Don shares a special place and a mention in the category of Bollywood films on genre of mafia and goons. Actually this Don is out and out remake of Chandra Barot's 1978 original. While Amitabh Bachchan had a memorable and indistinguishable characterization as Don, Shahrukh Khan had more stylish, fiercely furnished character. SRK was so intriguing in his first venture of Don and he completely dominated the whole film. Coming back to the story, Farhan Akhtar has stole the show, even as halfway possible. Story itself is gripping and flawlessly directed film makes it more sophisticated to see decorated film in the 2000's decade. SRK as both Don and Vijay are ebullient to watch on screen. Priyanka Chopra as Roma is delightful to watch. Other actors to watch out for are Boman Irani, Om Puri and lesser way possible Arjun Rampal. Though Farhan Akhtar was mild to keep secrets safe and there had been a little let down due to predictability in the second half, it doesn't let you make fumble over exciting thrill. Suspense plots were aptly kept so that patrons could feel tense throughout the film. Secondly, film has more uprising like James Bond films. Plot, thrills, action etc all are comparable to Bond ventures. SRK is no less than a Bond to feature in such films and to lure people over his skills and charisma.

I could never have imagined that a remake of Amitabh Bachan's 'Don' from 1978 would have been considered by any director. I regard Farhan Akhtar as a film maker who has gone beyond the boundaries of commercial movies. His knowledge and understanding of movie making and concepts is more advanced than any other director of this generation. It was evident from his debut movie 'Dil chat hair', that he is talented individual. Many youngsters who aspire to become a director can learn a lot from viewing his movies. His father too was popular for writing movie scripts back in the seventies and eighties. This remake has not only exceeded the quality that was present in the original, but has integrated original thoughts and ideas too. 'Don' is truly the best Indian remake I have seen to date. No other remake has given a spellbinding experience that can be so unforgettable. What makes this movie unique is the concept. Prior to 'Don' there had been two movies which had similar themes, 'chinatown' and 'notorious'. Back in the nighties many movies had used undercover operation themes. Farhan Akhtar's Don is very high on the style factor. There is also a fresh and slick feel to it. The movie has a high production value. Shooting in Malaysia and the action sequences had most probably contributed towards higher costs. Small elements like these have made the movie appear more superior to the original. The climax portion without giving it away has been witnessed time and time again in Hollywood. However the use of it in this movie has given it the unique touch. The plot twist in the ending actually makes the movies stand out in comparison to the original.**********************SPOILERS*********************** The main core of this movie lies on the double role scenario and how the undercover operation entwines together. Don is a international criminal who is on the wanted list. He supplies drugs on an international level and uses Malaysia as his base. Inspector Vardhan (Boman Irani) is hell bent on bringing him to justice. Vardhan is informed that Don will be in India to make a drugs deal. Vardhan appears on the scene to apprehend him but eventually admits Don in a state of unconsciousness. He is in a coma and kept in hospital. No one knows about it. This gives Vardhan an idea to approach Don's duplicate (Vijay) who is a normal guy that lives in Mumbai, to rejoin the gang undercover and hand over to him a disk. This disk contains all confidential information regarding Don's business connections with his boss Singhania.Vijay learns that Don's boss Singhania will be at a party. Vardhaan takes the opportunity to kill Singhania, but also gets killed after a gunfight ensues between Singhania's men and the police. Vijay is arrested and is taken in to custody along with Don's men. After failing to convince the authorities that he is not Don but is Vijay, he is flown to another location by plane to be put on trial. However he escapes and decides to prove his innocence by locating the disk. ****************END OF SPOILERS******************* Farhan has given the movie a very updated and modern feel. His perception of the theme is unique. I don't think any other director could have presented the movie in this style. His directing abilities were displayed at the highest standard. The quality of direction is what sets the movie apart from anything else. The cinematography is another element that gives the movie the lavish image. Many wide angle shots are breathtakingly captured. For example when Don is playing golf, the view of the ocean is seen well too. Initially I felt it was difficult to accept Shahruck in the villain role once again. He did not possess the same fear factor that was present in earlier roles in movies like 'Baazigar' or 'Anjaam'. The negative portion in his role was only evident in the first 35 minutes, so there was less scope in that part. However I was not disappointed by his effort. It was commendable. Sometimes one would feel that he tried too hard.The movies running time was kept to the same as the original. The director has surprisingly managed to achieve this. Personally I don't feel there was any need for this. Maybe a few minutes short would have given the movie a faster pace. Arjun Rampal's character was not enhanced either. This contributed to the movie's longer duration. His involvement was not required until the climax. I expected his role to contribute to the movie to a much larger extent. The climax and Prue climax portion of the movie is the surprise element. In contrast to the original it has been altered in a positive manner to suit ones tastes. In many ways it is more sensible and also seems like an improvement. The climax also encourages the viewer to re watch the movie and search the plot holes. To my amazement I could not uncover any due to the change in the climax. Unfortunately in many other scenes there were flaws which had not come to the editor's attention.All performances were to standard. Sharuck displays his different shades convincingly. He gives a good performance which is certainly better than Amitabh Bachans. Priyanka Chopra was the actress that had the closest resemblance to Zeenat Aman. She also makes a good attempt at martial arts and is very glamorous. Her role was well integrated in to the movie. Kareena Kapoor gives a 5 to 10 minute special appearance, which does not go unnoticed. Boman Irani should have lost some weight for his role but he gives a good performance as the cop. Overall if you are a fan of remakes then this is surely recommended. I will be sure to catch the sequel when it releases.

