Don (franchise)

Don
Directed by	Chandra Barot Farhan Akhtar
Written by	Javed Akhtar Salim Khan Farhan Akhtar
Produced by	Nariman Films Excel Entertainment
Starring	Amitabh Bachchan Shahrukh khan<<Vivek Oberoi
Country	India
Languages	Hindi,English,Urdu

Don is an Indian action crime film series. The movies are centered around Don, a fictional mafia lord played by Amitabh BachchanVivek Oberoi and Shahrukh Khan.

Production

Production for Don

Producer and cinematographer Nariman Irani was in a financial mess when his film Zindagi Zindagi (1972) starring Sunil Dutt flopped. He was in debt for Rs1.2 million and couldn't pay it off on a cinematographer's salary. When he was doing the cinematography for Manoj Kumar's major hit Roti Kapada Aur Makaan (1974), the film's cast (Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, Pran) and crew (assistant director Chandra Barot) decided to help him out. They all recommended that he produce another film and that they will participate in the film. They all approached scriptwriting duo Salim-Javed, who gave them an untitled script that had already been rejected by the entire industry. The script had a character named Don. Bachchan would play Don, and Barot would direct the film. Aman and Pran would play key roles in the film. The film took three-and-a-half years to complete. Before filming was completed, producer Irani had an accident on the set of another film he was working on, and died as a result. Barot faced budget restraints but he got help. Aman did not take any money for her work in the film. Barot showed it to his mentor Manoj Kumar, who felt that the film was too tight and needed a song in the midst of the action-filled film, and so "Khaike Paan Banaraswala" was recorded. The film was released without any promotion on 12 May 1978 and was declared a flop the first week. Within a week, the song "Khaike Paan Banaraswala" became a big hit, and word of mouth spread, so by the second week, the film was also declared a big hit. The profits from the film were given to Irani's widow to settle her husband's debts.

Production for Don: The Chase Begins Again

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. 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. Shahrukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra underwent special martial arts training for their roles in the movie and both performed their own stunts.

Production for Don 2

"I am wary of sequels having to be made. You should not touch it if you don't have a nice story to tell. With Don 2 I could finally make an action thriller the way I wanted to. Good story, classic and simple plot which has one goal and work towards it effectively and dramatically"

—Farhan Akhtar

The idea for a sequel to Don had been conceptualised ever since the first film released, and it was officially announced by Farhan Akhtar shortly after the release. However, he was involved with other commitments while Shahrukh Khan needed to recover from a shoulder surgery, so he gave his dates to My Name Is Khan as it required very little physical exertion. In February 2010, Akhtar revealed that the script and locations had been finalised. The film was announced with the original cast reprising their roles, with the exception of Arjun Rampal and Ishaa Koppikar. Lara Dutta and Kunal Kapoor were cast as new characters in the film. In an interview with DNA India, Akhtar revealed that he decided to make the sequel to his 2006 remake of the 70s classic as it "had a lot to offer" and because it gave him a lot of freedom to explore the character of Don, which he was very fascinated with.

It marks Akhtar's return to direction after a gap of nearly five years, the last film he directed being Don. Anand Subaya was chosen as the main editor, while Ritesh Soni was roped in to manage the production of music. The digital intermediate and VFX of Don 2 were done by Pixion Studios while the 3D conversion was carried out at Reliance Mediaworks.

Don 2 had a different team of writers from the first film; it included Akhtar, Ameet Mehta and Amrish Shah. Akhtar stated that "The first film was my father's vision, but Don 2 is being written by fans only. These are yours truly and two new enthusiastic boys, Ameet and Amreesh, who came to me with their ideas on how the story can be carried forward. I've thrown my ideas at them. Don 2 is basically being written by three Don fans who are having a ball carrying the story forward." Khan became the first celebrity to register a tattoo in his name, when the 'D' tattoo ported on his arm in the film was registered for copyright protection.

