Don - The Chase Begins Again (Preview)

Okie, I admit. I am a big fan of Farhan Akhtar and his movies. And that makes me all the more impatient for the release of his next movie, a remake of the 1978 classic starring the big B.

With just about a month to go for the release of the remake, I once again watched the original this Sunday and oh boy, this is one movie that I can just watch again and again and again. Yet another Amitabh-starrer written by that awesome pair, Salim-Javed, Don never leaves you feeling bored for a single moment and is pretty much a complete entertainer.

So, will the remake be as good as the original? For starters, I just cannot imagine Shah Rukh Khan filling in Amitabh's boots. Don had the kind of personality that could make us believe that 'Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin, namumkin hai.' And SRK, of late, is more into contorting his face, pouting and hamming than acting. The Karan Johars and the Yash Chopras have almost strangled the latent talent that SRK displayed in some of his earlier movies, like Baazigar and Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa. Post DDLJ, he's just got stuck in a rut and just refuses to act. Of course, Swades was a welcome change and I just hope that with Farhan Akhtar at the helm, maybe SRK would be back to his better ways.

In a recent interview, Farhan stated that his new movie would be the same story as the earlier Don, but it has got a lot of other things ...well, that doesn't tell us much, does it? Anyway, the buzz doing the rounds is that Farhan has shot two endings for the movie. In both the versions supposedly, the good and the bad Don meet, hence making two climaxes possible — one where the good one is killed, and the other where the bad one is killed.

As with previous Farhan Akhtar movies, the music for Don is once again by the trio of Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy. And once again, they seem to have a winner on their hands. The music is an eclectic mix of the new and the old, and has a typical 70s feel to it. Khaike Pan Banaraswala and Yeh Mera Dil have been snazzily remixed. But the real funky ones are the new title track Main Hoon Don, sung wonderfully by Shaan; and the Alisha-Mahalakshmi-Sonu number, Aaj ki Raat. The latter is undoubtedly the best track of the album and one of the best songs of the year.

On the whole, the music just rocks !! Hope the movie too is as good, if not better.
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Don (2006)
Directed By: Farhan Akhtar
Music By: Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy.
Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Arjun Rampal.
Releasing on October 20, 2006.