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Thursday, October 10, 2024
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BOLLYWOOD DON 2 – THE CHASE CONTINUES
EDITOR'S PICK
Rating: ***
The King says he is back. Long live the King. King Khan, or Shah Rukh as some of
us prefer to call him, is seen at the pinnacle of precociousness in this
pitch-perfect tongue-in-cheek homage to the espionage thriller.
But this is not your average `Don-returns-because-he-had-to` kind of predictable
sequel. Farhan Akhtar with the keen participation of his ebullient writer Ameet
Mehta and Amrish Shah, comes up with a cool concoction that prefers to let the
action speak louder than words.
There are enough throwaway lines given to Don to make him fly high as a
superhero of the underworld even when he`s locked away for life? Like Tom Cruise
in Misssion Impossible 4 last week, Shah Rukh`s journey into valiant
viciousness begins with a jailbreak. It then speeds into a kind of con caper
which could go anywhere. It goes to Switzerland where the action is relentless.
And it`s not only about the flying bullets and speeding cars.
Don`s world is governed by a kind of subverted moral censorship where he, and
nobody else, decides right from wrong. Into this world of win-win wickedness
where Don reigns supreme, Farhan Akhtar infuses an intelligence that isn`t only
connected to agencies.
Queerly, Don doesn`t encourage human ties. And since Don decides the destiny of
the plot the relationships within the plot therefore do not grow substantially.
Farhan portrays human attachment almost as an embarrassment, a hyphen in a film
that is punctuated with exclamation marks. The ony tender moment in the
screenplay occurs when an affable computer hacker (Kunal Kapoor) caresses his
pregnant wife`s belly. The moment passes quickly. And we move to Don`s next
level of purported ingenuity.
The relationship between Don and his `junglee billi` Roma (Priyanka Chopra,
hair, makeup and clothes and not much else in place) is barely given a nod by
the screenplay. You wonder how Don calls her Junglee Billi since she`s so
immaculate and impervious all through. Maybe it`s a private joke between them.
We will never know. Or would we?
Watch out for Don 3. Hopefully Don would be married to Roma and growing
vegetables in a village in Spain while the Interpol follows his trail in
Pakistan.
Not all of it makes sense. Some of it, you suspect, is pointless to even Don
himself. But the film exudes a kind of uber-chic temperament that we`ve hardly
ever seen in our films.
Precocious and audacious, with his tongue wedged stubbornly in his cheek, Don is
back in edgy laconic look back in rancour. The chase is restrained. The thrills
are austere, almost severe. Farhan Akhtar is determined not to go over-the-top
even as his evil protagonist does just that.
Bollywood's multi-faceted talent Farhan Akhtar, who is looking forward to the release of his next movie "Lucknow Central" -- about a music band of prisoners -- feels the Indian audience has evolved from fantasy films to stories which are about real issues and are inspired from their surroundings. Read More
Came with intention of becoming Bollywood villain: Jackie ShroffActor Jackie Shroff, who debuted in Bollywood as the main lead in Subhash Ghai's "Hero", says he had come to be a part of the Hindi film industry with an intention to become a villain on screen. Read More
Shah Rukh Khan and Farhan Akhtar are back with Don 2, the most highly anticipated film of 2011.
Having conquered the Asian underworld, Don (Khan) now has his sights on European domination. In his way are the bosses of the existing European underworld and all law enforcement angencies.
The action shifts from Kuala Lumpur to Berlin as Don must avoid assassination or arrest, whichever comes first, in order for his plan to succeed.
Don 2 releases in theaters worldwide on December 23rd, 2011.