In August 2011, the filmmakers that they would release it in 3D. The idea of the 3D conversion occurred to Akhtar while shooting and, after conducting conversion tests in Los Angeles, the producers decided to convert the entire film. The director of photography had shot it with special lenses which made it easier to give it a third dimension. Sidhwani revealed that he had the idea of converting the film into 3D after seeing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. Chuck Comisky, a veteran S-3D innovator who supervised the 3D stereo and visual effects of Avatar and Sanctum, was roped in.

Production for Don 3

On a potential sequel, Shahrukh Khan has commented, "It would be great to revisit Don after sometime. I’ve told Farhan that we could take 60 days out of our schedule and make a Don 3. But we need a script first, one that could take the last 10 minutes of Don 2 forward to another differently exciting thriller." Farhan Akhtar also expressed the desire to take the story forward, and said that he was fascinated by the character of Don. However the filmmaker also insisted that he wanted to explore other genres and that he didn't want to get restricted. He added that he is currently focusing on his acting career.

Overview

Don (1978)

Main article: Don (1978 film)

Don was a 1978 Bollywood action film, produced by Nariman Irani and directed by Chandra Barot, with music by Kalyanji Anandji and lyrics by Anjaan. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, Pran, Iftekhar, Helen and Om Shivpuri, Satyen Kappu and Pinchoo Kapoor. It became a box office success. It has gained cult film status in India.

Don (Amitabh Bachchan) is the leader of an underworld gang until Police Officer D'Silva (Iftekhar) tracks him down and in an attempt to catch him ends up killing him. But Don's death is only known to D'Silva. So Officer D'Silva tracks down a lookalike of Don named Vijay (also Amitabh Bachchan). Vijay impersonates Don to take down the rest of Don's gang while the DSP promises him that he will give a proper education to his wards who are actually the children of Jasjit (Pran).

Meanwhile, Jasjit comes out of prison after serving his jail term, only to find Officer D'Silva having a red diary that would show Vijay's true identity. Officer D'Silva is killed by Malik who is introduced as the Interpol officer, but is in fact the real king of the underworld. It's now a race to retrieve the diary in which the DSP has documented the substitution of the real Don with the innocent Vijay. One famous dialogue of movie is "Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin namumkin hai" (it is not just difficult to catch Don, it is impossible).

Don: The Chase Begins Again (2006)

Main article: Don (2006 Hindi film)

Directed and written by the son of Javed Akhtar (who wrote the first film), Farhan Akhtar, the film saw (Shahrukh Khan) in the role of Don. Most of the elements of this film were similar such as dialogues and the plot, but a more modern re-design was given to the film. Some things such as character details and screenplay were changed. Most of the songs were remade including with the addition of some newer songs. The film was produced under Akhtar's banner, Excel Entertainment along with the co-founder, Ritesh Sidhwani.

Don 3

Farhan Akhtar has expressed interest in making a third film. However, he stated that he needed "a break from action films."

Characters

Don

Main article: Don (character)

The titular protagonist of the series. He is a powerful crime boss, who in spite of being one of the most wanted on the list of Interpol, remains elusive to the police. Though not evil, he is still hated because of his activities. Along with the police, Don makes a few other enemies through his merciless approach to running his organization, especially when he kills one of his own men, Ramesh, when Ramesh decides to leave the business. This introduces Don to two new enemies, Kamini, Ramesh’s fiancee, and Roma, Ramesh’s sister. Meanwhile, after a couple of unsuccessful attempts at nabbing Don, the police finally succeed, but Don dies during the pursuit, botching Officer D’Silva’s plan to reach the source of all crime—the man Don reported to—through capturing Don alive. D’Silva buries Don’s body, ensuring that people believe that he may still be alive.

Vijay

As luck would have it, D’Silva remembers his chance encounter with Vijay, a simpleton trying to survive in the hustle and bustle of Bombay in order to support two small foster children, who is an exact lookalike of Don. D’Silva hatches a plan to transform Vijay into Don and place him back into the crime nexus, but this time as a police informer.

