Don (2006 Hindi film)


Don: The Chase Begins Again is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film written and directed by Farhan Akhtar, with lyrical and adaptive screenwriting contributions by his father, Javed Akhtar. Produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan under Excel Entertainment, the film stars Shah Rukh Khan in a dual role as the titular criminal and his look-alike Vijay, alongside Priyanka Chopra as Roma. The supporting cast includes Arjun Rampal, Isha Koppikar, Boman Irani, Om Puri, and Pavan Malhotra, with Kareena Kapoor appearing in a special appearance. A remake of the 1978 film of the same name, originally written by Javed alongside Salim Khan as the duo Salim-Javed, it follows a man recruited by the police to impersonate a wounded drug lord and infiltrate his criminal organization.
Conceived as both a remake and homage to the original film and the 1970s era of Hindi cinema, the project was envisioned by Farhan with a modern, international treatment. He retained the core plot while introducing new elements. Principal photography took place in Mumbai and extensively in Malaysia, which served as the backdrop for over 80% of the film. The soundtrack, composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, features both original tracks and updated versions of iconic songs from the 1978 original.
Don was released theatrically on 20 October 2006 during the Diwali festival, clashing with Jaan-E-Mann. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised its stylized action sequences, production design, soundtrack, cinematography, and the performances of Khan and Chopra. The film grossed over ₹1.06 billion worldwide against a budget of ₹400 million, becoming the fifth highest-grossing Hindi film of the year. The film's twist ending was particularly well-received, allowing the remake to be seen as a standalone narrative rather than a mere retelling.
Don won the Best Asian Film award at the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival and earned nine nominations at the 52nd Filmfare Awards, including Best Film and Best Actor. A sequel, Don 2, was released on 23 December 2011.

Plot

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the Asian illegal drug trade is thriving under the leadership of Singhania, one of two lieutenants of the late drug kingpin Boris. Singhania’s network is managed by his trusted associate Don, a powerful and elusive criminal. Deputy Commissioner of Police D'Silva leads a special task force targeting the cartel. His objective is to capture Don and dismantle the organization. Don, however, remains untouchable and ruthless, murdering Ramesh, a gang member who attempts to exit the business. Ramesh's fiancée, Kamini, tries to help the police trap Don but is also killed. Roma, Ramesh’s sister, joins Don’s gang to avenge her brother and Kamini’s deaths.
During a failed police operation, Don is severely injured and falls into a coma. Seeing an opportunity, D'Silva recruits Vijay, a lookalike of Don and a simpleton from Mumbai who makes a living performing stunts. D'Silva trains Vijay to impersonate Don and infiltrate the gang, promising to arrange schooling for Deepu, a child Vijay cares for. Meanwhile, Jasjit, Deepu’s estranged father and a former IT professional, is released from prison. Years earlier, Jasjit was coerced into stealing diamonds to save his kidnapped wife but was caught by D'Silva, who did not believe his story. Jasjit's wife died during the ordeal, and he now seeks revenge.
In the hospital, Vijay undergoes surgery to match Don’s appearance. When Don dies from cardiac arrest, Vijay assumes his identity and re-enters the criminal world. D'Silva assigns Vijay to recover a disc containing details of the cartel’s operations. During this mission, Roma attempts to kill him, but D'Silva intervenes and reveals Vijay’s true identity. Vijay retrieves the disc and hands it to D'Silva, who later kills Singhania in a nightclub raid. During the shootout, D'Silva is fatally wounded, leaving Vijay without anyone to confirm his real identity. Arrested and disavowed by Don’s associates, Vijay escapes during a prisoner transport and seeks out Roma to prove his innocence.
Jasjit, meanwhile, finds the disc in D'Silva’s apartment but is forced to exchange it for Deepu’s life when he is contacted by the boy’s captors. He discovers that D'Silva is alive and is actually Vardhaan—the second of Boris’s lieutenants, long believed to be missing. Vardhaan had orchestrated the entire plan, using Vijay to eliminate Singhania and gain control of the cartel. Jasjit rescues Deepu and joins forces with Vijay and Roma. Together, they inform Interpol, and Vardhaan is arrested after a confrontation with Vijay.
With his name cleared, a wounded Vijay is taken to the hospital, where Roma confesses her love for him. He responds affectionately, but as he is wheeled away, Roma, remembering Vijay's response similar to what Don had said when they first met, realizes—too late—that he is not Vijay. In a twist ending, it is revealed that Don is actually alive, pretending to be Vijay all along. During the initial hospital encounter Don had recovered from his coma during the earlier police encounter and overheard D'Silva and Vijay’s plan. After the surgery, Don swapped places with Vijay and later murdered him by injecting a fatal dose of diazepam, making doctors believe Don had died. The disc he later surrendered to authorities was a fake. With both Singhania and Vardhaan removed, Don successfully reclaims his identity and position at the helm of the Asian drug cartel.

