interview with Farkhan Akhtar

I take advice from SRK: Farhan

Farhan Akhtar More Pics

That's because he switches off his phone at night. 36-year-old Farhan Akhtar also admits to being unsociable when working and not liking romantic films unless they come laced with drama. All this and more about the man who redefines cool

There are all these rumours linking you to your Karthik calling Karthik co-star Deepika Padukone which the two of you protest at every opportunity. Are you not overdoing it?
Honestly speaking, I can only speak for myself. Initially I didn’t protest, I thought it would blow over naturally. But then it began to get awkward and in very bad taste and that is when I started protesting. Then one thing led to another and now again I am tired of protesting. I also feel that now that we are pretty much coming to the end of the promotion of Karthik Calling Karthik and you will see us spending a lot of time with other people as opposed to each other, it will blow over.


Do such rumours affect you a lot?
It’s important for me because it affects my family. It’s weird for me to answer to my nine-year-old daughter who sees something on TV or reads a headline in a newspaper. Children tend to stress about these things a lot more than we understand. When I wasn’t addressing the issue she couldn’t understand why I was denying something to her but not telling the rest of the world. So to me it was important to come out and talk about it.

My daughter couldn’t understand why I was denying something to her but not telling the rest of the world


What’s with this schizophrenic behaviour you display? You are usually a party boy but when you work, either when acting or directing, you become all reclusive and incommunicado?
The thing is, and most of the people I know also say this, I am an extremist. When I am working I don’t want to know about anything else. When I want to party, I don’t want to work. So when I go on a holiday, more often than not, I won’t answer my phone. I really have to be pushed to deal with work when I am on a holiday. Similarly when I am working on the script of a film, I really don’t want to go out, I don’t want to do things which are going to takeaway my energy from what I really should be focusing on.

What influences you and your work?
Having kids has made me more aware of life beyond myself. I am aware that my choices will affect them even when I am not around. That also affects my work because my sensibilities and aesthetics have changed. I have grown up with women predominantly and that has led to me having a very healthy respect for them in terms of the treatment of them. I have an allergy to women being shown in a crude light, to be shown in almost a sexist way. I have had these allergies in any case; it has got a little more underlined now with kids. When they see my films, I don’t want them to think that dad is doing anything cheap.

Do you think your dad’s (Javed Akhtar with Salim Khan) films reflected the same concern?
Salim uncle and my father had a healthy respect for women. But because while they were writing, there was a lot more formula cinema, it was a requirement of the story that they had to write in a vamp, which you don’t necessarily need to do anymore. If there was a villain, he had to have a vamp. Similarly when I write Don, I go back to that kind of writing, Don had Isha in his life. How we treat the character can be different from how molls and vamps were treated at that time. But when you go back to that kind of writing, it’s a different world and it’s a different sensibility of filmmaking but within that you still want to treat them with a certain dignity. You can’t caricature them and make them one dimensional.

For Don you had a blueprint of sorts to follow. How does Don 2 take the character forward?
For me, Don’s character hinges on his cunning and smartness and the fact that he is playing all the characters in the film and at the same time, he also plays the audience. So, to me, the challenge is to do that again. Of course, you can do great action sequences, you can have great songs, a wonderful looking and talented cast who everybody wants to watch. But this time round, there is now no format to follow. To me that was exciting and what I am focusing again on is how to take Don to almost level two. This film is more of a caper to me than an emotional journey.

And how many ‘mulk ki police’ will be looking for him in Don 2?
Now I think it’s the whole world. Only Antarctica aur Arctic ki police uske peeche nahi padi hai.(laughs)

Could you ever do a mush film? A romcom?
Very honestly I must say that the romcom is one of my least favourite genres, even to watch. There are some of course, which I do thoroughly enjoy but they are very few and far between. Personally, I prefer drama, action and thrillers. If it’s a romance I would much prefer a classic romance like a Romeo and Juliet which has drama in it.

You work with actors as a director and compete with them as an actor. How do you differentiate between the two?
The people that I have worked with are the ones that I am good friends with and I do spend a lot of time with. One is obviously Hrithik and the other is Shah Rukh. Hrithik and I have known each other for really really long. We have been friends from way before I decided I wanted to be in films (he kind of always knew he wanted to be in films). So my friendship with him is beyond actor-director, whatever.