D'Silva

The local DSP who was assigned the duty of capturing Don. He does succeed in capturing Don, but the latter accidentally dies in the process. However, only D'Silva knows of Don's death. So he secretly hires a look-alike of Don, named Vijay and advices him to disguise as the Don and give the police info all about Don's gang (D'Silva is the only one who knows that Vijay is Don). Vijay succeeds, but D'Silva is killed and that leaves Vijay on his own to prove his innocence. D'Silva reveals himself to be Vardhann in 2006 film.

Roma

A simple girl from town, she literally hates Don because he killed her brother Ramesh and her sister-in-law Kamini. Roma, in order to get revenge, trains up herself and joins Don's gang (with a secret desire to kill him). Unaware that the real Don is dead, she fights Vijay who is then masquerading as Don. But when she gets to know the truth, she befriends him. However in Don: The Chase Begins Again, she comes to know that Don is still alive and continues to hate him. Her pursuit for Don continues in its sequel where she joins the Interpol.

Anita

An ally of Don, she however doesn't have much to do with the story. She, like the rest of Don's gang, is unaware that Vijay is acting as their leader who is dead. But she does overhear Vijay's phone conversation with D'Silva, thus she finds out the truth. Vijay however quickly manages to trap her, thus saving himself (None of this happens in Don: The Chase Begins Again). In Don 2, a similar character named Ayesha replaces Anita.

Vardhan

The real underworld criminal higher than Don, they are not friends however. Vardhan hides himself as a local interpol officer Malik, and his identity is not known to anyone except his gang members who pretend to be against him. Eventually D'Silva finds out that Malik is actually Vardhan, but is killed before the news can reach anyone. Vardhan, who knows that Vijay is not Don, reveals himself to Vijay, who eventually manages to defeat Vardhan and get him arrested. In Don: The Chase Begins Again, it is D'Silva who eventually is revealed to be Vardhan, with Malik becoming an ally of Vijay.

Malik

The Interpol officer and assistant of DSP D'Silva. He however betrays D'Silva by killing him, but not before revealing himself as Vardhan. He however is not Vardhan in Don: The Chase Begins Again, where he becomes an ally of Vijay. He returns in Don 2, where he gives Roma the duty of capturing Don.

Singhania

Even though he never appears in any of the films, he is mentioned as Don's boss and is in fact the real underworld criminal, only second to Vardhan. He briefly appears in Don: The Chase Begins Again and Don 2, in the former he is killed by Vardhan (disguised as D'Silva) without anyone's notice.

DON 3 International Mafia King, [[ Amithabh Bachchan will be seen as old don reprise his character as Vijay, whereas shahrukh khan new don will fight with him for the king place. vivek oberaoi will be seen as differently. Kareena Kapoor Khan may replace priyanka chopra as roma deepika padukone is also in talk. Earlier Katrina kaif was approached but she rejected due to dates problem.

Release and revenue

Film	Release date	Budget	Box office revenue
			India (net)	Outside India	Worldwide (gross)
Don (1978 film)	20 April 1978	INR 8.5 million (US$154,700)			₹330 million (US$4.0 million)
Don (2006 Hindi film)	20 October 2006	₹350 million (US$4.2 million)	₹510 million (US$6.1 million)	$7.57 million	₹1.05 billion (US$13 million)
Don 2	23 December 2011	₹1.25 billion (US$15 million)	₹1.15 billion (US$14 million)	$14.57 million	₹2.45 billion (US$29 million)
Don 3	late in 2014

Reception

The original Don was a blockbuster. It won a few awards.

• Amitabh Bachchan won a Filmfare Award for Best Actor.
• Asha Bhosle won a Filmfare Award, for the song "Yeh Mera Dil".
• Kishore Kumar won a Filmfare Award, for the song "Khaike Paan Banaraswala."

Mumbai Mirror's Mayank Shekhar gave the remake a rating of 3 out of 5. He did criticise the treatment of certain scenes in comparison to the original, though.

The remake of the film in 2006 was titled the same Don, was also a blockbuster. The sequel to the 2006 film was released in 2011 as Don 2 and it was also a blockbuster.

See also

• Billa (film series), based on the Don series in Tamil cinema
• Yugandhar, the 1979 Telugu film, which was a remake of Don.