Niraj Rathod
Member
- Joined
- 29 Oct 2011
- Messages
- 1,173
- Reaction score
- 522
Making sequels may be a norm in Hollywood, and usually justified. But in case of Hindi cinema, every sequel seems to denote only draught of ideas.
While the Amitabh Bachchan starrer Don went down as an evergreen hit, Farhan Akhtar's Don bordered on average merits; why then Don 2? More so since nothing seems to work with Don 2, not even the curiosity value that the earlier film enjoyed!
Shah Rukh Khan is the undisputed Don of whole of Asia and you have to take his word for it as he declares so in his monologue at the onset of the film. He now wants to cast his net far and wide; conquer European underworld. In their turn, the European dons of various countries want to finish Shah Rukh Khan; these underworld dons always seem to know what the other dons are up to.
Thus, to set the pace of the film, it starts with an action sequence, Shah Rukh Khan foils an attempt on his life braving many shooters, snipers and those pointing guns at him at close range; he is invincible. His next move is to embark on Berlin, Germany. Here on, the pace is forgotten and so is Shah Rukh Khan's purpose to annihilate all European dons; for some reason, his priority is to steal currency printing plates from the local federal bank.
What follows is the copybook pattern of heist films: plan a heist, assemble a team of various expertises and commit a heist where usually the group breaks up killing each other or getting killed in the process. All the information about heists is available on net but how to build a script! It is also mandatory to have quite a few twists and turns and edge of the seat moments, which are missing in Don 2.
One can follow the copybook heist but the substance has to be written at home. Don 2 disappoints on all these counts; the planning and blabbering take up most of the footage leading to restlessness; to say that is to say that in this 2 hour 30 minute film, not till the last half an hour or so that there is some excitement. There is no romance in the film as such other than Shah Rukh Khan proclaiming again and again that Priyanka Chopra is in love with him and has not been able to forget him. Of course, after all, he is the don, the king, how can he be emotional about anyone? As for Priyanka Chopra, she is an Interpol officer from Thailand with about to retire Om Puri as her boss; it is another thing that he does not retire and tags along with Priyanka; actually he should have since his character is hardly material to the events. Others in the heist team comprise Boman Irani, an enemy of the don who joins forces with him only to get even besides Kunal Kapoor, a computer nerd and hacker, and Nawab Shah, a contract killer.
Besides insipid writing, the problem with Shah Rukh Khan in the lead is that, almost everybody around him from Boman Irani to Nawab Shah and all the goons around dwarf him totally; added to this is the missing of usual Shah Rukh Khan Charm of yore as he looks withered. Not that the role offers much except making tall claims at the same time belying the film's legendary tagline, 'Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahi namoomkin hai' since here he pleads or bargain for his release. In short, the hero in him is missing. Priynka Chopra has to look alert and intelligent and gets to change a few expressions; Saahil Shroff, with stars in his eyes for Priyanka Chopra with his one-sided love, has just that much to do. Boman Irani does not quite fit into the scenario and, he, as a weak main villain only makes hero that much ineffective. Nawab Shah tries to impress. Kunal Kapoor is okay.
Farhan Akhtar's drawback as director starts at the script level which is rank bad and he, as a director, can't surmount this shortcoming; dialogue is uninspiring with just about four or five places worth chuckling. Musically, the film is totally lacking. What are good about the film are cinematography, action and special effects, all thanks to foreign crews.
Having opened to indifference response coupled with mediocre content juxtaposed to it huge cost, Don 2 is slated to be a disappointment.
http://www.indiantelevision.com/aac/y2k11/aac2206.php
While the Amitabh Bachchan starrer Don went down as an evergreen hit, Farhan Akhtar's Don bordered on average merits; why then Don 2? More so since nothing seems to work with Don 2, not even the curiosity value that the earlier film enjoyed!
Shah Rukh Khan is the undisputed Don of whole of Asia and you have to take his word for it as he declares so in his monologue at the onset of the film. He now wants to cast his net far and wide; conquer European underworld. In their turn, the European dons of various countries want to finish Shah Rukh Khan; these underworld dons always seem to know what the other dons are up to.
Thus, to set the pace of the film, it starts with an action sequence, Shah Rukh Khan foils an attempt on his life braving many shooters, snipers and those pointing guns at him at close range; he is invincible. His next move is to embark on Berlin, Germany. Here on, the pace is forgotten and so is Shah Rukh Khan's purpose to annihilate all European dons; for some reason, his priority is to steal currency printing plates from the local federal bank.
What follows is the copybook pattern of heist films: plan a heist, assemble a team of various expertises and commit a heist where usually the group breaks up killing each other or getting killed in the process. All the information about heists is available on net but how to build a script! It is also mandatory to have quite a few twists and turns and edge of the seat moments, which are missing in Don 2.
One can follow the copybook heist but the substance has to be written at home. Don 2 disappoints on all these counts; the planning and blabbering take up most of the footage leading to restlessness; to say that is to say that in this 2 hour 30 minute film, not till the last half an hour or so that there is some excitement. There is no romance in the film as such other than Shah Rukh Khan proclaiming again and again that Priyanka Chopra is in love with him and has not been able to forget him. Of course, after all, he is the don, the king, how can he be emotional about anyone? As for Priyanka Chopra, she is an Interpol officer from Thailand with about to retire Om Puri as her boss; it is another thing that he does not retire and tags along with Priyanka; actually he should have since his character is hardly material to the events. Others in the heist team comprise Boman Irani, an enemy of the don who joins forces with him only to get even besides Kunal Kapoor, a computer nerd and hacker, and Nawab Shah, a contract killer.
Besides insipid writing, the problem with Shah Rukh Khan in the lead is that, almost everybody around him from Boman Irani to Nawab Shah and all the goons around dwarf him totally; added to this is the missing of usual Shah Rukh Khan Charm of yore as he looks withered. Not that the role offers much except making tall claims at the same time belying the film's legendary tagline, 'Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahi namoomkin hai' since here he pleads or bargain for his release. In short, the hero in him is missing. Priynka Chopra has to look alert and intelligent and gets to change a few expressions; Saahil Shroff, with stars in his eyes for Priyanka Chopra with his one-sided love, has just that much to do. Boman Irani does not quite fit into the scenario and, he, as a weak main villain only makes hero that much ineffective. Nawab Shah tries to impress. Kunal Kapoor is okay.
Farhan Akhtar's drawback as director starts at the script level which is rank bad and he, as a director, can't surmount this shortcoming; dialogue is uninspiring with just about four or five places worth chuckling. Musically, the film is totally lacking. What are good about the film are cinematography, action and special effects, all thanks to foreign crews.
Having opened to indifference response coupled with mediocre content juxtaposed to it huge cost, Don 2 is slated to be a disappointment.
http://www.indiantelevision.com/aac/y2k11/aac2206.php
