Don: To like or not to like?

I must admit - the idea of Shah Rukh Khan reinterpreting "Khaike Paan Benares wala" was what pulled me into the theatre. Could the undisputed star of today stand his own against the legend of yesterday?

And here, unfortunately, the movie disappoints. Shah Rukh is a great actor, but he rarely deigns to display his talent. Instead, he usually gives us the same simpering, dimpled, larger than life star that is Shah Rukh Khan. Don is no exception, and Shah Rukh hams his way through the movie - whether it's the deadly don on screen, or the naive dancer; what we see is only Shah Rukh Khan. I'm sorry, but not a candle can he hold to the original superstar. Don - 1, Don - 0.

As for the rest, Farhan Akhtar's intention was clearly to bring Don into the 21st century, a la Hollywood. Over the top action sequences, choreographed with today's fashionable disregard for physics, are sprinkled throughout the movie. As are all varieties of high tech gizmos, and the mandatory hot lady in the tight jumpsuit. Too often, all this slickness hinders the tale rather than helping it.

Fortunately, Farhan Akhtar also presents us with that rarest of rarities in hindi movies - a coherent, plausible plot, with almost no holes. The movie is a classic template for how remakes should be made. It updates the setting, making it relevant to today's world. It harkens back to the most loved parts of the original, keeping key dialogues and songs, infusing the movie with an aura of nostalgia. And just when you think you know what's coming next, it deviates from the original, and a new twist throws you off balance. Thus it always maintains its own personality and stands as an entertaining movie in its own right.

The original movie had a simple enough plot. There is the brilliant, sophisticated, ruthless mafia leader who knows no mercy. Then one day, the don meets his maker, but only one police officer knows of his death. So the police officer recruits a lookalike to take his place, a naive, unsophisticated, illiterate street performer. The police officer trains the street performer to shed his rude, illiterate ways, and act with the cool sophistication of the don. The street performer then takes the don's old place in the gang, risking his life to ferret out their secrets. But just at the moment of his triumph, when the police have arrested the whole gang on his tip-off, the one person who knows his true identity is killed. And the poor man is trapped in a nightmare, on the run from the police who don't believe his story and the criminals who do.
That was the USP of the original plot - an ordinary man in over his head, transported to a world far from his humble origins, and then trapped by a cruel twist of fate. The poignancy and drama of his situation, captured in that iconic song "Khaike Paan Benares wala".

Farhan Akhtar's Don wisely does not rely on twists copied from the original movie. It maintains plot fidelity for the most part. Kareena Kapoor sizzles through "Yeh mera dil" as she tries to avenge the death of her fiance, and Shah Rukh Khan sizes her up as he tells her - "You know the gun has no bullets, and I know the gun has no bullets, but the police don't know". Priyanka Chopra then takes on the role of avenger, in an Angelina Jolie-esque tough girl character. Shah Rukh Khan chooses to reprise his Baazigar crazy-dual personality as the don, while making little attempt to flesh out the good guy role. The first half sometimes feels like a recap, characters are brought in without proper introduction, events unfold rather hurriedly, without much background. The emphasis is on technical slickness and eye candy. But right before the intermission is a deviation from the story, the first hint that this is not just a slicked up carbon copy. The second half pays much more attention to plot. For once, main characters show street smarts when dealing with the villains, and get even rather than getting mad. If you can look past the ridiculously over-the-top rescue sequence, matched only by the suicidal escape, the second half plays out quite well. It builds up through a series of exciting stand-offs to a dramatic ending, that totally vindicates the movie.

In short, when the director is not trying to prove his Hollywood smarts with imaginative action sequences, sci-fic gadgetry and novel camerawork, it is actually quite a good movie.