Movie Review: Don 2

Movie: Don 2

My verdict: 6.5/10

“Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahi, na mumkin hai.”

Screw you Don, I caught you even before you released in India, and I am not too pleased.

The good thing about the movie ‘Don 2’ was that it escaped being horrible by just a hair’s breadth. The bad thing about the movie was that because it escaped so narrowly, it ended up being boring. I wouldn’t call it a disappointment though, because this movie fell in my category of do-not-expect-much movies – if it would have done even a bit better, I would have genuinely been surprised.

The plot is nothing great. Don surrenders, meets his nemesis Vardhan in prison, both team-up and orchestrate their escape from prison and he goes back to doing drug-lordish shenanigans i.e. he hatches up a plan to steal money plates from an important bank in Germany and it is up to Roma to stop him.  And of course, not unlike Don 1, this has its own share of twists and turns meant to keep the viewers thrilled.

So, let’s talk about the good first. Problem is, there’s nothing ‘good’ in the movie. Everything is just…  ‘fine’.  The story, the script, the screenplay is fine. It doesn’t even try to rise above the ‘fine’ level. The whole film is carried solely by SRK. He, almost literally, IS the film. He may seem to be over-the-top with his acting at times, but he is (as I said) just fine.  Priyanka Chopra kicks ass, literally and figuratively. But less of her was seen in this movie, and she springs into required action only toward the end. Lara Dutta was fine, again. Don 2 had a good number of hotties. The hot HCL guy was there (I don’t know his name). Kunal Kapoor looked like a poor-man’s Mr Rampal, but I don’t deny that he is a grade-A hottie and he was good. Hrithik Roshan in his little cameo was good. His dance with Priyanka Chopra was nice, and it made me wonder why there isn’t more of that pair in Bollywood. Boman Irani, Om Puri were good. Everybody else was fine.

Now moving on to the bad, the story was overly unrealistic, but I didn’t mind that. Just that it was unsatisfactory.  Don 2 was dark and not as colourful as the first instalment. The chemistry between Priyanka and SRK wasn’t convincing at all, and at some point felt ridiculous. Lara Dutta had almost NOTHING to do. It seriously wouldn’t have mattered if Eesha Koppikhar (wtf is her name again?) had reprised her role. Kareena Kapoor in her cameo in Don 1 seemed more glamorous than the whole of Dutta in this. The pace also was sluggish and gained momentum only near the end. The twists too weren’t as shocking, and were almost predictable. There wasn’t proper support from the BG, neither did the soundtrack do anything to help the movie. The 3-D was good, but it didn’t seem to work with the movie. Overall, the film was boring and I gave a sigh of relief once it got over. It wasn’t even half as good as the first movie.

Out of 10, I would give it 6.5. Not a bad movie, but just not something to treat yourself to for Christmas. I would rather get drunk at a Christmas party. Guys, watch it if you just got dumped by your girlfriend and have nothing better to do. Girls, better watch twilight again.

P.S. Perhaps if Priyanka and Lara would have kissed somewhere in between, the film would have gotten twice as better. Just saying.

P.P.S. And then you’d wonder what is wrong with Farhan Akhtar. He should probably act more.

P.P.P.S If they make a Don 3, I swear to God, I’ll start Satan worship and release demons on Farhan Akhtar and SRK.