With Shah Rukh, I really started hanging out with him post Dil Chahta Hai. I feel a certain kinship with him. We have similar joys in terms of technology, we jam on many things. And many a times he has been someone I have turned to for advice. He is someone I have almost started feeling over time, again without sounding cheesy, like an elder brother. I know for a fact, not that he has told me so, that he is someone I can really count on, if the need arises. Even if we choose in the future to not work together, we will still hang out, we will still be friends.

For me, Don’s character hinges on his cunning and smartness and the fact that he is playing all the characters in the film and at the same time, he also plays the audience

Today’s actors pay a lot of attention to body and hair, the externals basically. Yesteryear actors looked almost the same in every film but it didn’t affect the strength of their performance. Comment.
I completely agree and I think it should go back to being how it was. Because I think, we are slowly but surely working towards this perfect world that everybody should exist in, which is not true. If there is someone on screen who is even relatively chubbier, immediately reviewers say he needs to lose a couple of pounds. Why? Doesn’t someone who is chubbier have a right to fall in love with someone? I find it disturbing that we are trying to make a Utopian world where great looking people and great bodies fall in love and nobody else has a right to.

Anyone who is skinny or bald or has a stammer or is fat is relegated to being a comedian, a character who needs help. I find this really disturbing. Did anyone stop to question why people fell in love with Sanjeev Kumar? It’s a dangerous obsession because it’s going to start limiting talent that’s coming in.

OFF THE CUFF

Rate Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan and yourself on a scale of one to ten on the following parameters

Communication skills
SRK - 15
Aamir - 10
Hrithik - 8 or 9
Myself - 5

Life of a party
It is difficult to rate this in numbers. SRK and Hrithik are very funny. Both of them love dancing so once the party kicks off, they are always dancing. Aamir is a lot more reserved. In all honesty, I haven’t partied with Aamir since Dil Chahta Hai
SRK - 10
Aamir - 5
Hrithik - 10
Myself - 8 or 9

Easy to direct
Honestly, they were all very easy to direct.
ALL - 10

Willing to admit to mistakes
Again, I think, I would give all of them 10 and that’s what makes them good at what they do. I know for a fact that I can be stubborn about certain things.

Emotionally giving
I spend a lot more time with Hrithik and Shah Rukh than I do with Aamir. So it will be really difficult for me to say anything about Aamir on this front.

Extempore speakers
SRK- 10
Aamir - 5
Hrithik - 8
Myself - 5

Aware of the world
All of us are pretty aware of what’s happening in the world around us, so I would probably rate them just up there. Even if we want to detach ourselves from what’s happening around us you media people don’t let it happen. There is no escape. So 10 on 10 for everyone

Be a 3am friend
My friendship is more with Hrithik and Shah Rukh than it is with Aamir. My relationship with Aamir is a lot more professional than personal so to put him into this equation feels very weird as it’s unfair to him.

SRK-10
Hrithik-10
Myself - 0
I switch off my phone when I sleep, I love my sleep. I think I don’t qualify for this.

Politically correct
SRK-3 or 4, mostly he says what he feels
Hrithik- 10
Myself- 7 or 8, I have the knack of saying wrong things as well

Spontaneous
SRK- 10
Hrithik- 8, He has changed a lot from what he was to what he is now

Animal Charm
SRK-10
Hrithik -10
Both of them are very attractive people.
Myself - I don’t know about myself (laughs) how do I rate myself on animal charm?

Shah Rukh, please don't get yourself killed...

My immediate second reaction was to scream... of course. I want to watch this movie now! LOL

So now that Arjun has been confirmed to appear in the 2nd movie, I'm not peeved anymore about Jasjit's drawn out scenes in the first Don (okay, technically the first Don is a remake of the original Don, but let's just call it Don 1 to save my poor fingers, okay).

Is Issha out of the picture?? *pout*

Wow wow wow wow wow... will Shah Rukh get Best Action Actor in a Lead Role in the AXN Action Awards again? I can't wait to watch it. In fact, I can't wait to watch all the movies he's got lined up for this year and next. Happy, happy... I'm a happy fangirl *dance a jig*

SRK to perform daring stunts in Don 213 Jun 2009, 1231 hrs IST, Subhash K Jha, TNN
Farhan Akhtar says Shah Rukh Khan will be performing daring stunts in Don 2.
He’s always game for the audacious. But the health problems really frustrate him,” says the director referring to the SRK’s shoulder surgery this year.

