Sunday, November 12, 2006

Don -- A twist in the tale


Warning: There are spoilers ahead. In case you haven't seen the movie and intend seeing it, you shouldn't read further.

Ah.. Here I am.. back with a movie review... late again... but nevertheless... I probably can't sleep if I don't put my thoughts on my blog! It was another SRK movie and it took most of my will-power to convince myself I wanted to see this movie. And I am going to be honest and accept here that I voted to see this movie this past weekend amongst the few other lousy choices I had. I must mention here for the benefit of the non-existant few that this is a remake of the 1978 Amitabh starrer cum cult hit movie. Many songs are reproduced and given a, I want to say fresh whiff, but I'm afraid I don't lie

So, amongst us we had V who'd seen the movie, raved a bit about it and was going to keep us informed about it should we miss a few golden moments. And the movie starts in a cafe in Paris where SRK is using a RAZR and just utters "Don" into the mouthpiece. While it zooms out on his face, the first thing you notice is that he's aged. He really has. At 42, he looks every day of it, lines on his face and everything. Plus, they've given him this hideous hairpiece - a chinese wig as we all christened it (the hair was too shiny n sleek n silky to be Indian). And for most part, I couldn't keep my eyes off the reflection from the hair.

One of the first things you tend to notice is that the movie is slick. The cinematography rocking. The sets good. Locations foreign. Modern gadgets, et al. No waste of time. It cuts scene by scene very swiftly and doesn't drag the wee bit that its predecessor did. Comes the song, "Ye mera dil..", the Helen seducer number, you are shocked by how incredulously out of place Kareena Kapoor looks. Not only is she an average dancer compared to the smoking siren Helen was, you are certain to feel that she is suffering to catch up with the pace of the song and unless a man were thoroughly desparate, he would hardly wanna be in the same room as her, let alone be seduced. In contrast, Priyanka Chopra wasnt so bad a replacement for Zeenat. But she could've been better. Boman Irani who plays the inspector is his good self and Om Puri's involvement seems abbreviated. Arjun Rampal has done a decent job. And obviously poor SRK has done his bit to emulate the master (in the villainous part, I must accept he is good. But the other part makes up for this good perfomance - a total fiasco

When the simpleton SRK is introduced is the moment of truth that SRK was good for all the anti-hero roles he's done. His two roles in this movie contrast so much you can make the stark difference. As a villain, he is slick, and importantly believably wicked. Whereas as the innocent guy, a Bhaiya at that, he comes across as plain and artificial, especially because his dialect undergoes rapid changes from "humra" to "humara" and "ka" to "kya". Its distinct and is a big hole in the whole plot.

The biggest credit for the movie must go to the story tellers and the cinematographer who have certainly used the mold of the old movie to fashion something new. A big word of praise must go to the guys who thought up the theme of the original Don. To think such a complicated theme at a time of limited resources and making a blockbuster of it is something. This movie is smooth, sleek and slick. It moves rapidly and you hardly realize you have gotten yourself into a 2 hr 47 min commitment.

There's a big twist in the tale. In this one, the Don kills the simpleton way at the beginning and misleads everyone to think he is the simpleton posing as the Don to get all the benefits of the innocent man. This is tastefully revealed in the last scene and though there've been hints thrown all along, its only at that scene that one tends to pick the fragments and piece the puzzle together. And that literally spread this warmth inside of me that instantly endeared the movie to me.

And for this, Don to me, is a good movie. Definitely worth a watch -- Go for it.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

best.. check out this movie called illusionist.. its dam good
check it out and write one of ur verbose reviews..
i promise the movie will be more interesting

Anonymous said...

jaya recommending a SRK film? then i definitely force myself to see it !

Anonymous said...

Nice review.

It would be more intresting if the last couple of minutes were shown, just without any narraration plus fast editing !!

Well overall the movie is OK, but when movies like "The Departed" is rocking our ppl are struggling with an X-Block buster.

Anonymous said...

Nice review.

It would be more intresting if the last couple of minutes were shown, just without any narraration plus fast editing !!

Well overall the movie is OK, but when movies like "The Departed" is rocking our ppl are struggling with an X-Block buster.

Anonymous said...

Interesting review..i concur with most of it...kareena absolutely sucked..and om puri was wasted.. but there are other things as well i think srk dint eally look the part either as don or up bhaiya..i think abhishek bachan would have def better fitted the role..but full marks to the plot(albeit most of which was borrowed), the twists(atleast the remake had something different to say), cinematography, graphics,..however the childish fight in the end between boman and srk could have been avoided..and yeah most of the songs seem out of place...but then overall the movie i guess was worth watching a rare srk movie at that... btw i havent seen the earlier version (neither in hindi nor in tamil)though have heard the story, courtesy friends :)

Anonymous said...

Aravind -> Believe it... decent try this one...

Peri -> Donot compare Hollywood to Bollywood or not so directly atleast! I am just happy we r moving away from many sappy themes to slicker movies like Don or Dhoom, etc. The move has begun.. There will be someday when it is complete (as long as u take Karan Johar off the equation!)

Sud-> Right on.. Boman Irani n SRK's fight was probably to show off the location! ;) Baaki sab we agree with so I have nothing much to say except.. WATCH THE OLD DON!

Anonymous said...

"In this one, the Don kills the simpleton way at the beginning and misleads everyone to think he is the simpleton posing as the Don to get all the benefits of the innocent man. "
WOW that certainly was a spoiler.....
Anyways you warned me.....
It is certainly possible to write darn good reviews without giving out much of the story.

Anonymous said...

Vigs dude, there was a warning... And i agree its totally possible to write good reviews without spoilers.. but i just wrote what i thought and didnt think i was giving away much...

Post a Comment