Don 2 is an all-out SRK movie, and a special treat for his fans.
To start with, I have a point to make. The makers of Don 2 should have taken a leaf out of The Lord of the Rings series, and called it Don 2 – The Return of the King.
Yes, the Badshah of Bollywood has returned, and with a BANG!!!
It’s a treat for all Shah Rukh fans. It’s all about Don and SRK — the superstar’s nervous energy, almost bordering a madness, seeps into the character till the viewer is left wondering who is protagonist of the movie — Don or SRK?
The sequel to the first part thrills the audience with superlative action and nail-biting suspense. The story continues from where we left in Don 1, with Don surrendering before Interpol detectives Malik (Om Puri) and Roma (Priyanka Chopra) inKuala Lumpur. However, as is typical with Don, this is all part of his bigger plan of collaborating with his old enemy Vardhan (Boman Irani) in the prison to accomplish his mission. A brilliantly shot prison break scene follows and finally Don and Vardhan manage to escape.
While the first part, Don: The Chase Begins, had the onus of carrying the story verbatim from the Amitabh Bachchan blockbuster, Don 2 has no such strings attached, and this freedom is felt in every twist and turn.
Don’s plan is to rob the currency note-printing plates from Deutsche Zurich Bank in Berlin (Germany) and eventually take control over the European underworld. He meticulously plans to repossess the contents of a locker in Zurich which only Vardhan could access. In the locker, they find a recoded tape that shows Diwan (Aly Khan), the vice president of a Euro printing bank, planning the murder of the next-in-line president. Don then decides to blackmail Diwan into giving him the bank blueprints which would allow him to steal the printing plates.
Diwan doubles-crosses Don and instead hires Jabbar (Nawab Shah) to kill him. It is anyone’s guess that Don manages to escape. He forces Jabbar to work for him and Diwan unwillingly yields with the real information. Don is ably assisted by his girlfriend, Ayesha (Lara Dutta), Vardhan, Jabbar and Sameer Ali (Kunal Kapoor), the expert computer hacker.
In all this drama of entering the high-security bank, passing unnoticed through the highly guarded safe deposit vault and finally laying his hands on the plates, there are doses of treachery, suspense and of course, love in Don’s own inimitable style, which Shah Rukh and only Shah Rukh can do justice to.
Priyanka Chopra looks persuasive as Roma, the Interpol officer chasing Don, and the fatal attraction between the duo often threatens to spill into a romance but thankfully doesn't.
The movie has some spectacular stunts and chase sequences with suspense that is bound to keep you on the edge of the seat. While the first half is easygoing, the real roller-coaster ride begins post interval, and one gets a feeling of a Hollywood-style masala.
SRK has come up with an exceptional performance and floors the audience with his unmatchable charisma and acting prowess. Priyanka Chopra looks persuasive as Roma. Kunal Kapoor is acceptable for his screen space. Boman Irani made justice to his role but Om Puri was mostly unused while Lara Dutta was unnoticeable. The others didn’t have much scope to contribute and fade in the backdrop.
And once again Farhan Akhtar shows why he should stick to the director’s chair — not because he is a pathetic actor but because he is damn good at directing. Akhtar brilliantly uses the fast pace of the movie to take you past any loose ends in the plot (and trust me there are many). For one, the script could have been cripser. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music is flat to say the best and repeatedly borrows from first part.
Don 2 is smooth, fast paced and a must-watch for those eyeing thrilling action and elegant styling. As for the arty types looking for some intellectual stimulation, they would do well to keep off.
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