Don

Comparisons are odious - but in this case, inevitable. Mr. Akhtar has taken the campy cult classic of the seventies and dared to present it to us in a magical new garb. This has outraged many fans of Mr. Amitabh Bachchan and the old Don. I want to start out by saying that I was never a great fan of the original version - it was made as a low budget film and became a classic only by virtue of an interesting story line and Mr. B's larger than life persona in the film and at the time.

What does the new Don offer that the old Don lacked?

1. It offers a slick wonderfully smooth roller-coaster ride that was absent in the circa 1978 version.

2. It offers an updated suave yet menacing evil protagonist that the old one lacked. Mr. B was way better as the naive and bhaiyya Vijay, not very convincing as the evil Don. One should remember that the best of his roles that carried a menace associated with his persona were those where the menace was righteous! This was not the case in Don (1978) and so he did not present the role as well.

3. It offers wonderful action and thrills a minute. The action sequences, car chases, fights, flights are unmatched in Hindi cinema and rival stuff coming out of Hollywood!

4. It offers excellent music and dance numbers - ah, recycled some say. I disagree - the "Yeh Mera Dil" number sizzles in the hands of Kareena, and "Khaike Paan Banaraswala" now has Mr. Khan's image embedded with it!! And the two original numbers "Main Hoon Don" and "Aaaj ki Raat" are inspired and brilliant.

5. It offers excellent comedy that has nothing to do with slapstick or stupid.

6. It offers bad guy henchmen that are real. It replaces the fake sheiks and bug eyed goons standing around, with sexy sirens and real menacing dudes!

7. Best of all it offers a couple of very smart twists that I will not describe in any detail so the spoiler warning is unnecessary. Let me just ask two questions. Is it easier for a suave sophisticate to play a dumb yokel, or for a dumb yokel to play the suave sophisticate? What motivates DCP DeSilva to send Vijay back as Don in the 1978 version?

8. It offers a very smart and sleek leading lady, who does not seem fake in the martial arts moves - the practice was well worth it Ms. Chopra!

9. It fleshes out the character of Anita more than Don 1978 did, she was a warm body there. And Ms. KOPPIKAR does justice to the role.

10. It offers us Mr. Boman Irani in the role played by Iftekhar. Iftekhar was great but Mr. Irani is superb.

11. I saved the best for last. Last but not least at all, it offers Mr. Shahrukh Khan the opportunity to dust off his acting chops and delight us as the evil menacing Don. The Badshah is back and he is badder than ever! Welcome back Mr. Khan - first the bad boy in KANK and now the evil dude in Don. Divali came with a great gift this year! Let us hope the future roles are even more varied and delightful.

Surely it is not flawless, you ask. So what is wrong with the new Don?

1. Well, I never really believed in the whole Doppelganger thing (a duplicate human being for everyone) outside of the identical twin scenario. So yes, that is pretty unbelievable, but that is a premise that has fascinated story tellers and movie makers for years - plus that baggage came with the old Don so no negative points there.

2. Why was JJ carrying his kid on his shoulders - wouldn't it be easier to hold his hand and walk across? JJ in the old Don TIGHTROPE WALKED on his lame leg with two kids on his shoulders. So I am actually giving the new Don a plus point!

3. The whole CD with information thing was a bit overplayed - but it beat the toss the red notebook game played in the graveyard in the old Don! So again a point for the new version.

So when I do the math, Mr. Akhtar's Don comes out way ahead in sophistication, storytelling, fun, action, thrills, drama, and acting. It will keep you on the edge of your seat and you will want to go back for more. I will probably go back just so I can watch the demented Khaike Paan number again. And the twist does leave room for a sequel - I sincerely hope Farhan and Shahrukh will do one.

Don (2006) is a thrill a minute, edge of the seat, don't blink or you'll miss something, superbly stylised action movie. It's a sort of Don(1978) meets James Bond (the Pierce Brosnan era, with all its hi-tech gadgetry etc). It is unbelievably slick and amazingly cool. Its got the finish of a top-end magazine like Vogue or GQ…glossy, beautiful, a work of art. And the action scenes are breathless, non-stop and come at you one after another.

I had severe reservations about Mr Khan as Don. Especially as there are few bigger Mr Bachchan fans than me – I idolise the man. However, I've come from the movie convinced that no one else in the current set of stars could've carried it off as well as Shahrukh. He looks and behaves like Don – completely different to the chocolate faced 'Main Hoon Na' and 'Kal Ho Na Ho' giggling lover boy we are used to. In this movie he has a steely look about him, a nastiness that is very believable. He is slightly over the top, but only to the degree you would want him to be.

Priyanka Chopra simply sizzles. When I look at her on screen now I'm ready to do all the things Jim Carrey does in the 'Mask' when he see's Cameron Diaz dance at the club ! The great thing, I remember, about watching Don (1978) as a 7 year old, was that when you came out of the movie (and for the next few days)…you felt you were Don ! You wanted to be like him, copy all mannerisms, you were mesmerised, felt the sense of power. I saw the same impact of this Don (2006) on my son (coincidentally also 7 years old). But even better, it still had the same impact on me ! Just love it ! Check out my full review at apurvbollywood at blogspot

the movie has been made perfectly but there are some mistakes which director has made any way, the movie is awesome i liked it.the same acting by shahrukh khan but very well.urjun will hit the box office from this movie perhaps will be his first hit in supporting roll.actually the director still needs help from other senior directors because that,s not kind of his creation, that idea was taken from the previous don by amitabh.he just changed couple of scenes changed the location,he made it a bit more advance.priyanka was looking gorgeous also the kopiker too.if i talk about the end it has had a little suspense in it that how shahrukh played a big game and nobody knew that so far.

The movie was stunning. You have to give full credits to Farhan Akhtar. His way of presenting the previously said story is completely unmatchable. At times, the movie was way over the top of exaggeration but in the end everything falls in place. The movie was fast tracked at many places and many sequences were skipped that were present in the previous version. Some plots were twisted to bring in the modern day touch and nothing seemed unnecessary. The sequences were copied very much to the exactness of the situation and it was a good effort to bring back the charisma that a personality like Don should have. One more special thing about this movie is its climax, which was not at all stereotype. One would not expect such a thing in bollywood movies and yet it was brilliantly done. I would say DON was an overall entertainer and is definitely worth a watch.

Don was great James Bond type entertainment. It had action, music, babes, great photography, good music and a surprise ending. What more do you want? It also bought some old memories back. I was amazed at the quality of production like special effects, camera angles, shooting locales, car chase, sky diving etc. SRK tries his best to fit the larger than life role of Don and does a good job. The women are just fillers. SRK is the movie.

For all the people out there who posted negative feedback and criticized the movie....Did you guys expect this to be an art movie? Have you seen how stupid the original Don is? Compared to the original this is a great improvement.

I think there is going to be a Don 2 coming soon.