Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Boman Irani, Om Puri, Kunal Kapoor, Lara Dutta, Sahil Shroff

Director: Farhan Akhtar

Ratings: 2/5

This Don's is an absolutely unimpressive Con...

By Priyanka Ketkar

It is party time... Enter- A tall, fair, handsome guy with Lara (Lara Dutta). He dances with Roma (Priyanka Chopra) to a random dance number and then just escapes. Cut to scene in the car- Diwan asks, "Tum ho kaun...?" The mask comes off and Surprise, surprise... Its me, DON! Now how a Tall, handsome Hrithik passes off as the not-tall, dark Shah Rukh... Well, it's pure magic (or probably the G.One effect hasn't yet worn off). That is how DON 2is for you.

"Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahi Naa mumkin hai..." DON's signature dialogue from the original, Amitabh's Don still rings in our ears; his story was also re-made in SRK'sDON and finally now is the time for some creativity, originality at least that is what you expect. But Farkhan Akhtar's DON 2 not only has really lame dialogues but the story itself lacks any sort of creativity.

DON is all set to rob the Currency plates from a huge German-Swiss bank. But he needs help this time. So a bunch of thugs (who had actually come to kill him), his ex-enemy Vardhan, an expert mystery-computer-hacker Ali (Kunal Kapoor), Don's sexy cat (not literally) Lara and Don himself start working together and get ready to loot, in a matter of few minutes (within one song). But how does Vardhan escape? Well of course, Don gets himself arrested in Thailand, is sent to the exact same prison as Vardhan's, then they both food poison all the prisoners and escape... Really? So it is that easy to escape a heavily guarded prison, right? (I suddenly remembered the part where Ethan Hunt escapes the prison in MI 4, now that is called an escape)

So why does Don suddenly want to loot a bank? Hmm... Good question. Don is tired, and he now wants to retire as a rich man. But Don is also a man-in-love. Nah! Not with Lara... Don is still in love with his Junglee Billi Roma and he is tired of running from his enemies and the police. Don wants to settle down now. But Junglee Billi is adamant. She wants to see him behind the bars, is this professionalism or is it that thin line between love and hatred?

Anyway, Junglee Billi hates him (or not), Mallik (Om Puri) wants to retire but catch Don before he does that, Ali is the guy who is on the path of morality after promising to his girlfriend that he will never hack again but is still with Don, Vardhan who is Don's biggest enemy still hates him and those small-time white thugs with an Indian as their leader are completely airheaded…  How will Don succeed with these people around him? Or will he? "Tum Shayad bhul rahe ho ki Don hamesha apne Dushmanose ek kadam aage rehta hai..."

We have seen so many movies on robbery- Oceans series, Tower Heist and closer homeAankhen that Don 2's Con act seems to be very poor in front of it. Aankhen starring Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal and Arjun Rampal although didn't work well at the box office, was a very "make-you-sit-at-the-edge of your seat" kind of a movie but Don doesn't even make you sit up straight, on the edge is like far-off. First half of the movie is simply ridiculous and is sure to put you off to sleep, whereas, the second half starts improving. The action-packed sequences and the climax in the last five minutes are the only good things about this movie.

SRK has been "DON"nig his DON 2 act for quite some time now but Don is really not his cup of tea. He was no doubt brilliant in the first instalment but this second one simply makes you feel like it is more of an SRK movie than DON. Priyanka Chopra can't get over her "Demmit" (Gujju for Damn it) and she has a very weak character. Sahil Shroff, another weakling who does the Puppy dog act/Joru Ka Ghulam act is silly. Lara Dutta looks stunning but is wasted. Boman Irani is brilliant but he starts getting comical towards the end. Nawab Shah as the thugs' leader is childish and unintentionally funny. Hrithik's cameo is as ridiculous as Rajinikanth's cameo in Ra.One. Om Puri's acting calibre is not utilized completely. Kunal Kapoor, again an actor who has proven his acting skills has been under-utilized. The worst part of the movie though, without any doubt, is its dialogues, they are very lame and state the obvious like- Roma says, "Don went from Point A to B so someone must have noticed him"... Arjun says," Hmm, I think someone must've seen him get-out of the car, there must be some witness en route..." (If you watch the TV series CID, you will know what I mean). Also, the music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is very unimpressive.

I understand Farhan Akhtar's intention for shooting this movie abroad... I understand he wants to give a very international feel to it and the cinematography makes it a near-perfect attempt but I simply fail to understand how there are so many Indians in the special forces of Bangkok, Thailand, Malaysia et al. There is an Indian on top of everything may it be a thug-organisation or an international police force (should I be proud?). Coming back to cinematography, the movie is beautifully shot and you get a free trip of Malaysia, Thailand, Zurich, etc... It is simply breath-taking.

You might feel I am being mean and all; trust me it is not fun thrashing an SRK movie (Big Fan, you see...) but the movie is really very unimaginative. It is sure to be a feast for SRK-haters. SRK is the best Romance-King but he is also an excellent anti-hero. Sadly, SRK’s Don has style but nothing else about him is Don-like. Farhan Akhtar could've done so much better but he indulges in this comical, spoof-like version of Don with no charisma, creativity or imagination whatsoever.