Don - The Chase Begins Again

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Don - The Chase Begins Again
Directed by Farhan Akhtar
Produced by Ritesh Sidhwani
Written by Javed Akhtar,
Salim Khan
Starring Shahrukh Khan,
Priyanka Chopra,
Arjun Rampal,
Kareena Kapoor,
Isha Koppikar,
Boman Irani,
Om Puri,
Sushma Reddy
Music by Shankar Mahadevan,
Ehsaan Noorani,
Loy Mendonsa
Distributed by T-Series
Release date(s) October 20, 2006
Language Hindi
IMDb profile

Don - The Chase Begins Again, directed by Farhan Akhtar, is a remake of the 1978 film, Don. The film was released in India on October 20, 2006 and it was also simultaneously released internationally. The script of the previous film was written by Akhtar's father, Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan (father of Salman Khan).

The film stars Shahrukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Arjun Rampal, Isha Koppikar and Kareena Kapoor in a special appearance. 80% of the movie was shot in Malaysia, and was filmed around the tropical Langkawi island as well as the towering Petronas Twin Towers and the Jalan Masjid India area, which is the 'little India' of Kuala Lumpur.

Contents

[edit] Plot Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In 2006, the drug trade is booming. The Malaysian Intelligence and Anti-Narcotic Department are called upon for assistance by their Indian counterparts. There are rumours that a drug gang has recently moved their headquarters to Kuala Lumpur.

Kareena Kapoor as Kamini in Don
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Kareena Kapoor as Kamini in Don

The Indian team is headed by DCP DeSilva (Boman Irani) who wants to break the back of the drug operations of a drug lord named Singhania. Also helping him is Malik (Om Puri). He believes that capturing his dangerous and elusive lieutenant, Don (Shahrukh Khan) will be the most effective way of accomplishing this. Don's gang consist of Narang (Pawan Malhotra) and Anita (Isha Koppikar). Soon, Roma (Priyanka Chopra) joins them but she has other plans - kill Don. Don was responsible for killing her brother Ramesh as well as his fiancee, Kamini (Kareena Kapoor).

During a chase with the police the real Don is injured and is captured by DeSilva. He keeps it a secret that he has captured Don even from his fellow officers and tracks down a look-a-like called Vijay (also played by Shahrukh Khan). He asks Vijay to infiltrate Don's gang by pretending to be Don. In return he will make sure that the child Deepu (who is the son of Jasjit played by Arjun Rampal) he has in his care gets a proper education. Meanwhile Jasjit who has just been released from prison sets out in search for his son Deepu and get revenge against DCP DeSilva who got him arrested and prevented him from rescuing his wife from criminals, which got her killed.

Isha Koppikar and Priyanka Chopra {l-r} in the song Aaj Ki Raat
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Isha Koppikar and Priyanka Chopra {l-r} in the song Aaj Ki Raat

DeSilva trains Vijay and admits him in a hospital (in which Don is also admitted and supposedly in coma) to surgically give him all the scars the real Don had on his body. However Don dies of heart failure suddenly in front of Vijay, DeSilva and the doctors, who are unable to save him. While Vijay is infiltrating Don's gang, DeSilva dies and Vijay is forced to run from the police as well as Don's gang members -- pursuing the last piece of evidence (a disc) that can get him out of this mess.

Through various plot twists, Vijay recovers the disc. Eventually, it surfaces that DeSilva is alive and is actually Vardhan, a notorious underground criminal with a grudge against Singhania, Don's boss, and eventually ends up killing him. Vijay arranges a meeting with Vardhan and assists in his capture. In a final twist, it emerges that the real Don is still alive, and was pretending to be Vijay who he had killed and replaced while in the hospital. It was actually Vijay who had died in the hospital of heart failure in front of him and Vardhan. In the end both Don and his girlfriend Anita (Isha Koppikar) are seen together getting off a plane as Don laughs off that it is not just difficult to catch Don it is also impossible. This film differs from the original in this respect.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Differences with the original Don

DCP Desilva (Boman Irani) left and Interpol Officer Mallick (Om Puri). In their first meeting, Mallick informs that he is also now part of the team trying to nab Don (Shahrukh Khan)
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DCP Desilva (Boman Irani) left and Interpol Officer Mallick (Om Puri). In their first meeting, Mallick informs that he is also now part of the team trying to nab Don (Shahrukh Khan)

There were some main wrinkles:- Farhan Akhtar introduced to differentiate this version from the original. First, DeSilva, instead of Malik, is revealed to be Vardhan. And second, that Don was never actually replaced with Vijay, and had manipulated everyone else from the start by actually killing Vijay and putting himself in his place (Don was never caught in the movie as well). Another thing is that in the old Don, Jasjeet had two kids while in the new Don, Jasjeet has one son. Also, a change in jasjeet's character was that he was a performer in a circus in the older version of the movie, whereas, in this version he was a computer engineer (systems security).

