Don 2 Box Office – Less than MNIK
By Naveen
Anyone who followed Indian movies in the late 70’s could not have escaped the “Don”.
Amitabh Bachchan played Don in the original that was promptly copied as Billa starring Rajinikanth in the Tamil version.
Such was the impact of Amitabh’s Don that it was re-made a few years ago with Shah Rukh Khan which prompted Kollywood to remake Billa with the remarkably talentless Ajith Kumar.
With Don 2, Farhan Akhtar gives us for the first time in over three decades a new plot for Don. It only took 30+ years to come up with a new story but knowing Bollywood / Kollywood that should hardly be a surprise.
Just to make up for the three decades, Farhan tosses in a gimmick in the form of 3D.
Farhan Akhtar takes credit for Story, Screenplay, co-Production and Direction for Don 2.
Shah Rukh Khan reprises the title role. Priyanka Chopra, Boman Irani, and Om Puri reprise their roles from Don 1.
Story & Screenplay
It is surprising how an average mindless heist movie by Hollywood standards can almost seem like a thrilling never-seen-before outing by Indian standards.
Don 2 combines Hollywoodish style with Bollywoodian “brain.”
The result is a stylish and rich visual experience (if you can pretend Priyanka Chopra didn’t exist) with a not so gratifying depth in story-telling.
Don 2 doesn’t offer any “Bingo” or “Gotcha” moments for the regular Hollywood movie buffs but it isn’t bad by the abject standards of Indian movies.
Don 2 starts a few years after Don 1 ended. If you didn’t watch Don 1 then you must be told that it ended differently than the original i.e. the Amitabh version of the Don movie.
Don 1 ends with Don (SRK) giving the Interpol, Malaysian and Indian cops the slip leaving his beau(??) Roma (Priyanka Chopra) high and dry. No pun intended
In the years between Don 1 and 2, Don has become the top kingpin drug supplier all over Asia and spreading his footprint into Europe. This frustrates the European drug lords and they plan to kill Don.
Of course, Don escapes!
Meanwhile, Roma, who wanted to avenge her brother’s death in part 1 by killing Don, is now a high ranking Interpol officer with a male assistant who has the hots for her. I wonder how she got that job… hmmm
While the audience pray the Priyanka away, she is hell bent on finding Don. Mr. Malik (Om Puri) suddenly decides to retire after 37 years in duty and asks Roma to walk him to his car.
As they step out of the elevator, they find Don waiting for them.
Don deliberately surrenders and is sent to prison with a death sentence.
All this is part of Don’s elaborate scheme to meet Vardhan (Boman Irani) in the prison, win back his trust and plan a grand heist.
Don and Vardhan stage a prison break and escape to Switzerland where they meet Don-lady Ayesha (Lara Dutta). Don hatches a plan to steal the Euro currency printing plates from a German Bank. He uses a tape that only Vardhan has access to. This tape has the German bank’s Senior official Diwan (Aly Khan) spilling some secrets to blackmail Diwan.
After moving from Thailand to Malaysia to Switzerland, the story finally settles down in Berlin, Germany.
Don forms a team for the big heist.
Besides Vardhan and Ayesha, the team includes Sameer (Kunal Kapoor), a hacker naturally! Isn’t it a norm now for all heist movies to have a superb hacker? It reminded me of Premji in Mankatha who digitally secures Nav-taal pootu.
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Also joining force with this team is one Jabbar (don’t recall his real name) and his gang. They originally hunt Don on behalf of Diwan but change sides for money.
Does this team successfully steal the plates? Can they trust each other? What does the Interpol / German Police do?
These questions get answered in the cat and mouse game that ensues.
Want to know the answers? Go and watch the movie.
The questions in my mind were a little different. Can Priyanka act? Will the hacker Sameer zoom into Roma’s cleavage? Will Don-lady Ayesha perform a strip show to seduce Don? Will Rajinikanth’s Chitti make a special appearance in the climax? Will SRK speak one line without the wintery shiver + goat’s bleat?
Good Stuff and the Not so Good
Don 2 isn’t a bad movie by Indian standards. Continue reading »
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