Monday, December 26, 2011

Don 2 Review

I never watch movies first day first show. I am the kind who prefers to ask around and find out how the movie was, before I invest 3 hours of my life on it. So the answer I gave someone when they asked me about my comparative urgency to see DON 2 was - Shahrukh and Farhan Akhtar - hey, what could go wrong?

Well, it is with great conviction I feel now, that Farhan Akhtar (and I swoon as I say this) should continue to act, and maybe even sing and dance (a la Rock On and ZNMD) but direction he should leave to sister dear.

DON 2, to be fair, had a formidable task - it had to bring new wine in old bottle, without losing the zing. And the plot was such that it COULD have happened too. I mean look at what all it had going:

- The idea of the heist is good - the Euro plates
- SRK looks sexy; from his linen-coat-long-hair-sleeves-rolled up look, to the Mission Impossible black.
- Lara Dutta has oodles and oodles of oomph, Priyanka manages to do some believable fight scenes
- Boman Irani, SRK, Kunal Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta, Alyy Khan and Om Puri - how can you go WRONG with that? (if you are wondering why Om Puri's name comes last, it is the saddest Om Puri I have seen - that's why!)
- The action scenes are slick - reminds you of Oceans 11, or even a Mission Impossible.
- The trailer is just superb!!

Then what happened SRK and Farhan ? I'll tell you what happened - Don 2 is totally unbelievable, and hollow. Agreed, Indian audiences love tacky dialogues and we worship SRK - but really? You thought we would buy this? Let me explore why -
  • Dialogues - I understand why Ahktar wuld put in dialogues such as "Don't tempt me" (by a nasty looking Piggy Chops with a gun held on Don's head) - I know we cheer when we see these dialogues in action flicks from the great H. But believe me, here, you KNOW its coming! Other dialogues such as "Jab tak Don ko asliyat ka pata chalega, tab tak Don mar chuka hoga” - make you want to cringe! Much of what has been said in the movie should have been left unsaid. Some of the dialogues look like they have been translated verbatim from English - like maybe they dreamt up the scene in English, and translated it with Google translator or something. Eg: "Ab mein ne sab kuch dekh liya." (by a sinister looking Boman in a comical pose.)
  • Tall tales : How would you like to see SRK looking 6 feet tall? Let me not spoil one of the few surprises the movie has by letting you in on the secret. Lets just say, we are expected to believe SRK looks like a tall (!!), suave, green eyed gentleman in a scene. Also, you really think the MI-inspired-heist would go wrong because something tripped from SRK's clumsy hands?
  • Emotionless acting : Om Puri is acting in his sleep, and Boman has only two expressions. PC is trying very hard to balance sex appeal and toughness, and SRK well, is SRK. There could have been fireworks in the chemistry between Roma and Don, of which we see only some meaningless conversations (which, incidentally, I could predict halfway through the first dialogue.) How I wish we could have caught some of the sparks which the directer wanted us to catch!
  • Unused characters : Kunal Kappor, was a breath of fresh air, with a dash of human emotions in the roles, but he had very little to do! He was the only one who seemed that he was not sleepwalking, and unwittingly, the only gasp quotient in the climax involved him. Lara Dutta had nothing to do other than dance in that single dance number, and look pretty (which she did a good job of) - there was no twist involving her.
Verdict : My action-flick obsessed husband slept off in the first half, and I kept hoping to catch the Farhan Akhtar I saw in Dil Chahta Hai (just love that one!). My kids, however, aged 8 and 4, came back hopping and jumping like they had seen Don do it. And they were mouthing much of the dialogues as well. So I guess we know which genre the movie fall under! Do go and see it - just so that you know how SRK looks in an untidy hairstyle!

11 comments:

  1. Nirvana, your review is absolutely bang on! Exactly my thoughts on the movie too, although I feel you've been too kind. Yes, it was a good effort but there are too many ridiculous things in the movie one cannot ignore.

    Don't even get me started on the character Roma. She did absolutely nothing in the film, except show us what dumb cops are like. And in the end when Don is caught and she's sporting this triumphant look and all, I'm like "WTF did she do?"

    Yeah the 6ft scene was silly too, but actually predictable for me, I kinda had a hunch as to what was coming. Oh yeah, and Boman Irani was a huge disappointment. :(

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  2. Dont think so.... Farhan had a difficult task to match up the cult of Don and he was fair..... Also when the legacy is such a burden expectations are huge as well... this movie wasnt about the plot it was about Don and it will always be larger than life... though not a SRK fan.. i felt Farhan did a fair job

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  3. Meen's Only women and kids can like this :)) trust me that all i have heard from even women....The movie is crap...butt SRK rocks :) The King is on his way out :)

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  4. I didn't see Farhan's first Don, and I don't plan to watch this one either. Not really an SRK fan. And in this, he looks like he was hospitalized for two weeks because of jaundice and reported to the sets immediately after he was discharged. Your review only made my resolve NOT to watch it stronger. Thanks!

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  5. Did watch the movie and it seemed very pretentious to me. One word in your write-up summed it all up - Hollow.

    The stunts, the Hrithik Roshan mask and the way they showed Berlin were all good but without content it was certainly like glitzy gift wrapping paper around a non existent gift box.

    Cheers :)

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  6. I was never going to watch the movie because A) DON with SRK? Please! and B)I had a feeling it will be stupid.

    But alas, I will have to endure a show because of a friend's birthday treat is DON 2. I'm going to be tweeting non stop or playing wordfeud on my phone.

    Loved your blog! Will see you around :)

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  7. @ Sumitra .... thank you so much. This is the first time I ventured to write a movie review, and who do I decide to take head on? The king himself! Well, atleast I know I am not alone on the feeling!

    @Spacemeup ... well, it was difficult for me to accept that Farhan had indeed, lost it - I am a die hard fan too - from the moment I saw Dil Chahta Hai, to the lispy poetry in ZNMD - I still love the guy! But truth, my friend, is that this movie was made after a few rounds of fake scotch! But that said, I still continue to adore both SRK and Akhtar Jr. BTW ... welcome here.

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  8. @Ajay ... trust you to come up with an MCP comment like that... and my review just proves that only half of your statement is true :-) And you know what - SRK DOES rock! Can you even contemplate doing all the embarrassing movies he did (this included), and yet do it with style :-)

    @Spaceman ... awww, don't write SRK off yet - he did have moments of glory in this movie too - enough to show why he's king. Watch it with a bunch of sarcastic friends (will let you know if I am around) and lots of laughs guaranteed.

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  9. @Atrocious .... couldn't have put it into better words. Thanks

    @Adi Crazy .... hehehe ... well grin and bear it - and look for all the wierd expressions on Boman Irani's face - that should help bring out a few laughs - and at the end of it you can always give the birthday boy/girl real hard birthday bumps ;-) ... thanks for coming by - and the admiration is mutual!

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  10. The fallacies in the script, screenplay, acting direction and dialogues can still be digested (Hoping u hv cum to c the movie for fun !)... But what really disappoints is a forceful attempt to incorporate plots from Hollywood action thrillers ... these rip-offs make u compare Don with Mission Impossible, Ocean 11 etc ... n then suddenly Don looks a bit silly ! I appreciate the effort in trying to make a Bollywood action thriller ... just that i want it to be a pure original Bollywood movie n not a Hollywood rip-off !

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  11. @Shreyans, absolutely!! Don't think I could have put it better than that! Thanks for coming by!

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