But now SRK is all set to bounce back with a full-on actioner in Don 2.And there’s Priyanka Chopra for company again.

Bipasha Basu who has been eased out of Race 2 firmly believes leading ladies don’t have a future in sequels.

But here’s one to prove her wrong . Though Priyanka has apparently been left out of Dostana 2 she’s very much a part of Don 2 which starts shooting, finally, in May 2010 in Ireland and Berlin.
In fact Don 2 will be the first Indian film to be shot In Dublin.Says the producer Ritesh Sidhwani, “We’re very much going ahead with the original cast Shah Rukh, Priyanka, Boman Irani, Arjun Rampal and Om Puri.Only those who died in the original won’t return, obviously.”

Also, for obvious reasons, this time there won’t be a double role for Shah Rukh. What he will be be doing is, some of the most heart-in-the-mouth stunts ever done by any leading man and certainly SRK’s most audacious actioner yet.

For this Shah Rukh needs to recover from this year’s back surgery. Says a source, “This is why he allotted dates in 2009 to Karan Johar’s My Name Is Khan. It requires very little physical exertion whereas Don 2 is a kick-ass role.”

When the proposal to do the sequel first came up Shah Rukh was very sure it would have to go beyond the first part in terms of locales, action and drama.

Says producer Ritesh Sidhwani, “We’re shooting Don 2 in Dublin .No Indian film has been shot there. We want to make sure that the sequel goes ahead of the first film. While the first part was a remake the sequel is an original script and would be much tougher to film for Shah Rukh and Farhan.”

SRK Movie My Take - Don The Chase Begins Again 'review' (Part 2)

Part 1

You don't think I've finished spazzing about Don B, do you? 80% of this movie was shot in my country. Of course I'm going to boogie all over it like a crazed fangirl.

Also, I've made it a point that when I do a 'review' of any of his movies, I'll do it while going through the scenes in real time. That's the only way I think I can do justice to them. I'm telling you very pointedly though that every 'review' I do is heavily SRK-centric so if you can't stand a large dose of SRK lurve, keep away. Don't say you haven't been warned.

For people who are not familiar with my 'review' style, it's just a technical term I adopt to mask my obsession to babble/spazz about Shah Rukh and any interesting project he gets his beautiful claws on. It doesn't have a particular format.

So for any of you who thinks I should have written it in a specific format to fit it into a review category, I want to make a word play of what Shah Rukh has said regarding this sort of issue, "If you have a problem then you make your own review and write it the way you want." (hehe)

Let me begin where it all started this time. In romantic Paris:

• For a cool killer, Don B has a pretty boring ringtone.
• I love the fact that the transaction was done in the same building as a ballet school. What irony...
• As Don B is being frisked, he makes this annoyed smiling face. That reminds me of how Shah Rukh said he didn't like being frisked at US airports just because his name is Khan. I guess he was drawing from some surplus emotions in his real life experiences for that scene
  
• I love the way he says "Keep it". In fact, I love the way Don B says pretty much all of his lines. I really miss his dialogue delivery when Vijay comes into the picture. I'm like.. give me my Don back!!! It doesn't matter that Vijay was also played by Shah Rukh. The two characters are poles apart that the only reason why I wasn't so blah about Vijay is because I knew from the beginning that it's Don B all along (thanks to wiki spoilers). So watching Don B plays Vijay to fool everyone, from the police officers to his mafia buddies, has its droll moments.. :P
  
• Don B is so polite, hai na? His insistence for every request to be followed by "..., please," tickles my easily amused bones. I did say in Part 1 that I love Shah Rukh's characterization of Don B. Despite him saying he knows nothing about characterization, his recent movies have characters with quite a few distinct traits that you can recall easily. According to me, if the audience can immediately remember some quirks a character has, then the actor has assayed the role quite well. And Don B brims with memorable quirks
  
• The... "Do you know that there are 36 points on the human body, if struck right, could prove fatal" ...is so random! LOL. But it's fortunate that I'm a kung fu buff, so I do get the reference to the human body pressure points. This type of thing was also highlighted in 'Kill Bill' and discussed quite involvedly in a lot of sites, for example this one where some creeps actually practiced it on their friends, or maybe it's all exaggeration. I think this reference comes out in Farhan's Don because their fight choreographer practices shaolin kung fu
  
• I love the first fight scene like OMG! I wish it goes on longer, like in Hong Kong kung fu movies. I love Don B's moves, especially when he breaks the guy's vertebrae. The crunchy sound is so fulfilling. A question though... if someone is blown up, won't his blood, meat and bones be sprayed in all directions along with everything else around him? The glass shards look too white and clean IMO. But that's just gory details I like to notice, so don't mind me
  
• Okay, so the defining moment for me is when Don B shoots the guy in the head. It was like.. wham! Instant love.

