Rating: 3/5
Banner: Excel Entertainment
Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta, Hrithik Roshan (cameo)
Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Cinematographer: Jason West
Editor: Anand Subaya
Director: Farhan Akhtar
Producers: Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, Shahrukh Khan
Release date: 23/12/2011
Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan who was unable to score with his much hyped ‘Ra.One’ is back with the sequel to his stylish thriller. Some of the old cast is retained so let us see how the film is.
Story
The tale begins at Malaysia and here comes Don (SRK) to surrender himself to the Interpol officers Roma (Priyanka) and her boss (Om Puri). However, his main target is to contact his old enemy Vardhan (Boman Irani) who is in the jail. Together, they come up with a plan – to steal the currency plates located in a famous German bank DCB.
Don gets in touch with the VP of the bank Dewan (Alyy Khan). Both Don and Vardhan escape from the prison and head straight to Germany. Don also takes the help of hacker Ali (Kunal) for this. Meanwhile, Roma and her team begin the chase for Don. The stage is set to execute the plan and whether Don is successful or not forms the rest of the story.
Performances
Shahrukh Khan is best when doing anti-hero roles. Here again, he is very much himself and carries his act in a cool and casual way. More than his charm, it is his performance that works.
Priyanka Chopra looks glamorous as usual but this time, she didn’t have much to talk. Most of her scenes are filled with expressions and this time, she was quite contained.
Boman Irani was good. He has a different style of his own when it comes to performance and makes his presence felt.
Nawab Shah is one man to look out for in the future, he has it all to make it big. Lara Dutta was sexy and did her bit as required. Om Puri was not utilised to the fullest at all. Alyy Khan was effective. Kunal Kapoor was apt. Sahil Shroff did his bit as required. The others were there to fill the screen.
Highlights
- Visual appeal
- SRK’s performance
- Locations
- Taking of the film
Drawbacks
- Songs
- Jerks in screenplay
- Lack of substance
Analysis
This is the sequel to the original ‘Don’ which came five years ago. True to that, there is style, richness and sophistication. However, all that glitters is not gold. While the taking and packaging may come across as good, the film doesn’t have that wow factor in terms of content and plot.
The focus is more on the presentation than delivering some depth and dramatism. The film shines due to strong star power and the slick narrative which has a consistent pace. If it was added with a juice of content then the impact would have been very strong.
Overall, this is a film which will appeal to those who look for class. At the box office, the openings would be strong due to the hype and aggressive promotion. Though it might land in a commercially successful zone, scoring a genuine hit would require a positive word of mouth from the audience.
Bottomline: Can be watched once
(Venkat can be reached at [email protected])