First of all,I have never liked remakes and feel they should never be made but when this movie's promo came..i thought that this would be interesting to watch,but some days prior to release i watched the original don and was absolutely mesmerized by Amitabh's performance in the movie which gave him the Filmfare best actor award.Of course,the best thing about original version was it's unpredictability as we never knew what is going to happen, that's why i think that a suspense movie like don should not be remade. in the new version we know everything that will unfold except a couple of twists with one in the climax, which makes the movie boring, to be honest.After 2 good movies Dil Chahta Hai and Lakshya, Don is the weakest attempt of Farhan Akhtar,the music and background score by Shankar Ehsaan Loy is good though just like the original version.Now for performances, Shahrukh is OK as don but sucks as Vijay, maybe he just can't relate to Vijay's character which probably Amitabh easily did being a Chora Ganga Kinaare Waala himself(pun intended) as he's from Allahabad, even in don's role Shahrukh blatantly overacts in some scenes to be honest, to be straightforward he's incomparable to Amitabh in the original..no offence for Shahrukh fans but he was way better in movies like Chak De India,Swades,Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi,My Name Is Khan, DDLJ, Baazigar, Darr.. Priyanka is good though, Arjun is OK,Boman is OK but overacts in the climax,Om Puri is wasted as he has no role!!, Isha Koppikar's got nothing to do..While the original don unfolded at a feverish pace with excellent acting and dialogues by Amitabh, it was a taut thriller hence keeping everyone glued to their seats throughout, this one is slow and boring most of the time, and the copied dialogues from original don is a bad idea. But the new movie does have a different style, the action scenes are OK.At box office this movie was a moderate success not like the original don which was a Superhit,this movie was a moderate success also due to Sharukh's popularity overseas while this movie was a below average fare in India but a Superhit overseas..making it a moderate success overall, and also the factor that many people watched it to see how Shahrukh's steps into Amitabh's shoes.Watch it if you are a die hard Shahrukh fan or like style over substance, but if you've seen original don you can clearly feel how much better the original was..

I was initially sceptical about Don being remade because the original Don is one of my favourite Amitabh movies and was even more sceptical when I found out that son of Javed Akthar, Farhan Akthar was going to direct it. I was however pleasantly surprised, though not quite as good as the original but considering that most remakes are terrible it was decent entertainment. There are however some quite serious flaws. One of Farhan Akthar direction, his movies are known to be slow and stately paced, for instance Dil Chata Hai. Unfortunately Farhan Akthar brought that same slow stately pace to Don, which considering Don is meant to be a fast paced action thriller can be a huge flaw. Another flaw is that the original Don had an element of surprise and since this is a remake the element of surprise disappears because I already know that the policeman(In the original played by Om Shivpuri, in the remake played by Boman Irani)will be the head of the criminals. Thankfully it is not a complete disaster, Shah Rukh Khan almost saves the movie singlehandedly. His rendition of Khaike Pan Banaraswala could have fallen flat on its face but instead is a success. Another saving grace is the twist ending, which was not in the original that had me reeling from the shock days later. As far as remakes come, you could do a whole lot worse than Don.