I would like to know how Vardhaan infiltrates the (Malaysian? Indian?) police force and how long has he been holing himself in there? Anyway... back to Don B and his golf missiles.

• You know, I feel like memorizing the entire dialogue of that beach-golf scene and deliver it exactly the way Shah Rukh did it. It's just so... delicious! I think this is my most favourite murder scene ever in a movie. Cool, humorous, and unrepenting. "Terrible shoes!" LOL. I just love that one. And I repeat, I like it that Anita laughs at what Don B says about the murder as if it's the most amusing thing in the world. I want her in the sequel, Farhan!
• I want Priyanka to beat up some practice partners in the dojo... or at least make mincemeat out of a Wing Chun wooden dummy... not just showing off some unconvincing moves all by her own boring self
  
• The Ramesh murder scene draws a clear line between a bad guy and an evil entity. Don B is the latter. He's like our Dr. Lecter when he's conversing with the poor guy, the difference is he doesn't pounce on Ramesh and tear the guy's ear off. This kind of acting is what makes so many fans (and media type too) clamor after SRK to take up villainous roles. No one in Bollywood does a psycho quite like him. Don B is not a typical psycho, of course, but by planning a murder so breezily, carrying it out with such aplomb and not showing remorse afterwards, he does fit the bill of a psycho killer. The difference is, he gets monetary benefit when he kills... something typical psycho killers, who usually kill for self-fulfillment, don't care about and may not even understand
  
• "I'm trying to quit. It kills you..." LOL. Shah Rukh has delivered anti-smoking lines like this in some other movie too, I forgot which one. It amuses me when a smoker gives anti-smoking campaigns, and it amuses me more that anti-smoking societies are always after Shah Rukh to kick the butt. You people don't really care about his health, do you? And if he truly quits, you will lose a celebrity who can give you a free piggyback ride on your road to extreme publicity. Are you sure that's what you want? Hmmph. Sarcasm aside, smoking is fatal for your health, Shah Rukh. I want you to outlast me, or at least die from overwork... not lung cancer
  
• "No, it's mine." ..okay, I know this was lifted from Don A but I prefer the way Shah Rukh delivered it. This is completely my unbiased opinion (lol)
• I have an issue with the whole earth-gold tone of the hotel, their outfit... even their make-up... for the Kamini-Don B scene. The two seem to be buried underneath too much heavy colour. I dunno, maybe it's just me. Also, I don't get what the fascination with Don B's tie being worn inside his shirt is about. But hey, what do I know about fashion?
• Every gesture Don B makes fascinate me. Even the... *who were you calling when you're inside?* ...sign language mesmerizes me to oblivion. Hey, I did warn you that this 'review' is going to be very heavily SRK-centric, didn't I? ;P

Yeh Mera Dil and the death of Kamini

Is that a batik shirt he's wearing? o wow o wow o wow o wow o wow...

The only move I don't understand in the whole choreography is Kareena slithering and stalking about on the ugly brown carpet. I was like.. whaaa? It could have been a big brass bed and I still would have cringed. It's just the way it's done. It degrades her sexy Earth Goddess image and ruins the effect of the scrumptious dress. The rest of the choreography is good and Shah Rukh was of course perfect in the song. Yes, yes... again it's my completely unbiased opinion.

I do think despite his insistence that he doesn't like doing romantic movies and that he doesn't understand romance... he instinctively knows what his female audience likes to see on the hero's face and eyes or how the hero behaves with his heroine. Even in a song that lasts a few minutes he can shine when he has a woman (or several women) draped all over his body. It's what makes him a very effective romantic lead. I'm sorry Shah Rukh, but your romantic image will be stuck in our psyche forever. You'll never be able to overshadow it with any comic, dramatic, macho or psycho portrayal any time soon, or maybe ever.

