and the first actor to be signed as the lead.[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] Shahrukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra underwent special martial arts training for their roles in the movie and both performed their own stunts.[6]
Soundtrack [edit]
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.
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Main Hoon Don" | Shaan | 5:30 | |
| 2. | "Yeh Mera Dil" | Sunidhi Chauhan | 4:39 | |
| 3. | "Mourya Re" | Shankar Mahadevan | 5:52 | |
| 4. | "Khaike Paan Banaraswala" | Udit Narayan, Shahrukh Khan | 5:24 | |
| 5. | "Aaj Ki Raat" | Alisha Chinoy, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Sonu Nigam | 6:08 | |
| 6. | "Don - The Theme" | Shahrukh Khan | 4:07 | |
| 7. | "Don Revisted" | MIDIval Punditz | 4:46 | |
| 8. | "Main Hoon Don" (Funcinternational Mix) | DJ Randolph | 5:13 | |
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Total length:
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38:12 | |||
Release [edit]
Box office [edit]
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 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 worldwide.[10]
Critical reception [edit]
Reviews for Don were generally mixed. 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, and questioning 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.[13] Bollywood Hungama's Taran Adarsh gave it 3 out of 5.[14] Variety stated that the film "could have been much better."[15]
Awards [edit]
The film was nominated for the following awards:
| Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 Filmfare Awards | Best Film | Don: The Chase Begins Again | Nominated |
| Best Actor | Shahrukh Khan | ||
| Best Music | Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy | ||
| 2007 International Indian Film Academy Awards | Best Actor | Shahrukh Khan | |
| 2007 Asian Film Awards | Best Actor | Shahrukh Khan |
- 2007 Filmfare Awards
- Best Actor - Shahrukh Khan
Sequel [edit]
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 and Kunal Kapoor as new characters which was a greater success than its prequel.[16]
References [edit]
- ^ "Don - The Chase Begin Again". Retrieved 26 December 2010.
- ^ a b "Boxofficeindia.com". Boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
- ^ IndiaFM News Bureau (22 December 2006). "Don flies to Berlin Film Festival".
- ^ "'King of Don 2 is SRK'". Sify.com. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
- ^ "Akshay turns down the remake of ‘Don’ : Bollywood News". ApunKaChoice.Com. 7 June 2005. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
- ^ "Priyanka training in martial arts | Bollywood News | Hindi Movies News | News". BollywoodHungama.com. 2 November 2006. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
- ^ "Don music launch amongst 30000 people". Bollywoodhungama.com. 23 August 2006. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
- ^ "Box Office 2006". Boxofficeindia.com accessdate= 2011-08-24.
- ^ "Top Lifetime Grossers OVERSEAS". Boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 2011-09-21.
- ^ "Top Lifetime Grossers Worldwide". Boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
- ^ Shekhar, Mayank (21 October 2006). "Cuts to the chase". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
- ^ Kazmi, Nikhat (21 October 2006). "Don". The Times of India. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
- ^ Mohamed, Khalid (20 October 2006). "Don? Don’t". Daily News and Analysis. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
- ^ Adarsh, Taran (20 October 2006). "Don - The Chase Begins Again : Movie Review". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
- ^ Elley, Derek (3 January 2007). "Don". Variety.
- ^ "All Time 100 cr Grossers Of Bollywood". Boxofficecapsule.com. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
External links [edit]
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- Hindi-language films
- 2006 films
- 2000s action films
- Indian film remakes
- Films set in Paris
- Indian films
- Action thriller films
- Mafia films
- 2000s crime drama films
- 2000s crime thriller films
- Gangster films
- 2000s mystery films
- Films set in France
- Films set in India
- Films set in Malaysia
- Films set in Mumbai
- Films about organized crime in India
