Don (2006 Hindi film)

Don
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Farhan Akhtar
Produced by	Ritesh Sidhwani Farhan Akhtar
Screenplay by	Farhan Akhtar Javed Akhtar
Based on	Don (1978)
Starring	Shah Rukh Khan Priyanka Chopra Arjun Rampal Isha Koppikar Boman Irani
Music by	Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy Midival Punditz DJ Randolf
Cinematography	Mohanan
Edited by	Neil Sadwelkar Anand Subaya
Production company	Excel Entertainment
Distributed by	Eros International Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates	20 October 2006
Running time	169 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹350 million (equivalent to ₹610 million or US$8.9 million in 2016)[1]
Box office	₹1.05 billion (equivalent to ₹1.8 billion or US$27 million in 2016)[2]

Don (also known as Don: The Chase Begins Again) is a 2006 Indian action thriller film directed by Farhan Akhtar, and produced by Ritesh Sidhwani under Excel Entertainment. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan in a double role, opposite Priyanka Chopra, while Arjun Rampal, Boman Irani, Isha Koppikar and Om Puri appear in supporting roles. It is a remake of the 1978 film of the same name, and follows a simple man from the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) in western India who is secretly recruited by a police officer to masquerade as "Don," the ruthless leader of an international chain of drug smugglers.

The film hit theaters worldwide on 20 October 2006, and screened at the Berlin Film Festival.^[3] Upon release, the film received a mixed critical response, but it grossed over ₹105 crores worldwide.^[2] It spawned a sequel in 2011, Don 2, with Akhtar, Khan, Chopra, Irani and Puri reprising their roles.

Plot

In mid-2000s, the illegal drug trade based in Kuala Lumpur is booming. The Malaysian authorities are called upon for assistance by their Indian counterparts. The Indian team sent to Kuala Lumpur is headed by Deputy Commissioner of Police D'Silva (Boman Irani), who targets the illegal drug operations of Singhania (Rajesh Khattar). Helping him along the way is Inspector Vishal Malik (Om Puri), an Indian officer from Interpol. Both of them know that in order to put an end to the illegal drug trade, they must capture "Don" (Shah Rukh Khan) who manages Singhania's business in Kuala Lumpur. Singhania was one of the two closest and most trusted men of Boris, a criminal who went underground and was presumed dead by the police. Boris's other lieutenant was a man called Vardhan, equally ruthless as Singhania, but his whereabouts are unknown. The police thinks that Singhania had killed Vardhan upon learning that Boris was about to hand over his drug business to Vardhan.

Singhania's subordinate, Don, is known for murdering one of his close associates, Ramesh (Diwakar Pundir), who had attempted to leave the cartel. Ramesh's future wife Kamini (Kareena Kapoor) decides to help the police arrest Don but in the process she is also killed. Now, Ramesh's sister Roma (Priyanka Chopra) plans to avenge her brother and his fiancé. She manages to infiltrate Don's gang.

Don and his inner circle, which consists of Anita (Isha Koppikar) and Narang (Pawan Malhotra), travel to India for a cocaine transaction. An Indian police team led by D'Silva follow them there and capture Don, who is fatally injured while trying to flee from the police. D'Silva keeps this a secret from the department and media as he decides to track down an exact look-alike of Don named Vijay (also Shah Rukh Khan) from Mumbai, asking Vijay to pose as Don so the police can get to Singhania. Vijay agrees when D'Silva promises to admit Deepu (Tanay Chheda), a kid Vijay looks after, to a school in Kuala Lumpur.

Meanwhile, Jasjit (Arjun Rampal), Deepu's father, has just been released from prison. Jasjit is hellbent on killing DCP D'Silva. Jasjit's vendetta against D'Silva began many years ago, when Jasjit, committing a crime in order to save his family from a gang of criminals, was arrested on the orders of D'Silva, thereby preventing Jasjit from saving his wife from death. Jasjit does not know what happened to his son after Jasjit went to prison.

Vijay is admitted to the same hospital as Don by D'Silva. Vijay soon gets all the scars and marks which Don has on his body. Suddenly, Don dies of heart failure and the masquerade becomes inevitable. When Vijay (as Don) re-enters the gang in Kuala Lumpur, he claims to have lost his memory, and the more he learns about Don, the more he claims to remember. Don has a disc containing some of the cartel's vital information about deals and contacts. As part of the plan, Vijay agrees to find and bring this disc to D'Silva. When Vijay finds the disc, Roma (who is now a close associate of Don) decides to accompany him. When they arrive, Roma attempts to kill Vijay (assuming he is Don). However, DCP D'Silva intervenes and tells Roma about his secret plan to reach to Singhania. Roma decides to help the police to capture Singhania and joins the two in their plan. Vijay hands over the disc to DCP D'Silva.

Singhania comes to Kuala Lumpur for a meeting with his clients. There DCP D'Silva murders him by adding poison to his drinks. Suddenly, the Malaysian police and Interpol arrive at the hotel. Vijay and the core gang members are all arrested by Interpol. D'Silva is apparently killed in shoot-out. This is unfortunate for Vijay because D'Silva was the only person who could prove that Vijay is not the real Don. Now Don's inner circle turns against Vijay, having discovered his true identity. Vijay escapes from police custody and tries to recover the disc he gave to D'Silva in order to prove his innocence.

