Don 2
Don 2: The King Is Back is a 2011 Indian Hindi language action thriller film written, co-produced and directed by Farhan Akhtar. It is the second installment in the Don reboot series and sequel to Don: The Chase Begins Again. Jointly produced by Excel Entertainment and Red Chillies Entertainment, the film stars Shah Rukh Khan, alongside Priyanka Chopra, Boman Irani, Lara Dutta, Om Puri, Nawab Shah, Ally Khan, Sahil Shroff and Kunal Kapoor. Set five years after the events of the first film, Don, a powerful international drug lord, plans to steal currency printing plates from a bank in Berlin to take over the counterfeiting business in Europe, while Roma has joined Interpol to hunt him down.
The soundtrack of the film was composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, while Javed Akhtar penned the lyrics. Jason West served as the cinematographer, while the editing was handled by Anand Subaya. After the success of the first film, Akhtar had planned a sequel in 2010 which did not work out. It was then officially announced in early 2010, with filming scheduled to begin later that year. Principal photography took place in Berlin, where it was shot extensively.
Don 2 was released on 23 December 2011 in 2D and 3D formats, which also included dubbed versions in Telugu and Tamil languages. The film received positive reviews from critics with praise for its story, cinematography, production design, music, action sequences and cast performances. With a box office gross of over, Don 2 became a commercial success and was the 3rd highest-grossing Hindi film of 2011.
Don 2 received a number of accolades across various ceremonies in India. At the 57th Filmfare Awards, Don 2 received 5 nominations in award categories including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor, and won 2 awards – Best Action and Best Sound Design.
Plot
Five years after the events of Don, Don now plans to take over the European drug trade next. The European drug cartel bosses meet to discuss about killing Don as he is jeopardizing their business by undercutting their prices. Living in Thailand for the last five years, Don goes to a remote settlement to pick up a shipment of cocaine. Don gets cornered by his own associates, who reveal that they were offered a deal by the Europeans to have their cocaine from Asia open for sale in Europe. Don makes his way out by killing the men and destroying the entire settlement.Don returns to Malaysia and surrenders to Detective Malik and Roma, who has now joined Interpol, where he is sentenced to death, sent to prison and soon meets his old rival Vardhaan. Vardhaan tries to exact revenge on Don for having him imprisoned but agrees to work together when Don offers him an opportunity to escape. Don and Vardhaan eventually break out by poisoning the other inmates. Don meets his trusted companion Ayesha and they retrieve a tape from a secret locker in Zurich whose key was under Vardhaan's possession. It shows J. K. Diwan, vice president of the Euro-printing DZB, paying Singhania to kill James Werden, the original choice for the bank’s president, so that Diwan's superior Fabian Kohl would get the post. Singhania was killed by Vardhaan five years earlier. Don blackmails Diwan into giving him the discs containing the bank's blueprints so that he can steal the printing plates. Diwan gives him blank discs and hires Abdul Jabbar, a deadly hit man.
Don escapes and bribes Jabbar to work for him instead. With no other choice, Diwan gives him the real discs. Roma and Malik arrive in Berlin and unsuccessfully interrogate Diwan, while Don and his team execute a bank robbery. After stealing the printing plates, Don is betrayed by Vardhaan and Jabbar, but Don, having anticipated this, escapes from the bank. Don's team member Sameer, whom Don met earlier to discuss his plans, calls the police on Don, who ends up being arrested. However, Don blackmails Diwan into giving him German immunity in exchange for erasing the evidence of him being involved in James Warden's death. Don negotiates with the Berlin Police and Interpol over surrendering the plates and a disc, which contains the details of the European underworld, in exchange for the safety of the hostages and defusing the bombs in the bank.
Don and Roma reach Vardhaan after a bloody combat with his thugs and find themselves in a standoff. Though ordered by Vardhaan and Jabbar - and Don - Roma is unable to kill Don and is shot by Jabbar in response; she still has feelings for him, but does not want to kill him illegally. Despite the setback, Don subdues Vardhaan and kills Jabbar. Following Vardhaan's arrest, Don obtains his immunity papers and surrenders the plates and the disc as agreed, while also getting Roma to an ambulance. Later, Don detonates a bomb planted in Diwan's car, killing Diwan and seemingly destroying the plates he had taken.
