Don 2: The King is Back (2011)

Don 2 is a pizza made with toppings from James Bond, Mission Impossible, Oceans 11 and even the Dark Knight. The crust is not rich enough and toppings are bland. A disappointing offering from a Director who set the standard for intelligent cinema, made within the commercial framework. As the title suggests, the film is so much a homage to the character that it makes the rest of the cast look weak, a move that costs the film much needed balance and makes Don’s challenges look quite easy.

The story starts with Don giving himself up to Interpol in Malaysia, a strategy employed to get Vardhaan out of jail, so that he could give him the key to a locker that has a tape, that can be used to blackmail Diwan, the VP of a European bank called DZB, that has printing plates for the Euro. That is the entire first half. The second half is dedicated to a heist, where Don and Vardhaan have to break into the high security DZB to get the printing plates. The additional challenge is for Don to escape the Interpol led by old love turned foe, Roma and double crossers that he accumulates as he plans the elaborate theft.

To start with, the story is too one sided. The objective to glorify the intelligence of Don could also have been achieved by improving the capabilities of his adversaries, especially Interpol and also of crooks, who have worked with him before. Instead we are subjected to more than 2 hours of tributes to the legend of the character, while the action leading up to the dialogue just doesn’t match up. The action sequences, such an important part of this genre, all seem lifted from a variety of mainstream Hollywood films and hence lack originality, at least to a discerning viewer who has been exposed.

The characters all seem too stupid or too lame to do anything to stop Don. Vardhaan is constantly bickering and playing catch up: Roma and a guy who wants to be her boyfriend, not to mention the rotund Inspector Malik round up the intelligentsia of Interpol. Farhan Akhtar has revealed that the story came from two fans who came in to his office with the idea. He would have done well to help them polish it for the screen. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music is peppy and does well in the only major song of the movie-Zara Dil Ko Thaam Lo, which is shot well.

Shah Rukh Khan does a great job of portraying the street smart, charming yet menacing character. He lights up the screen with his trademark snarls and chuckles and makes the rest of the characters look pale-too pale. He is sadly let down by the lop sided character balance. Priyanka Chopra as Roma and the talented Boman Irani as Vardhaan are wasted, while Om Puri should take a cue from his equally talented contemporary Naseeruddin Shah on choice of roles and slipping into character.

Don 2 is disappointing. Strictly for fans of Shah Rukh Khan.