I cant deny the fact that in this case no matter how apprehensive I was
about watching this movie the hype surrounding this movie was too much
and I knew I had to watch this movie within the first week of its
release.
This movie is a remake of a legendary movie AND BESIDES THE
NORMAL PROBLEMS WITH REMAKES THIS MOVIE HAD ONE FUNDAMENTAL FLAW.....
In 1978 when the original DON was made Amitabh Bachan was paid 2.5
lakhs and Pran was paid 5 lakhs. When Amitabh came on screen it wasn’t
Amitabh Bachan but Don on screen (albiet with his distinct style).
No one can deny the fact that when SHARUKH KHAN COMES ON SCREEN THERE
IS ONLY ONE MAN HE IS PLAYING ........HIMSELF.
In this case the actor is bigger than the character a flaw that is so dangerous that THE
MAKERS OF JAMES BOND HAVE REPLACED 2 BONDS FOR THIS VERY REASON.
But......
Surprisingly Sharukh overcame this flaw by bringing a fresh breath of
energy to the character and even though Don was pretty much Sharukh
Khan there were no complaints on this department. He acted brilliantly
and his presence lit up the screen. 2 marks out the six go to him.
(Let
me also tell you that I don’t like Sharukh and rarely watch any of his
movies because of this I haven’t even watched KKHH).
IM GONNA BE DIFFERENT AND TRY TO TREAT THIS MOVIE AS A FRESH MOVIE
WHICH IS WHAT THE Filmmakers WANT, ALTHOUGH ITS F$%%ING STUPID BECAUSE
WHY WOULD YOU WANT MAKE MOVIE WITH THE SAME NAME CALL IT A REMAKE AND
THEN ASK THE PEOPLE TO TREAT IT LIKE A FRESH MOVIE.
Still the original Don was a long time ago and Ill forget the
goosebumps when I saw my favourite star be the Bad Guy.
The movies plot is half baked, the script is terribly written and badly
edited.
Every plot, subplot and character passes you by in a hurry and still
this movie is 3 hrs long. Except Sharukh Khan not a single character is
developed properly despite the THE FACT THAT THE NEW SCRIPT HAD
TREMENDOUS POTETENTIAL.
FOR GET THE ORIGINAL THE SONGS CANNOT EVEN MEASURE TO THE LACKLUSTRE
SOUNDTRACK OF JAAN-E-MAN. Trust me they were better of using remixes of
the original songs. The only decent track is don revisited by the
Medieval Punditz that has been very well used in the background score.
Technically this movie is Top Class which justifies the huge budget of
the movie. The computer graphics, the background score camera-work etc
are in different league and I would like to go on limb and say one of
the best I have ever seen.
BUT who cares its comparable to any ordinary Hollywood movie and not
the reason I went to the theater.
The movie failed to capture my imagination, besides sharukh and maybe
Boman to a certain extent no one could capture my imagination. If I
wanted to see a globalised Foreign Don I would have re-watched
Godfather.
On a positive note this movie got it right as far as product placement
and promotional tie-ups are concerned subtly displaying the Compaq
Laptops, Tag Heur and Malaysias beauty without mentioning it in the
dialogues (think Krishh).
The script, songs, plot characters, actors (priyanka was pathetic and
couldn’t hold a candle to the original and neither could do justice to
the present role, she looked completely out of place) etc give the
movie only 2 points.
I’ve ALWAYS FELT IF YOU MAKE A REMAKE IT SHOULD ONLY BE BECAUSE YOU
WANT YOU WANT TO POTRAY YOUR MODERN INTERPRETATION (WITH CHANGES) OF
THE ORIGINAL OR THERE ARE SOME MODERN INSTRUMENTS THAT WILL HELP YOU
TELL THE ORIGINAL STORY BETTER.
Now stunts were never really the forte of Don, the main points were Don
himself (Amitabh) and the interesting plot.
We all know shahrukh can never do justice to the original which leaves
the INTERPRETATION AND TRUST ME FARHAN AKHTARS COMPLETELY HALF BAKED
BADLY WRITTEN SCRIPT AND PLOT WHICH HAS A DOZEN PLOT HOLES HAS DONE
JUSTICE TO THE REMAKE.
Without mentioning details I promise you that he has justified his
reason for making this remake.
For this very reason he gets another 2 points.
Which brings us to the question...
If A Restaurant had and extensive menu but only 2 Great Items Would you
call it Great?
The answer is no.
But if a person really wanted to go there, would you tell him to still
go and try the all the items just so that they can also try these 2
items.
Yes.
Sharukh Khan (i still don’t like him), FARHANS Inspired MODERN
INTERPRETION AND CHANGE AND THE HYPE make this movie worth it.
The hype is too great, and this movie is just not bad enough for me to
tell people not to watch this movie.
-s Sharukh Khan as Globalised Don, half baked plot and
script, bad supporting cast.(don’t include the super talented Om(who
was wasted) and Boman), Bad songs, long despite the hurried plot.
+/-s Sharukh Khan as don, uninspiring villain, promotional tie ups not
distracting.
+s Sharukh Khan as don, A FEW ELEMENTS (mentioning them would reduce the impact) ABOUT THE MOVIE, superb technically.
total 6/10 (factoring in lowered expectations but not counting the fact
that it is a remake)