Don series

Don
The poster of Don (1978)
Directed by	Chandra Barot Farhan Akhtar
Produced by	Nariman A. Irani Ritesh Sidhwani
Written by	Javed Akhtar Salim Khan
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Don is an Indian action film series. The movies are centered around "Don" a fictional mafia lord played by Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan.

Overview

Don (1978)

Main article: Don (1978 film)

Don was a 1978 Bollywood action film, produced by Nariman Irani and directed by Chandra Barot, with music by Kalyanji Anandji and lyrics by Anjaan. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, Pran, Iftekhar, Helen and Om Shivpuri, Satyen Kappu and Pinchoo Kapoor. It became a box office success. It has gained cult film status in India.^[1]

Don (Amitabh Bachchan) is the leader of an underworld gang until Police Officer D'Silva (Iftekhar) tracks him down and in an attempt to catch him ends up killing him. But Don's death is only known to D'Silva. So Officer D'Silva tracks down a lookalike of Don named Vijay (also Amitabh Bachchan). Vijay impersonates Don to take down the rest of Don's gang while the DSP promises him that he will give a proper education to his wards who are actually the children of Jasjit (Pran).

Meanwhile, Jasjit comes out of prison after serving his jail term, only to find Officer D'Silva having a red diary that would show Vijay's true identity. Officer D'Silva is killed by Malik who is introduced as the Interpol officer, but is in fact the real king of the underworld. It's now a race to retrieve the diary in which the DSP has documented the substitution of the real Don with the innocent Vijay. One famous dialogue of movie is "Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin namumkin hai" (it is not just difficult to catch Don, it is impossible).

Don - The Chase Begins Again (2006)

Main article: Don - The Chase Begins Again

Don: The Chase Begins Again, directed by Farhan Akhtar, is a remake of the blockbuster 1978 film, Don. The film was released in India on 20 October 2006 and it was also simultaneously released internationally. It starred Shahrukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Arjun Rampal, Ishaa Koppikar and Kareena Kapoor in a guest appearance.

A simple man (Vijay) from the city of Mumbai is recruited by a police officer to masquerade as the Don, the leader of an international gang of smugglers. But things go wrong, the officer is killed and now Vijay is on his own, with only his lover (Roma) and a lame ex con artist to help him to prove his innocence.

Don 2 - The Chase Continues (2011)

Main article: Don 2 - The Chase Continues

Don 2: The Chase Continues is the sequel to the 2006 film, Don: The Chase Begins Again. The film stars Shahrukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Boman Irani and Om Puri, reprising their roles from the previous film, with Lara Dutta and Kunal Kapoor playing new characters. Hrithik Roshan will be seen doing a cameo appearance in the film.

Reception

The original Don was a blockbuster. It won a few awards.

• Amitabh Bachchan won a Filmfare Award for Best Actor.
• Asha Bhosle won a Filmfare Award, for the song "Yeh Mera Dil".
• Kishore Kumar won a Filmfare Award, for the song "Khaike Paan Banaraswala."

Mumbai Mirror's Mayank Shekhar gave the remake a rating of 3 out of 5. He did criticise the treatment of certain scenes in comparison to the original, though.^[2]

References

1. ^ IANS (2010-02-22). "Farhan's next Don to go on floors in October". Sify. http://www.sify.com/movies/farhan-s-next-don-to-go-on-floors-in-october-news-bollywood-kkfqQ5hjbgi.html. Retrieved 2011-09-10. 
2. ^ Shekhar, Mayank (21 October 2006). "Cuts to the chase". Mumbai Mirror. http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=Entertainment%20-%20Bollywood&sectid=30&contentid=200610210559539532ea3e80a. Retrieved 2011-07-26.