Cast

  • Shahrukh Khan as Mark Donald a.k.a. Don / Vijay Pal
  • Arjun Rampal as Jasjit "J. J" Ahuja
  • Priyanka Chopra as Roma Bhagat
  • Isha Koppikar as Anita Sinha
  • Boman Irani as DCP D'Silva / Vardhaan Makhija
  • Om Puri as Interpol Officer Vishal Malik
  • Kareena Kapoor as Kamini Arora / Sonia
  • Pavan Malhotra as Narang Singh
  • Rajesh Khattar as Singhania, Don's boss.
  • Tanay Chheda as Deepak "Deepu" Ahuja, J. J.'s son.
  • Satyajit Sharma as Mystery Man
  • Nissar Khan as Haatim Qureshi
  • Chunky Pandey as T. J.
  • Sushma Reddy as Geeta Ahuja, J. J.'s wife.
  • Diwakar Pundir as Ramesh Bhagat, Roma's brother.

    Production

Development

conceived the idea to remake the 1978 film of the same name after listening to a remixed version of a song from the original film. In early 2005, media started reporting that Akhtar was planning to remake the film, but rather than confirming the news, he revealed that though he was writing the screenplay based on the film, he would take the final decision after completing the script. The director co-wrote the film with his father, Javed Akhtar, who had also written the original film with Salim Khan.
Akhtar revealed that the reason behind the remake was a desire to give a new treatment to "a fantastic film which he enjoyed watching as a child", and create an adaptation that he thought would suit modern times. He found the film a little ahead of its time for its narration, dialogues and the writing style. Akhtar said, "Don is the one film from that time that in my mind lends itself to being remade today. So today, when you adapt it, it fits very easily into a contemporary space. I think it fits into the modern sensibility of movie viewing." Additionally, he wanted to pay tribute to the stars and makers of the original film, the 1970s era in general, and the films made by Salim–Javed and Amitabh Bachchan.
Akhtar introduced a number of changes to suit modern sensibilities, notably including aspects of the climax as he felt the original ending was outdated for today's audiences. On the other hand, a number of elements from the original were retained in the new film, notably the background score, two songs, some dialogue, and some situations, all of which Akhtar believed were fine in the original, saying that not including them would be a crime.

Casting

Akhtar initially wanted Hrithik Roshan for the titular character, after having worked with him on Lakshya. However, Akhtar felt that the character required a more mature actor, saying he wanted "a face that had seen the world and roughed it out." The director said that Roshan's innocence was not right for the role, and instead cast Shah Rukh Khan for the part that had been portrayed by Amitabh Bachchan in the 1978 film. Akhtar believed that Khan was the most suitable for the role, saying, "He has the personality, the style, the flair, the larger than life persona, the sense of humour and the sheer magnetism that this character requires." Khan also played villains in earlier films such as Baazigar, Darr, Anjaam and Ram Jaane.
In July 2005, Priyanka Chopra was cast to play Roma, a role originally played by Zeenat Aman. Akhtar found Chopra to be perfect for the role, saying, "There is a docile sensuality about her which suits the character." When he offered the role to her, she was excited to play the character and immediately agreed to do the film. Later that month Arjun Rampal and Isha Koppikar joined the cast. While Rampal was cast as Jasjit, played by Pran in the original, after Akshay Kumar turned down the role for being secondary, Koppikar was cast in a completely new role that was not in the original film. In August 2005, Kareena Kapoor was confirmed to appear in the song "Yeh Mera Dil", which had been performed by Helen in the original film.
Khan, Chopra, and Rampal underwent extensive martial arts training from an expert from the Shaolin Temple. The principal cast received training in different kinds of martial arts. Khan revealed that he had always wanted to look the way Amitabh Bachchan had in his films, but he said he gave his own interpretation to the role. After signing to do the film, Chopra was very excited, but a few days later, she became nervous, wondering if she would be able to do justice to the character. Having seen the original film as a teenager, Chopra avoided watching the film again as she did not want to imitate Zeenat Aman's portrayal of Roma. She made a conscious effort to give her own look and style to the character.
This was Chopra's first action role, and she was excited to the part, so she wanted to do all the stunts by herself. After Chopra decided to perform her own stunts, Akhtar revealed that he was happy as it gave him the scope to film the fight sequences from different angles. Rampal, in the role of Jasjit, said that he approached his character in a way similar to how Pran had played it in the original but with an emotional graph. Boman Irani, who plays DCP D'Silva, a role performed by Iftekhar in the original film, revealed that he played the role according to what suited the script, but retained some of the dignity from that film.