It's my belief Don B knows the entire time that Kamini is a police informer and a bunch of police officers are about to descend onto his lair. And yet, he's so supremely confident of his ability to get away from the seemingly impossible situation that he humours her amorous advances. I dunno about Don A, who looks as if he's not interested in the opposite sex even when it's in the form of luscious Helen, but Don B is oh-so-ready to get down to business with his lady of the night while waiting for the boys in uniform.

Don B is portrayed here (and throughout his Don scenes and some of Vijay's too) by Shah Rukh to be always edgy, a parting of ways from the cool, expressionless and almost-unresponsive Don A who seems to have it all under control. I prefer how Shah Rukh played it (of course, of course hehe). Don B is a megalomaniac, and megalomaniacs never forget for a second that the world revolves around them... while Don A is a workaholic mafia hitman and he never forgets that his work is never done. That's the difference between them, or at least, that's how I perceived it.

"Selamat malam, gentlemen."

Man, I just can't seem to get over that. And I like the creepy lift door that can't close because of the body stopper. So Asian-horror-film like. Nice one. Whose idea was that?

Don B's mysterious disc

Shah Rukh and his laptop... (lol)

Will someone finally tell me what the bloody hell kind of information is in that disc? Why does Don B make it and almost sacrifice his life to get it (when he was being Vijay), then turn around and tell Anita that it's not important??

I love how he delivers these lines:

• "Ya hamare kam ki... *eyes yummy Priyanka body* ...hai?"
• "Waja?"
• "Mujhe junglee bilia boht pasand hai"
• "She tried to kill me~~~"

Can I say that I absolutely adore the posture Don B adopts when he delivers that... "The biggest mistake Don's enemies can make is to make an enemy of Don" ...line? Every word was lovingly spoken. It's so obvious from the way Shah Rukh treated some lines that he's absolutely crazy over them. I bet he and Farhan went completely ballistic when they were discussing the dialogues and scenes Farhan lifted and modified from the old Don movie.

It's rare for an actor to be able to assay one of his favourite roles by someone he's idolized since childhood, so Shah Rukh is fortunate in that respect. But don't think for a second that he's gonna let us keep comparing between Don A and Don B. The sequel is where he's gonna make us forget that the old movie has even existed. He's gonna 'own' Don and the younger generation will equate Don with Shah Rukh, not Amitabh. That's what he did with Devdas (opinions from SRK-haters and tabloid media type notwithstanding).

What I don't understand annoys the heck out of me

"Nobody says please anymore" ..awww, poor Don LOL.

This whole scene is entirely incomprehensible to me. Even the old movie with its penchant for telling us every itty bitty thing that's going on doesn't give me a clue as to why Don is betrayed or why Don expects to be betrayed. I mean, he wires the whole case with explosives so he must have thought something fishy is going on. But he goes there anyway with a bag full of rupees that he wants to blow up.

Oh, that's another thing I don't get. Is it real money, or does Don come to the meeting with fake money? Frankly, I don't understand a greedy guy (which Don B is) who blows up money. So if it's fake money, what is Don B doing there? That can't be a real transaction, can it? Don B's the type who's absolutely possessive of his reputation. He would not have botched up a deal by conning his clients. I don't like the idea that Don B gets severely injured due to his inability to predict the situation correctly. That sort of incompetence should be reserved for government officials, not crime lords. It doesn't go with the image~~~

Oh, did you know that Shah Rukh did the stunts himself? Yep, including the driving-through-the -great-balls-of-fire sequence. Too bad the camera got burnt to rubble and they lost the footage, otherwise we'd be able to see some cool SRK-in-flames stuff. I'm not sure if he did the whole chase scene though but he did get behind the wheel for some action. His affinity with action stunts scares me (coz I'm a coward when it comes to the people I love. It's okay when I'm the one in the driver's seat though). Please take care of yourself, okay Datuk?

I love the car-chasing part though. Chase scenes usually juggle a lot of logistics issues so I'm always in awe of car/motorcycle chase sequences.

To be continued in Part 3...

Nooooo!!!

Not the bulgy muscles! I hate that kind of body type T__T

Maybe I can just concentrate on his face and the action and the surroundings and the heroine ...and completely ignore the open shirt. Hmm...

I did think he's going to have to develop this kind of muscles for Ra-1 coz he has to fit into a superhero costume. But this way, he's killing two birds with one stone. Or developing one body for two films. No wonder Ra-1 must be consecutively produced with Happy New Year.

