(This was a column - Candid Cuts - I wrote in The Herald for 18th July, 07)
‘Don ke dushman ki sabse badi galti yeh hai ki woh Don ka dushman hai…’
King Khan effortlessly intensified the moment with this dialogue - the words rolled out casually, yet with the attitude of a winner, a nonchalant winner who beats ‘winning’ at its own game…It was my favourite line in the movie.
Slick and chic with heady beats and enough twists and turns, Farhan Akhtar’s remake of Big B’s Don, is a true-blue entertainer that targetted urban viewers. And with the Don of Bollywood’s newest era starring in it, the film was safely bang-on-mark.
What was there not to like, I ask those slamming the film. And before you answer, here are points I have an answer to:
- Why must SRK star in an Amitabh Bachchan-film remake?
Simply because Mr Bachchan (with all due respect to the man) is too old to play the part again.
- SRK was trying to prove he’s the new Don.
Well, honey, he is. He doesn’t need a film to prove it.
- Junior Bachchan would’ve been an ideal choice to carry on the Bachchan-Don legacy.
AB’s Baby would need to act, shave and not just stare at the screen in anger. When Don was being filmed, methinks that would’ve been a wee bit tough for Junior Bachchan.
- Akhtar’s film has no substance. It’s just a stylised version of the earlier one…
So, you agree it was stylish, eh!
- SRK has emulated Big B completely - the dressing, the paan scene, the dialogues…
And, boy, did he do a fabulous job!
- Other than the end, the script lacks originality…
Look here, it’s not touted as a remake for nothing. It marketed the original in a better, bigger and slicker way. The action scenes were very Hollywoodish (and yes that’s a parameter for judging success); the dialogues were backed with racy music; the cars thrilled auto-lovers, the locales added perfect colour to the grey-black movie scheme, the outfits…well, they gave us a revised trend.
And, the end…that made you smile at Don’s devil mind. You have to admit - this Don was smarter…smart enough to know what he meant when he said, ‘Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin, namumkin hai…’
I know this is mere reiterating of what I’ve been saying above, but I really loved the new Don. I’ve seen the original when I was too tiny to remember it even a couple of months later. SRK’s Don helped refresh my memory to an extent, and I did rent the CD of the original version. Not so much to make comparisons (there are enough critics doing that job out there), as much as to take a look at what inspired this new slick flick. And, I’ve heard that the old Don was no ‘classic’, as it’s being made out to be, and I’m sure it’s enjoying the publicity that the remake has brought it…
And, yeah there’s one point left to counter -
- I don’t like remakes…
Sorry, but we don’t accept biased criticism.
‘Don ke dushman ki sabse badi galti yeh hai ki woh Don ka dushman hai…’
King Khan effortlessly intensified the moment with this dialogue - the words rolled out casually, yet with the attitude of a winner, a nonchalant winner who beats ‘winning’ at its own game…It was my favourite line in the movie.
Slick and chic with heady beats and enough twists and turns, Farhan Akhtar’s remake of Big B’s Don, is a true-blue entertainer that targetted urban viewers. And with the Don of Bollywood’s newest era starring in it, the film was safely bang-on-mark.
What was there not to like, I ask those slamming the film. And before you answer, here are points I have an answer to:
- Why must SRK star in an Amitabh Bachchan-film remake?
Simply because Mr Bachchan (with all due respect to the man) is too old to play the part again.
- SRK was trying to prove he’s the new Don.
Well, honey, he is. He doesn’t need a film to prove it.
- Junior Bachchan would’ve been an ideal choice to carry on the Bachchan-Don legacy.
AB’s Baby would need to act, shave and not just stare at the screen in anger. When Don was being filmed, methinks that would’ve been a wee bit tough for Junior Bachchan.
- Akhtar’s film has no substance. It’s just a stylised version of the earlier one…
So, you agree it was stylish, eh!
- SRK has emulated Big B completely - the dressing, the paan scene, the dialogues…
And, boy, did he do a fabulous job!
- Other than the end, the script lacks originality…
Look here, it’s not touted as a remake for nothing. It marketed the original in a better, bigger and slicker way. The action scenes were very Hollywoodish (and yes that’s a parameter for judging success); the dialogues were backed with racy music; the cars thrilled auto-lovers, the locales added perfect colour to the grey-black movie scheme, the outfits…well, they gave us a revised trend.
And, the end…that made you smile at Don’s devil mind. You have to admit - this Don was smarter…smart enough to know what he meant when he said, ‘Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin, namumkin hai…’
I know this is mere reiterating of what I’ve been saying above, but I really loved the new Don. I’ve seen the original when I was too tiny to remember it even a couple of months later. SRK’s Don helped refresh my memory to an extent, and I did rent the CD of the original version. Not so much to make comparisons (there are enough critics doing that job out there), as much as to take a look at what inspired this new slick flick. And, I’ve heard that the old Don was no ‘classic’, as it’s being made out to be, and I’m sure it’s enjoying the publicity that the remake has brought it…
And, yeah there’s one point left to counter -
- I don’t like remakes…
Sorry, but we don’t accept biased criticism.
1 comment:
Well written article.
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