Don 2
Don 2: The King Is Back, also known as Don 2, is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film written, co-produced and directed by Farhan Akhtar. It is the second installment in the Don reboot series. Jointly produced by Excel Entertainment and Red Chillies Entertainment, the film stars Shah Rukh Khan as the titular anti-hero, with Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta, Om Puri, Boman Irani, Nawab Shah, Alyy Khan, Rajesh Khattar, Sahil Shroff and Kunal Kapoor playing supporting roles. A sequel to Don (2006), Khan appears as the titular character. The film's story takes place 5 years after the previous film when Don (Shah Rukh Khan), a ruthless international drug lord, plans to take over the European drug cartel. Meanwhile, Roma (Priyanka Chopra) has joined the Interpol to hunt him down.
Don 2
Five years after the events of Don, the European drug cartel bosses meet in the French Riviera on a yacht to discuss a new threat emerging from Asia: Don is jeopardizing their business by undercutting their prices and they decree that he must die. Living in Thailand for the last five years, Don goes to a remote settlement to pick up a shipment of cocaine. He gets cornered by his own allies who reveal to him that once he is killed, the cocaine from Asia will be open for sale in Europe and they will usurp all the profits. Don makes his way out by killing all his allies and destroying the entire settlement. Later, Don returns to Malaysia, surrendering to Roma, who has joined Interpol, and Inspector Malik. He is sentenced to death and sent to prison, where he meets old rival Vardhaan.
Initially, Vardhaan tries to exact revenge on Don for having him imprisoned five years back, he patches up with Don when the latter offers him an opportunity to escape with him. Don and Vardhaan eventually break out by poisoning the other inmates. In Zurich, Don meets trusted companion Ayesha, and they retrieve a tape from a secret locker whose key was under Vardhaan's possession. It shows J.K. Diwan, vice-president of the Euro-printing DZB (Deutsche Zentral Bank) bribing Singhania to kill James Werden, the original choice for the President of the DZB so that Diwan's superior, Fabian Kohl would become the new president. Singhania was killed by Vardhaan five years earlier. Don blackmails Diwan into giving him the bank's blueprints so he can steal the printing plates. Diwan gives him fake blueprints and hires Abdul Jabbar, a deadly assassin.
However, Don escapes, and with no other choice, Diwan gives him the original blueprints. Roma and Malik arrive in Berlin and unsuccessfully interrogate Diwan, after having found evidence of him being involved with Don in some illegal activity, while Don and his team execute a bank robbery. After stealing the printing plates, Don is betrayed by Vardhaan and Jabbar but escapes. Another team member, Sameer, calls the police on Don and he is arrested. Don blackmails Diwan into giving him German immunity in exchange for erasing the evidence of him being involved in the murder of James Warden. He then negotiates with the German police and Interpol over surrendering the plates and a disc containing details of the European underworld in exchange for the safety of the hostages and defusing the bombs in the bank.
Don and Roma reach Vardhan after bloody combat with his thugs and find themselves in a standoff. Though ordered by Vardhaan and Jabbar - and even Don himself - Roma is unable to kill Don and is shot by Jabbar in response; she still has feelings for him, even though he killed her brother and his fiancée five years earlier, and also does not want to do it illegally. Don manages to subdue Vardhaan and kills Jabbar. He obtains his immunity papers and surrenders the plates and the disc, as per the bargain. Don brings Roma to an ambulance and they exchange glances before the doors close. When the police later investigates the evidence, they are shocked to discover Diwan and Kohl were behind Werden's murder. Don later detonates a bomb planted earlier in Diwan's car, killing Diwan and seemingly destroying the plates which he had taken.
In a final scene, it is revealed Don still has the currency plates, the ones which the police believe was destroyed in the explosion were fake. Sameer was actually loyal to Don; informing the police was part of the plan. The disc Don turned over actually contains the names of the European drug cartel. Having been exposed, Kohl is shortly arrested too, and the DZB is forced to replace him. After they are arrested, Don becomes king of the European underworld and tells Ayesha and Sameer they have no idea how rich they will become.