That said, watching Main Hoon Na and Om Shanti Om gave me the impression that Farah khan has a complete torture album for Shah Rukh to flip through and slip into whenever he stars in her film LOL. She must have developed this burning desire to put him through various obstacles while watching him act in rather unchallenging scenes that she thought didn't deserve him.

Anyway, Shah Rukh has always wanted to act in action-type movies, so I think all this masochistic exercises will make him a happy camper. Happy camper Shah Rukh is a joy to watch on screen so this makes 2010 a very interesting year to look forward to. Film set to be released in 2010: My Name is Khan, Ra-1, Happy New Year. (YEAY!!)

I'm disappointed that Don 2 will be released in 2011 but time flies so fast these days so I'm sure in no time at all I'd be munching popcorn and cheering to another murder-by-golf-ball or other ballistic killer weapon of that variety.

What about The Zoya Factor? Is it going to be put on hold coz the Knight Riders did not do well in IPL 1 & 2 and the executive powers in Red Chillies fear a backlash if they make and release the movie before the team tastes any victory on the real playing XI? They must have planned to include KR in the scenes, so perhaps this decision to put it on the back burner is understandable. O well.. I still think it's a fantastic idea for a movie. Hope it's going to be made soon. Which means... Knight Riders, you guys have to win the final next year! (yeah, I no longer aim for the semis now. It's the final or nothing~)


Full article: Source
The King Khan is set for an uphill task – to develop bulgy muscles and a brawny bod a la Aamir Khan in Ghajini . Farah Khan , who first made SRK get six packs and flaunt them in a shirtless song in Om Shanti Om , is penning a script in which SRK’s role is physically challenging to the limits the superstar hasn’t yet tested in his career so far.

SRK Movie My Take - Don The Chase Begins Again

Caution: Please watch the movie before you read this. I'm revealing plots all over the place.

In a way, Farhan and Shah Rukh have attained one of their objectives in remaking the classic because someone like me who didn't even know the existence of Amitji's Don has bought the CD just so I can compare SRK's version to the original. I watched SRK's Don first so I didn't have a problem with the way he portrayed Don since I was not affected by the impression Amitji made like a lot of the critics were whose reviews I read.

Don't kick the Complaint Box

Note: Pls don't mind my complaints. I have a lot of complaints about the Spiderman, X-Men, and James Bond franchises too. It doesn't mean that I like the movies any less.

I'm afraid I have to turn into a wannabe critic for this movie because other than Shah Rukh, I was not impressed with any of the other characters. And after watching Zeenat Aman's Roma, I became quite disappointed with the way Priyanka has carried this role. Isha Koppikar was the only one who managed to catch my fancy. I like her intensity and the way she laughs at the end of the golf-by-the-beach scene. It compliments Don's otherwise ridiculous line asking Narang to check the shoes of the people he wants to recruit. Priyanka played it too cool and her Roma looks rather self-conscious, unsure of herself, and as if she had suffered so much and in such pain. Roma's supposed to be a tough, passionate girl who gets into the business of organized crime to carry out her revenge. Her entire focus should have been on Don and her revenge, not on herself.

I think what I really dislike about Farhan's screenplay would be the way he jumps from scene to scene expecting the audience to know what the characters have tried or are trying to do. These are usually scenes lifted from the original (where every move the character is going to do is explained clearly), esp when Vijay comes into the picture. He should know that since he's targeting the young generation who's never watched the old Don and would be bored to tears or yawn every 2 seconds (like I did, sorry) at the 70s version of what a cool and stylish criminal outfit should be, he should still provide a bit of the background. I really didn't appreciate that the jump from the bumbling, never-drive-a-car-in-his-life Vijay to the skilled-with-a-gun, speed-freak Vijay/Don was explained by a single line he said to DeSilva: "You taught me well." I was like... Farhan, you've got to be kidding me, man.

Can I say this? The main police officer dudes are so wooden! They have only one expression stuck on their faces the entire duration of the movie, be it Boman Irani or Om Puri. I'm like... guys, I know you're playing civil servants who are nearing the age of retirement, but can't you at least make us believe you're excited that an infamous criminal is within your grasp? And what's with all the pouches? Did the casting director want us to believe that these beer-bellied old men who can't even walk a mile without wheezing, let alone run after crooks, are the best people Malaysia and India can provide to catch someone as dangerous as Don?

