What do call a guy who has the guts and the gumption to take on to remake of one of the most entertaining flicks in the history of bollywood??
A maverik?? Well Farhan Akhtar seems to be that and more!!!!
First things first. This has been always touted and proclaimed to be a remake.But if you really want to have a good time ’please leave the excess baggage of the original at home’.Once you have done that the effort is quite enjoyable.
The modern day script is based in Malaysia (fantastically shot) and Shah Rukh is reigning Don.How he takes on his rivals and the police together forms the crux of the movie.I am not detaling the finer nuances for the risk of sounding repetative.Also for anyone who has not been exposed to the original it would be robbing him of enjoying one of the most imaginative scripts(by the super hit duo Salim-Javed).
Where Farhan succeeds is (and brilliantly) is to mount an entertaining and stylish caper remaing loyal to the original (at times too much). Like he should have resisted the temptation of using almost all the dialogues and situations.That is something which might work against him from the audiences who have a hangover of the original made superbly by Chandra Barot.
Having said that Farhan mounts one of most stylish movies of recent times.It has a lot of panache and chutzpah.Watch out for the car chase in the beginning and exploiting a host picture postcard Malaysian locations.
Shah Rukh too looks very sauve and fetching.Worth mentioning are the sequences in the Don’s lair.As a too innocent and bimpkin like Vijay he fails to evoke any sympathy and here the script could have been alterd to suit the modern times.
Full marks to Aki Narula for having designed some of the most innovative dresses. What stand out are Shah Rukh’s designer coloured and patterned shirts in the song ’ye mera dil’.
Cast wise except for Shah Rukh all the oters have little to do.Shah Rukh rocks.His style comes to the fore when he plays the vily and evil Don.Only he could have taken on this monumental task to match the towering persona that Amitabh created in the late 70s. Bomman as DCP and Vardhan is passable. And pray tell me Farhan, why have you dished such an unbaked role for Om Puri?? He is throughly wasted and made to look a fool. An actor of his calibre deserved better , much better.Everybody else from Arjun Rampal to Kareena to Priyanka flit in and out of the frames so fast that they almost dont seem to matter.And someone please teach Isha Koppikar how to act!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Before closing it should be mentioned that the song ’moraya moraya’ has been wonderfully choreographed.
i had gone to see this movie with my 13 year son who was not exposed to the original and he has not stpped raving about it to his friends ever since.That is the impact it can have on a first timer. Need I say any more???????