A sequel was announced in 2007, a year after the release of Don by Farhan Akhtar.[3] However, the film got delayed due to Shah Rukh Khan's shoulder surgery.[4] The original cast reprised their roles except for Arjun Rampal and Ishaa Koppikar;[5] Lara Dutta and Kunal Kapoor were cast in new roles.[6] Akhtar said that he decided to make a sequel to his 2006 film because it "gave him a lot of freedom to explore the character".[7] Khan copyrighted a tattoo of "D" on his arm and grew his hair long for the film.[8][9]
Khan exercised extensively for the role and performed almost all the stunts by himself. Don 2 marked Khan's return to playing villains after earlier films such as Darr and Baazigar.[10] Chopra learned martial arts and trained for over two months.[11] Boman Irani lost 12 kg for the role and grew a beard to make his character look "cold, cunning and deceitful"; he felt that playing a villain was "a big stretch" for him as an actor.[12] Dutta was cast after Koppikar, who played the role in Don, dropped out of the film. She was recommended to Akhtar by Khan, who had worked with her on Billu in 2009. However, her role was changed after her casting, and turned out to be a different character than Koppikar's. In an interview with The Hindustan Times, Dutta said that it was exciting to play a new character, since there would be no predecessor to live up to.[13]
Khan experimented with several looks and performed his own stunts in the film.[18][19] In Berlin, he performed a 300-foot jump for a scene.[20] A car-chase scene using 67 cars closed main thoroughfares (including the Brandenburg Gate) for three weeks. Each day, alternate routes were provided around roads cordoned off for filming.[21] The shooting schedule also included a special appearance by Hrithik Roshan, whose presence was kept under wraps by filmmakers.[22] In December 2010, the Berlin shooting ended.[23][24] In February 2011 the actors flew to Malaysia, where several scenes were shot in Malacca Prison with prisoners as extras. A section of the prison block was made available for filming, with special T-shirts distinguishing crew members from prisoners in the high-security zone.[25] Khan trained with Hollywood stunt and fight director Wolfgang Stegemann, who also played Karl in the film.[26]
The soundtrack received mixed reviews from critics. Jaspreet Pandohar called it "safe" and a "disappointment".[35] Joginder Tuteja gave a rating of three out of five, terming it a mixed bag and wrote "There isn't anything which comes across as memorable enough to be played a few months down the line, leave aside a few years. Eventually what you get is a soundtrack that would go along with the narrative and acts as a good situational ingredient but that's about it."[36]
Koimoi also gave three out of five writing that album fall short of expectations.[37] Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com gave the album a rating of two out of five calling it "safe and self-conscious" and wrote "Don 2's music could fare much better if the composers Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy had tried to step out of the prequel's shadow."[38]
The producers decided to publicize the dialogue from Don 2 by releasing 10 lines delivered by Don as "Don Says...": one line each Friday from 15 October until the film's release on 23 December. The lines were released simultaneously across all media platforms: television, print, radio, Internet and mobile.[44][45] The filmmakers also released a limited-edition toy version. The toy, Shahrukh Khan dressed as Don, is the first bobblehead of a Bollywood star.[46] The cast, director and producers embarked on a multi-city tour across India (including Patna) to promote the film.[47] Interrupted by security problems, the tour resumed from Nagpur to Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and other cities.[48]
Don 2 was released worldwide 23 December 2011 on 3,105 screens in the domestic market, including 500 prints in 3D, and on 650 screens in 40 countries.[51][52] The dubbed versions in Telugu and Tamil were released with the Hindi version.[53] The second phase of the film's international release began in January 2012 in 84 countries.[54] On 9 February 2012 to 19 February 2012, Don 2 11 February 2012 World Premiere Cinema theatre was shown at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival.[55][56] Reliance Entertainment obtained a "John Doe" order from the Delhi High Court allowing it to serve cease-and-desist notices on film pirates.[57]
A month before Don 2's release Nariman Films, producers of Don, sent a legal notice to Reliance and Excel Entertainment about the sequel. According to the notice, Nariman had given the rights to Excel Entertainment in perpetuity for Don alone.[58] On 19 December, a week before Don 2's release, the Bombay High Court refused to stay the film's release; the court's ruling considered the film's scheduled release on 21 December overseas and 23 December in India, for which many theaters had been booked.[59]
The smoking scenes in the film came with a disclaimer per Health Ministry's advice to the producers.[60] The DVD was released on 7 February 2012 with two different versions, Blu-ray and a special feature releasing on 10 April and 24 May.[61]
A review carried by The Express Tribune called the film "a visual masterpiece", adding that "it sets a very high benchmark for future Indian action films."[67] Komal Nahta rated the film 3.5 out of 5 calling it "a winner" but felt that the first half was slow-paced.[68] Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film 3.5 out of 5, feeling that the second half took the film to another level, and wrote "Farhan chooses an entirely new concept, garnishes it with classic action, stunning visuals, giving it an international look and feel".[69] Aniruddha Guha of Daily News and Analysis gave three out of five complimenting Khan's performance and action sequences, which he thought made the film work.[70] Mid-Day gave it 2.5 out of 5, praising Khan's performance and wrote "The film is slick, the cinematography is captivating but the racy, edge of the seat pace that you expect from an action thriller of this kind is sorely missing."[71] 041b061a72