In the 2006 Don: The Countdown Begins, Farhan Akhtar pretty much copied what director Chandra Barot had done 28 years ago. Though Akhtar had added a nice little twist, his Don played, and stayed, under the shadow of the original 1978 Don. There was no escaping the question, “Why remake Don?” No matter what Akhtar said — “I loved it, grew up with it and wanted to share it with my kids” — no one was convinced.

Finally, Shah Rukh Khan and Farhan Akhtar have given an honest answer to that question. Don 2 is their confession. SRK and Akhtar needed the original Don, as in Amitabh Bachchan’s Don — its context, story, characters, its legendary status and goodwill, along with all the attention that the controversy brought — to write their own opus, magnum or otherwise.
The two did not have the confidence to create their own from scratch. So they did the next best thing. They found a plot of film history to take over, try to demolish what was there and over it install their handiwork.
Determined squatters, yes, but smart ones, too.
Till yesterday morning, SRK’s Don was dwarfed by AB’s larger, greater Don. Not anymore. With Don 2, Akhtar and SRK have created their own Don — even if theirs resembles a kicking, slashing gaming hero more than a real man, Don is now as much SRK’s property as it is AB’s.
Don 2 is smart, urbane, grey and good looking. It is also entertaining, even impressive. But underneath all its cheerfulness, it is the director-writer and his star’s perversity that I found more interesting.

It is five years since Don escaped in the guise of Vijay. The drug king has since taken over Asia ka underworld and is now eyeing Europe. But the Europeans, alert to this threat, decide to finish Don. Enter Don, in a stunning hairdo — sort of Shiva meets tattoo junkie. This Don is a toughie. He moves fast, but kills faster, with relish.
The last time we met Don, he seemed anchored. Not anymore. Don now delivers drugs deals himself, doesn’t seem to have any gang members or even an adda. He zips about the seas of Asia on a speed boat, leaving nothing but a frothy, fugacious trail.
The only connection Don seems to have with his previous avatar is through his enemies — Detective Malik (Om Puri) is about to retire, Vardhaan (Boman Irani) is in a Malaysian jail, and Roma (Priyanka Chopra) is busy looking hot and spurning one sweet junior Arjun (Sahil Shroff) at the Interpol headquarters in Malaysia.
With the Europeans hot on his tail, Don surrenders, to Officer Roma and Detective Malik. He is sent to jail where he meets Vardhaan who is still angry and itching to kill him. They fight, but Vardhaan is no match for SRK’s decisive punches and quick elbow-knee action.
After Don pins down Vardhaan, he shares his escape plan. Soon, with the aid of a lawyer and a blue potion, they drive out of the jail.
Don gets a haircut, dances at a casino, hooks up with his accomplice-cum-squeeze Ayesha (Lara Dutta), and shares his real plan. He would like to steal the printing plates of euros — of 100 and 50 denomination — from Berlin’s Deutsche Zentral Bank (DZB). This involves fetching a CD from a bank locker, blackmailing J.K. Diwan (Alyy Khan), the vice-president of DZB, into parting with the bank’s security details, and the cooperation of a brilliant hacker, Sameer Ali (Kunal Kapoor).
Meanwhile, police spots Don and Interpol sends Roma, Malik and Arjun to Berlin.
There is a cute surprise at a charity ball, followed by a crashing car chase, lots of dull details about the heist, a betrayal that Don turns into his favour and, finally, the heist, with some tense and engaging moments most of which involve Don’s outrageous flirting with Roma.
The film’s climax establishes three things beyond doubt. One, that Don is smarter than all his friends and foes put together; two, Roma is still in love with Don; and three, there already exists a bound script of Don 3.

It is clear from Don 2, and its promise of another sequel, that Farhan Akhtar and Shah Rukh Khan are equally committed to the creation of their own Don. And to free him of Amitabh Bachchan’s aura and the wrath of old Don’s fans, they pull out all the stops.
Their Don has the cunning and charm of Danny Ocean, can pull impossible Ethan Hunt like stunts, and is a twisted Bond — has an escape plan out of every situation, and a woman waiting at the other end. He also has all the necessary accessories, and more — sexy chicks, awesome gizmos, fast cars, mean suits, dazzling watches that do more than just tell time, and enemies who are not half as smart as him. Actually, they are caricatures — Vardhaan is a cheerless meany, and Abdul Jabbar (Nawab Shah) is a duffer Rottweiler. Then there is Roma, a female cop who swoons every time Don looks at her.
Though Don 2’s story is borrowed from here and there, its tail end is clever and skewed towards creating a wicked but cool legend.
Akhtar has written the dialogue himself and they are a mix of corny and comic. Don sometimes speaks in clichés — meri jangli billi, Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin... SRK twists his face this way and that to deliver these. Then there are naughty, funny lines, as if written for a super bad, super dude comic book hero — SRK delivers these with his signature impish smile.
Don 2 rests almost entirely on SRK, and this shows up Akhtar’s lazy direction. For example, scenes where the heist is being discussed are dull because SRK hogs the entire screen, leaving little space for anything else.
In the beginning, with his grungy hairdo and scruffy look, SRK’s persona is electric and there are glimpses of a greater actor and a lesser star. In the fight sequences, he is nimble and deadly. But, like Samson, all his power vanishes when he cuts his hair and we return to SRK as usual. The way SRK plays it, Don is a killer with a lover’s heart.
Priyanka Chopra is sexy but also weirdly thin, as if an adult’s head has been attached to an adolescent’s body. She kicks better than she dances. But her chemistry with SRK — wow! Something very interesting seems to have happened in the five years since we last saw them together.