Hollywood’s love for sequels has caught up with Bollywood for sometime now; consequently, its sequel had been on the cards right from when Farhan Akhtar’s remake of Don became such a popular hit with Hindi cine-goers. Though some amount of continuity has been included in the plot, and the three principal leads from the earlier movie, viz. Shahrukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra and Boman Irani, have reprised their roles, the second part has a different storyline altogether, thus making it a standalone film. If you’ve watched some amount of American blockbusters, you’d have a sense of déjà vu quite regularly while watching it – after all, it is a mash-up of sorts of such enormously popular fares as the Mission Impossible franchise, the Bond movies, and the numerous heist films that Hollywood dishes us with at regular intervals. Add Shahrukh’s incessant swagger, and hyper-stylization (glossy cinematography, kinetic narrative, plethora of cameras for each shot, over-editing, dollops of coolness quotient, a series of dramatic moments, loud music, the characters speaking only movie-talk, etc.), and you have more or less a picture of Don 2. The movie suffers from being over-long; a less elaborate plot and a crisper length would have ensured that interest doesn’t start flagging by the time we’re into its final quarter. It wasn’t a boring ride per se – in fact, parts of it were entertaining; but on the whole it was rather insipid and forgettable.
Director: Farhan Akhtar
Genre: Thriller/Crime Thriller/Heist Film
Language: Hindi
Country: India
5 comments:
Waste of money and time. SRK doesn't know even which audience he is targeting unlike Sallu and Amir. Sad to see fall of Farhan Akhtar...
Haha, well said Yayaver :)
Happy New Year! SRK has a Michael Jackson complex - the way he behaves and dresses reminds me of Jackson in many ways. I don't know what exactly this means other than it is pretentious and boring to watch especially in his TV interviews which seem very false. Anyway, I hope it turns out to be a brilliant year for you and keep on watching and writing. Of late, you have been prolific dude! As for Don 2, I think I might give it a miss. Your observation that such films imitate Hollywood action films but fail miserably is very true. I wasn't impressed by the first Don film and actually recall walking out after the intermission. Farhan Akhtar is not a director - he is a competent actor who just happens to be a director; and isn't his rise to success yet again to do with nepotism?
Thanks a lot Omar for the wishes. Wish you too a very happy & prosperous new year!!! I too hope you continue posting your scholarly reviews & your brilliant video essays at your site.
The first thing I did upon reading your mentioning that SRK might be having "Jackson complex", was having a good laugh - its a superb observation indeed! Yes, I too have been feeling for quite sometime now that he has become a parody & a caricature (and a bad one at that) of his own persona, and a model example of narcissism.
As for Farhan Akhtar, I felt he had a reasonable potential as a director based on the movies Dil Chahta Hai & Laksya, which were pretty good in parts. Yes, nepotism would surely have played a part in his being able to enter the industry with so much ease, but I still feel he has talents - I only hope he doesn't flush it down the drain by shifting his allegiance towards big-budget bonanzas like the Don franchise.
Thanks Omar for stopping by.
Akhtar is the most disappointing bit about the whole sage as he showed so much promise.
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