[edit] Cast

Don (Shahrukh Khan) and Roma (Priyanka Chopra) in a chase sequence. Don is driving the Mercedes-Benz SLK
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Don (Shahrukh Khan) and Roma (Priyanka Chopra) in a chase sequence. Don is driving the Mercedes-Benz SLK

[edit] Crew

Don's Team: [L-R] Ramesh (Diwakar Pundir), Kumar, Narang (Pavan Malhotra), Mac (Shakeel Khan). [S] Anita (Isha Koppikar)
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Don's Team: [L-R] Ramesh (Diwakar Pundir), Kumar, Narang (Pavan Malhotra), Mac (Shakeel Khan). [S] Anita (Isha Koppikar)
Don's meeting with TJ: Don (Shahrukh Khan) sitting opposite to TJ (Chunkey Pandey) and his assistant
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Don's meeting with TJ: Don (Shahrukh Khan) sitting opposite to TJ (Chunkey Pandey) and his assistant

[edit] Music

CD cover for the music of the film
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CD cover for the music of the film

The film has seven songs composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy:

"Main Hoon Don (Normal/Funcinternational Mix)" is currently #2 (as of Septemer 27, 2006 in The Top 20 songs list compiled by Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM on the basis of album sales, on-air requests and research. It was #1 for 2 weeks (as of September 18, 2006). It gained the #1 position on September 11, 2006 by jumping over 20 slots (Before that, it wasn't even present in the Top 20 list).

[edit] Trivia

Don's walk-in vault in the movie houses The Scream, an invaluable expressionist painting created in 1893 by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. The painting was stolen on August 22, 2004. It is interesting to note, that the stolen painting was declared as recovered by the Norwegian police on August 31, 2006 - barely 2 months before the movie released.
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Don's walk-in vault in the movie houses The Scream, an invaluable expressionist painting created in 1893 by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. The painting was stolen on August 22, 2004. It is interesting to note, that the stolen painting was declared as recovered by the Norwegian police on August 31, 2006 - barely 2 months before the movie released.
Don (Shahrukh Khan) driving the Mercedes-Benz SLK. Roma (Priyanka Chopra) is also with Don
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Don (Shahrukh Khan) driving the Mercedes-Benz SLK. Roma (Priyanka Chopra) is also with Don
  • In the UK, the film grossed GBP £537,000 (a little more than USD 1 million) in the opening five days along with the preview, which is the highest Diwali opening weekend ever for a Hindi film.
  • In the US, the film grossed USD 1.2 million in the opening 5 days.
  • In the period of just nine days, Don has grossed above 3.45 million Dirham in Gulf which is highest ever for a Hindi film.
  • In Australia and South Africa, the week's collections were the highest ever for a Hindi film.[1]
  • Akshay Kumar was offered for the role of Jasjit.[2]
  • Don - The Chase Begins Again opened in at least 1,200 screens worldwide, beating the opening of Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna.[3]
  • Priyanka Chopra underwent special martial arts training for her role in the movie.
  • Isha Koppikar stars in a role which was insignificant or not present in the original film.Her role has been given more footage and substance.
  • Shah Rukh Khan sings a few lines in the song "Khaike Paan Banaraswala".
  • Kareena Kapoor dances to the song "Yeh Mera Dil" previously performed by cabaret queen Helen.
  • Two of the original songs, "Khaike Paan Banaraswala" and "Yeh Mera Dil" were remade for the movie.
  • Shahrukh speaks several catchy lines during the movie, including,
  • "Don ka intezar to gyarah mulkon ki police kar rahi hain, lekin ek baat samajh lo, Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin, naamumkin hain." In English, it translates to "Don is wanted by the police forces of eleven nations, but understand one thing, catching Don is not just difficult, it's impossible."[4]
  • "Don ke dushmanon ki sabsi badi ghalti hai ke woh Don ke dushman hain." In English, this means, "The greatest mistake of Dons enemies is that they are his enemies."
  • "Log Don ko nahi, duniya ko chodte hain". In English, this translates to, "People don't leave Don, they leave the world."
  • This movie is full of luxury/exotic cars, especially recent Mercedes-Benz models.
  • Black Mercedes-Benz SL sitting in a car dealership
  • Various Mercedes cars (and Ferrari/Lamborghini cars) in car dealership
  • Bad guy drives to rendezvous point in C-class sedan
  • The main character drives up in an E-class sedan
  • The main character is involved in a car chase while in a silver Mercedes-Benz R171 SLK.
  • The SLK in the movie is a left-hand drive car, made for the Asian market, with a Kompressor badge on the side. This indicates that it is an SLK200.
  • A laser projection keyboard is seen being used in a scene performed by Arjun Rampal.
  • Don has a Motorola RAZR V3 cell phone and DeSilva has a Motorola SLVR cell phone.
  • Vijay is supposed to eat Paan from Banaras, however when talking to De Silva while talking about Don, he is seen eating Paan from Kolkata.
  • The gun shown as Don's in the movie is a Beretta 98FS Limited Edition.
  • The director Farhan Akhtar's father, Javed Akhtar, co-wrote the original Don in the writing duo Salim-Javed.
  • On 13/12/06, it was reported that Shah Rukh Khan will resume his role of Don in Don 2 which will be produced by his own production company, Red Chillies Entertainment in conjunction with Farhan Akhtars and Ritesh Sidwanis Excel Entertainment. The article also said that none of the cast from Don-The Chase Begins Again, besides Shahrukh, will be returning.

[edit] External links

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