This complaint is inconsequential but I have to write it anyway... Don as Don has too little screen time! Don as Vijay is like a tiger that has one of his legs strapped. I could read the restraint in his face every time he wants to pounce Roma, whether to kill her or mess around with her... I dunno XD

What I love about Farhan's Don

The gadgets! O yes.

I love how the watch is connected to the bomb. That was awesomely done. Although I could do with a few more... like micro-bugs or some rather violent computer virus attacks (and where's the GPS Navigation System?? That should provide some nice tracking sequence... huh), the understanding of high-tech gadgetry in this movie is quite good although I do think they should have put some interesting gadgets in his car too. Don would be someone who'd equip his car with KITT-type techno frills, ehem ehem. For Don 2, I would like them to incorporate a coupla gadgets that're yet to be available on the market but could have already been made and sold to the very rich as I'm typing this. You know, sci-fi stuff. Like... I dunno... satellite video-conferencing via mobile phones? Oh, oh... a touch-sensitive, interactive holographic projection of building blueprints or location maps with online connectivity!

I also love the martial arts choreography. The fact that they used a shaolin monk to design the fight scenes is an inspired move. Don has a very nice opening scene. I like the way Shah Rukh fights in Don. The precise, fast and technical moves suit him. It's much better than those choreography he's subjected to in his previous action movies where all he had to do was swing his fists and legs about. Taking a detour to prove a point, I like his sword fight scenes (this one, and this one) in Asoka. If he still wants to do action movies (is Ra-1 an action movie?), this type of choreography is the way for him to go.

I like it everytime Don kills people. My most favourite is that golf missile scene. He's so cheerful before and after he swings that club ("Narang~ This is a good shot!" LOL). I also like the method he uses to murder Ramesh and I argued with my sister that he must have used a small dose of a type of anesthetic that won't be detectable on post mortem. The cause of death would be drowning, rather than being poisoned. IMO, he should have killed a couple more characters, you know... those annoying ones like DeSilva's useless assistant and the incompetent Narang. Farhan should take Hong Kong triad movies as the inspiration for his 2nd Don. The Hong Kong writers are masters at scripting organized crime stories.

Brief comparison with the original

To save my poor fingers, let me call Amitji's Don as Don A and Shah Rukh's Don as Don B.

Don A:

To me, Don A is quite a boring character. He's like a workaholic type who goes ploddingly about trying to get his jobs done... totally devoid of a sense of humour or interesting quirks that can make me go, "hey, that's cool". I don't remember any particular lines or moves he does that made an impact on me. Well, except when he dies while holding that gun... I thought that was nicely done. Vijay is the more interesting character, although it did get quite disconcerting when I couldn't connect the carefree, likely uneducated, kain pelekat-wearing Vijay with the formal-looking, smooth-talking, vest-wearing Vijay. I like the dance scene with Roma where he starts to dance like Vijay, then looks around, and corrects himself XD. And I have to say this, I like all the original picturization of the songs much better (sorry Farah Khan, Saroj Khan, Ganesh Hegde and Rajeev Surti). I don't like the smooth transition from a street performer to a criminal mastermind that Amitji shows right from the start though. I want him to have some vulnerable/funny moments where we're shown that Vijay is feeling out of sort in Don's setting. He looks entirely too at home with his mafia buddies.

I find that the characters talk too much. The only one who has such short lines and a shorter script is Don himself coz he dies at the beginning. But oh God, the rest of them just yap and yap and yap. The scriptwriters were really having a field day with this one. Or maybe that's just how movies were made in the old days. The supporting characters explain to us about anything and everything that's happening in the movie. The only script I can appreciate is Zeenat Aman's. Hers only says what's needed and no more. I like a girl who doesn't feel the need to nag or whine about her sad fate to all and sundry every 2 seconds. However, I do find that Don A is more real in terms of the way the story goes in the setting that it's found itself in. Except for the momentary lapses, like the one where Don seems to have jumped up a 20-storey building to stop Roma from running away after she's cut his rope, I find that I don't have to leave too many brain cells at the door to accept the movie.

Don B:

The same cannot be said about this one, I'm afraid. IMO, some of the scenes are a bit overdone esp the one where Don/Vijay is kidnapped by his gang. Don't tell me you couldn't devise an easier and less detectable way of taking Don away than a high-profile chase that ends with a chopper carrying off a bloody ambulance in broad daylight. Where do you land? How do you avoid police detection? Don is an international criminal and Interpol is involved, so his every movement is probably being monitored via satellite. There's no way the ambulance won't be tracked down in real time. In fact, it could have been bugged before it's left the hospital.