Jasjit secretly enters DCP D'Silva's apartment in Kuala Lumpur and waits for D'Silva with a gun, not knowing of his death. There Jasjit finds the disc Vijay gave to the DCP and is shocked by its contents. He soon receives a phone-call saying that if he wants to see his son again, he will have to bring the disc to the men who have Deepu, his son, hostage. At this meeting, it is revealed that D'Silva was alive all along and is actually Vardhan, Boris' other lieutenant. In other words, Vardhan, posing as D'Silva, used Vijay to get closer to Singhania and eliminate his competitor. Jasjit somehow manages to escape with his son from the smugglers.

Jasjit meets Vijay [now at large] and Roma and reveals that D'Silva is really Vardhan. With this knowledge the three hatch a plot to help Interpol arrest Vardhan. The next day, Jasjit arranges a meeting with Vardhan in Langkawi, saying he will hand over the disc. The trio inform the Malaysian police and Interpol of the meeting and get Vardhan arrested. Vijay is badly injured in a final hand-to-hand combat with Vardhan, and is rushed to hospital. Before he leaves, Roma confesses her love for him. In a final twist, it is revealed that Don was alive all this time, and was pretending to be Vijay the whole time. While in the hospital, Don recovered quickly from his injuries, overhearing DCP D'Silva's conversation with Vijay. After Vijay's operation, Don got up from the room while D'Silva and Ashok were absent and went to the room where Vijay lay. He switched places with Vijay, taking Vijay off life support and causing him to die of heart failure. It is also revealed that the disc Don gave to the police was fake. Now with both Vardhan and Singhania removed from his path, Don becomes the master of entire Asian drug dealing ring.

Cast

• Shah Rukh Khan as Don and Vijay, An underworld crime boss who is obsessed with taking over the world where Vijay is a look alike of Don.
• Priyanka Chopra as Roma, A young woman who seeks revenge on Don for killing her brother Ramesh and his fiancee Kamini.
• Arjun Rampal as Jasjeet Ahuja, A man who was forced to steal diamonds but failed as he is now an ally to Don.
• Boman Irani as DCP D'Silva a.k.a Vardhaan, A police man who is also known as an ex criminal named Vardhaan.
• Isha Koppikar as Anita, Don's ally and girlfriend.
• Om Puri as Inspector Vishal Malik, The commissioner of the DCP Unit.
• Pawan Malhotra as Narang, Drug lord Singhania's right-hand man but was sent to a Malaysian prison.
• Rajesh Khattar as Singhania, Don and Narang's boss who was killed by Vardhaan.
• Tanay Chheda as Deepu, the son of Jasjeet and Geeta Ahuja who is now raised by Vijay.
• Satyajit Sharma as mystery man, An unknown man who trapped Jasjeet in a casket if he would steal things for him.

Special appearances:

• Chunky Pandey as Teja also known as TJ.
• Shanya Kumar as Geeta
• Kareena Kapoor as Kamini / Sonia
• Diwakar Pundir as Ramesh

Production

Eighty percent of the film was shot in Malaysia, and was filmed around the tropical Langkawi island as well as the Petronas Twin Towers and the Jalan Masjid India area, which is the "little India" of Kuala Lumpur. Shahrukh Khan was the first choice for the film.^[4] Akshay Kumar was offered the role of Jasjit but he rejected it saying he might have accepted if he had been offered the part of Don.^[5] Priyanka Chopra and Shahrukh Khan underwent special martial arts training for their roles in the movie and both performed their own stunts.^[6]

Soundtrack

The music was released on 26 August 2006 by T-Series, at the Inorbit Mall, Malad, Mumbai. Over 30000 people attended the function.^[7] The film has seven songs composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Two of the original songs, "Khaike Paan Banaraswala" and "Yeh Mera Dil" were remade for the movie. The song "Aaj Ki Raat" was used in the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire and is included in the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack.

Release

Box office

Don: The Chase Begins Again was released worldwide on 20 October 2006. It became the fifth highest grossing film of 2006 in India, with revenues of ₹510 million (US$7.5 million) domestically. Box Office India declared it a hit.^[8] It also grossed $7 million in overseas territories and was declared a blockbuster.^[9] The film grossed a total of ₹1.04 billion (US$15 million) worldwide.^[10]

Critical reception

Don opened to mixed reviews. Mumbai Mirror's Mayank Shekhar gave it a rating of 4 out of 5, criticizing the treatment of certain scenes in comparison to the original. He questioned the need for the remake, saying, "As adequate and astounding an echo it may be, Akhtar's film can at best hope to share its space, a rack or two lower in history, to an original voice. Let this be an ample aberration, and not a norm. We usually pay to watch films we haven't seen."^[11] Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India did not like a few casting choices.^[12] Khalid Mohammed of the Daily News and Analysis rated it 2 on a scale of 5, criticising the plot and saying that the " prime justification" for the film's existence was Khan, who was "a thousand notches above the material".^[13] Variety stated that the film "could have been much better."^[14]

Award nominations

2007 Filmfare Awards

Nominated

• Best Film
• Best Actor - Shahrukh Khan
• Best Music - Shankar Mahadevan, Loy Mendonsa, Ehsaan Noorani

2007 International Indian Film Academy Awards

Nominated

• Best Actor - Shahrukh Khan

2007 Asian Film Awards

Nominated

• Best Actor - Shahrukh Khan

Sequel

A sequel to the film, titled Don 2 was released on 23 December 2011. Shahrukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra reprised their roles as Don and Roma in the sequel. It also features Boman Irani and Om Puri from the original, with Lara Dutta Bhupathi and Kunal Kapoor as new characters.

Character map of remakes

References

External links

• Official Website
• Don at the Internet Movie Database