The first movie I saw in a theatre, as far as I can remember, was Subhash Ghai’s ‘Saudagar’ at Pune’s Westend theatre. Was in there after some 15 years and could hardly recall anything. My school bus used to pass by it and I remember myself, face pressed against the window, carefully reading the movie’s name on the hoarding outside Westend, wondering why Hindi movie names were written in English! Quite strange were the movies taglines too. One I’ll never forget is ‘Dil hai ki maanata nahin’s one-a journey into a women’s heart. I didn’t quite understand it then, still don’t!

 Cheers to another flop!

Anyways, the movie which marks my return to Westend and watchin’ movies in theatres was Farhan Akhtar’s ‘Don’. And what a huge let down it was. A weak screenplay from Farhan Akhtar and to top it all, SRK’s performance falling flat on its face. FA’s story idea was good but it wasn’t translated into an equally good screenplay. A thriller is supposed to keep you at the edge of your seat throughout its runtime and ‘Don’ doesn’t do it, at all. FA has improvised on the original Salim-Javed script (which was ‘inspired’ from a Hollywood B-movie ‘House of Secrets’). You are all excited to see SRK as the Don, awaiting some kinda spectacle. 15 minutes into the movie and you’ll start wondering what the heck are your doing there, this cant be the movie you were waiting for. At most you can call it a lil’ better than plain boring. It’s just not masaledaar enough. I’ve said it earlier and I’ll say it again; I liked FA’s story but definitely not the screenplay and the execution. SRK gives it all to Don but he ends up a distant, a very distant second to the Big-B. He goes completely over the top when playing Vijay. And he looks old too. Priyanka Chopra looks like a million dollars (especially in the ‘Aaj Ki Raat’ song) and her acting skills are getting better. Nothing exceptional but she sure is on her way to join the A-list comprising Rani, Priety and Aishwarya. Isha Koppikar cant act. Same for Arjun Rampal. Good looks and voice and that’s it. Om Puri and Pawan Malhotra are wasted. But Malhotra should be doing more such kinda movies. Not much in there for him as an actor but he’ll get recognition, and slowly ‘n’ steadily the good roles will trickle in. Boman Irani rocks! I’d say he’s the star of the show, the new villain no.1 of Bollywood! Pawan Malhotra should go his way. BTW, FA ended the story with a sequel in mind. So if only somehow Don becomes a hit! But then I am bad at guessing BO results. I still cant understand how ‘No Entry’ and ‘Biwi No.1′ became such huge hits!
Sigh!
Still interested in watching ‘Don’? I think it would be a better idea to go out and rent the original AB-starrer. Will be worth the effort, time and ofcourse money. So forget about FA’s Don, DONt watch it!

P.S. Paanch and Black Friday have been by censors and the courts and will release before the end of the year! Anurag Kashyap has begun working on his new movie-No Smoking. Saw Dhoom-2’s trailor during the intermission. Didn’t like Dhoom-1 so am not really looking forward to the sequel. Kabul Express looks interesting…even Guru. But the ones I’m waiting for are ofcourse Paanch and Black Friday!