Can I say that I don't like the entire arc of Jasjit's background story? I think his history could have been spelt out in a coupla scenes tops, no need to go all out with the family stuff and the robbery stuff and the oh... entire bleeding sequence. I generally skip this bit whenever I watch my DVD. I don't mind the story after Jasjit exits the prison coz it's needed by the storyline. Farhan, IMO, wasted so many film reels just to build up a story of a guy who's not the 2nd hero or the main villain. If he doesn't appear in Don 2, I'd probably go... so why the bloody hell should I care so much about this bleeding useless git that I had to spend nearly an hour of my life being subjected to the filmakers' explanation of how he got his prison record??

The scene in the airplane also gets on my nerves. Mostly coz the policeman was portrayed as a moron who can't even keep a door shut. Leaving your cell coz you want to pee is like OMG the cheapest trick in the universe and they should have provided a toilet INSIDE the bleeding jail instead of allowing the prisoners to go outside, opening their cuffs in the bargain. What if 3 of them are all desperate to go at the same time, huh?? These are not your average 7-11 robbers. I want to scream in frustration during that scene... seriously. The parachute sequence calmed me down though. I dunno why some people pooh-poohed it, but I thought it's cool. The compositing is well done and the actions are believable. Please don't compare it to what it could have been in a standard Hollywood fare. They have a bigger budget and can afford better VFX facilities.

I don't like the Don-as-Vijay character because I fell in love with the evil Don B from the first boom. I wanted to see more of him. I do regret knowing that it's Vijay, and not Don, who dies at the hospital before I even watched the movie but even then, watching the flashback still made me go, "No! How could the good guy die!" Needless to say, I was traumatized for a few days afterwards. Yeah, I'm so melodramatic. Having said that, I like watching Shah Rukh playing Don playing Vijay. It makes the suave 'Vijay' more believable when you knew that it's actually the evil guy playing the part. Don B does surface a few times when he's angry at something or when he suddenly displays skills that Vijay shouldn't have known. I bet Don B the international criminal has done an awful lot of acting stint to fool the police in the course of his career, but it's probably the first time he's tried to act the part of a double who's trying very hard to be convincing as Don... which is himself. It's so confounding that it must have amused him so much every time he looks at the poor fools who believe in his Vijay or his Vijay-turns-Don avatar. I imagine Don B snickering in front of the mirror in his bathroom while he's practicing some of his moves.

Despite some moments when I went... Shah Bhai, don't look that intense lah... I like the characterization of Don B. Shah Rukh has instilled some character traits in him that can easily be recalled. The curtsy he does for the ballerina, the cheerful way he exclaims, "Narang!" while putting up a dainty palm to greet his subordinate, the "I've also always liked me" and "oh I am the king!" lines, the way smoke chimneys out of his mouth, the dressing style, the way he stalks smoothly towards people (Shah Rukh said in an interview that it's his take on how a man woud have walked had he been a female model walking the ramp XD), and the cartoon freak who can switch off his laugh in a blink, look ahead with a blank expression and spout, "Poor Ramesh" as the only indication that the poor guy is gonna be murdered later. Whether he annoys you, gets on your nerves, makes you want to throw pointy things or flying kisses at your TV monitor or 70mm film screen ...Don B in unforgettable.

Which is why I'm overjoyed that there's gonna be Don 2 from Farhan's stable next year. All you people who didn't like the first movie and have been whining at how much you hate it and how much you don't care about having a sequel made after it, you can all keep away from the cinema hall come next year. But you'll be missing out on a VERY BIG movie coz with the actual Don (no more soft-hearted Vijay in the picture yeay!) running amok in Germany and God knows what other countries, I think the movie's gonna be the awesomest movie of the decade. I do hope they're not gonna pull some 'good always triumphs over evil' corny script on us or try to appeal to our conscience that we should accept the possibility of a repenting evil guy (eeek! Don't turn the Don into a wannabe priest fella, please!). Will Shah Rukh do another Baazigar-type death scene? I hope the lines are not as long though. I get nervous and edgy when a character I like takes too much time to die.

One thing I would like explained in the sequel is what Don B means when he says that the disc everyone is chasing after is actually not that important. I've been mulling over some possibilities, but I would like to know the 'real' reason from the writers themselves.

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