It is later revealed that Don still has the real currency plates as the ones that were destroyed in the car explosion were fake. It also turns out that Sameer was actually still loyal to Don and informing the police was part of Don's plan. The disc actually contains the names of the European cartel bosses, who conspired to finish Don. As a result, Kohl and the European cartel bosses end up being arrested and sent to prison, alongside Vardhaan. Having succeeded in taking down Vardhaan and the European bosses, Don becomes the king of both the Asian and European underworlds with Sameer and Ayesha by his side. Don calls it the perfect crime.
Cast
Production
Development
A sequel was announced in 2007, a year after the release of Don by Farhan Akhtar. However, the film got delayed due to Shah Rukh Khan's shoulder surgery. The original cast reprised their roles except for Arjun Rampal and Ishaa Koppikar; Lara Dutta and Kunal Kapoor were cast in new roles. Akhtar said that he decided to make a sequel to his 2006 film because it "gave him a lot of freedom to explore the character". Khan copyrighted a tattoo of "D" on his arm and grew his hair long for the film.Khan exercised extensively for the role and performed almost all the stunts by himself. Don 2 marked Khan's return to playing villains after earlier films such as Darr and Baazigar. Chopra learned martial arts and trained for over two months. Boman Irani lost 12 kg for the role and grew a beard to make his character look "cold, cunning and deceitful"; he felt that playing a villain was "a big stretch" for him as an actor. Dutta was cast after Koppikar, who played the role in Don, dropped out of the film. She was recommended to Akhtar by Khan, who had worked with her on Billu in 2009. However, her role was changed after her casting, and turned out to be a different character than Koppikar's. In an interview with The Hindustan Times, Dutta said that it was exciting to play a new character, since there would be no predecessor to live up to.
Filming
The principal photography of Don 2 began in October 2010 in Berlin, becoming the first Hindi film to be shot there. The decision to shoot in the city was made after Khan attended the Berlin International Film Festival for its screening of My Name is Khan and realised that the city provided the required realistic backdrop for the film. Before shooting began the German government announced the film on its website, promising support and co-operation during filming. A 70-member Indian crew travelled to the city for two weeks of preparation for shooting. Scenes were filmed at the Brandenburg Gate, the Alexanderplatz, the French Cathedral and the East Side Gallery. The German government provided €3 million in incentives to the film's producers, since it was shot in Berlin. The shoot cost €6.8 million.Khan experimented with several looks and performed his own stunts in the film. In Berlin, he performed a 300-foot jump for a scene. A car-chase scene using 67 cars closed main thoroughfares for three weeks. Each day, alternate routes were provided around roads cordoned off for filming. The shooting schedule also included a special appearance by Hrithik Roshan, whose presence was kept under wraps by filmmakers. In December 2010, the Berlin schedule ended. In February 2011, the actors flew to Malaysia, where several scenes were shot in Malacca Prison with prisoners as extras. A section of the prison block was made available for filming, with special T-shirts distinguishing crew members from prisoners in the high-security zone. Khan trained with Hollywood stunt and fight director Wolfgang Stegemann, who also played Karl in the film.
In September 2011, filming resumed on a song featuring the two leads. Another song was shot with Khan in Goa in late November, only a month before the film's release. The song was shot as an action sequence, but did not appear in the film. In August 2011, the producers said they will release Don 2 in 3D. The idea of 3D conversion occurred to Akhtar while shooting; after tests in Los Angeles, it was decided to convert the entire film. The director of photography had used special lenses, which made conversion easier. Sidhwani said that the idea of converting the film into 3D came to him after seeing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. Chuck Comisky, a veteran S-3D innovator who supervised 3D stereo and visual effects for Avatar and Sanctum, was given the job. Anand Subaya was the editor and Jason West served as the director of photography. The digital intermediate and VFX of Don 2 were by Pixion Studios, and the 3D conversion by Reliance Mediaworks.