[rating:3.5]
Aarey Deewano,
Ab Tho Pehchano,
Kaha Se Aaya,
Main Hoon Kaun.
I was warned, some said it was a waste of time, some said it should not be missed, some dismissed it without even watching… For 3 weeks I knew a new Farhan Akhtar movie was in town and struggled to find company to watch it. Once I bought the tickets and had to give them away after a family emergency but nothing was going to stop me.
Before I give this review I have to mention that I watched the original Don almost 8 yrs ago(on DD for god sake :P ) and I remember very little from the film other than the fact that I loved it :)
I thought a different sort of review was on the cards for this movie so I split my opinion to -ves and +ves of the film. Here they are:
-ves :
* Editing: I think this movie is the worst edited movie of all time… Ok, Yaadein beats it but not by much! I understand there was this whole style factor going but seriously did the Editor even watch the movie once before releasing it?
* OverKill: Style was major overkill in the movie… It was almost crazy fashion show at times. The action sequences were also unnecessarily long… some dialogues weren’t just obvious they were ridiculous
* Kareena Kapoor: Did you watch the start of the item number by Kareena Kapoor? I was like WTF just happened. For some reason the song appeared out of the blue plus it made hardly any sense what was happening around this sequence. Well the good news is you have to bear Kareena only for about 10 min.
* Continuity: I think a part of the tribute to the 70s was to make a movie with absolutely 0 continuity(atleast in the first half) I mean things are boringly slow at times and lightening fast during the rest of the time. Atleast the second half had a decent pace and respectable continuity.
* Too Little of the Good Stuff: The intro sequence of Prianka Chopra was pathetic and stupid. Ok it was for the male section of the audience(and a bit of the female section who swing that way) but that coming from Farhan Akhtar, the maker of ‘Lakshaya‘ was just painful. Either he should have shown a bit more complex workout without purpose(like a proper Bollywood movie) or should have introduced her in another way.
+ves:
* Acting: Shah Rukh Khan is probably the best actor in Bollywood and close to the top 10 actors in the world. Love him, hate him, you cannot deny he leaves a bit of his soul in each and every performance. SRK has done nothing wrong in this movie and I think that as of now in Bollywood(leaving Big B) there are just 2 actors that can make a bad movie better than average just by their class… one is SRK and the other is Hrithik Roshan. Boman Irani is magnificent and Compare this performance to Munnabhai and you will see why he is that damn good. The rest of the cast did a decent performance and deserve every ounce of the success the movie is tasting.
* Tribute: Watch the song ‘Aaj Ki Raat’ to see how a proper tribute to a classic must be made. There are some brilliant acts in this movie which on their own show the ability of Farhan Akhtar and the reason why he remade Don.
* Style: Pushing for Style and in songs like ‘Main Hoon Don’ is just is too brilliant to ignore. I was watching the trailer on tv(after watching the movie) and I just felt like watching the movie again! This one of the best Stylish movie I have watched in a while now.
* Action: Thank god finally the hero got a little punched at in a Bollywood film. The action sequences are refreshing and stylish in thier own way, Kudos to Akhtar for that.
* Music: Just too good! ‘Kahike Paan’ is just amazing, I cant get enough of it. ‘Aaj Ki Raat’ is my other favourite other than the title track :)
* Ending: The twist in the ending is simply amazing. The whole sequence and the dialogues delivered show the care and accuracy put into that sequence!
I believe Don must be pushed into a bunch of sequels. I think it can eazily become the ‘James Bond’ of Bollywood. Frankly I think the James Bond series is not that great, I think its more a money making machine that is being used well, Don can easily reproduce that. Personally I believe Bollywood needs a Don series more, Looks like the age of sequels are here(with Dhoom 2 and Krrish). I am actually looking forward for an original Don 2 script, one written for this age and time.
Final Verdict:
I in no way think Don is a bad film and has to be ignored. The movie has some brilliant content deserves to be watched once atleast. The movie how ever does not deserve the kindof response it has recieved so far. Its sad that a movie like Lakshaya which was flawless had to end up a flop and a average movie like Don will get to make so much money.
So go ahead watch the movie, if you get thru the first hour, I think you will love it.