MOVIE REVIEW : DON

DISCLAIMER - This is purely a personal opinion and may contain spoilers, which you may find objectionable or may thank me later.

Diwali weekend saw the release of 2 big movies in Bollywood..Farhan Akhtar’s DON and Shirish Kunder’s JAANEMAN. Both movies had the star cast and the hype to make it big at the box-office. But are they really worth a watch? Lets find outÖ

Since it was a remake of a classic and the directorial reins were in the hand of Farhan Akhtar (whose Dil Chahta Hai is still one of my favorite movies) I preferred to see DON first and hence I will begin with its review..


DON –



Well the name of the movie says it all..you hear DON and instantly the image of Amitabh Bachchan comes to your mind. Such was (oops..is) the presence of the Big B. So what is this DON all about? It is Farhan Akhtar’s tribute to this 1978 cult film and in a way it is a remake of the original.

As soon as Big B fans hear this they will protest saying that it is blasphemy to remake such a classic or even watch it. But it is the time for remakes and sequels in Bollywood and Farhan Akhtar sets about making the first remake with many more in the pipeline like Sholay, Amar Akbar Anthony and as of yesterday I heard even the 1972 film Victoria No. 203 is going to be remade.

Farhan Akhtar chooses none other than Shahrukh King Khan to essay the role of DON. So do Farhan Akhtar and Shahrukh Khan do justice to the original? I would say yes they do. Of course you cannot compare both movies (just as you cannot compare say Sarkar and The Godfather) but Farhan Akhtar’s DON doesn’t make you regret watching his version/his take on it as well.

The premise of the story is well known to everyone, but for those who don’t.....<B<>r>
Shahrukh Khan is the high profile DON, currently roaming the streets of Malaysia in his posh car and wearing dark shades. Police from 11 countries (including India) are in search of this elusive DON. The DON has one policyÖ”DON ke dushman ki sabse badi galti hai..ki woh DON ka dushman hai”. In the process he ends up killing Roma’s (Priyanka Chopra) brother and Roma decides to join the gang to avenge her brother’s death. Circumstances lead our DON to India where in an enduring chase sequence with ACP D’Silva (Boman Irani), DON is fatally wounded. ACP Silva then decides to send the DON look-alike (Vijay) to get more information about the entire gang. The twist in the tale takes place when ACP D’Silva is killed and Vijay is left with no one to prove that he is actually Vijay and not the DON. The rest of the story revolves around how Vijay tries to get the truth out.

From this short summary, it appears as if nothing has changed from the original storyline and yes nothing major has changed. But this DON has some extra twists and turns that make this movie worth watching at least once. At the same time let me add that this definitely ranks last among all 3 of Farhan Akhtar’s movies till date.

Coming to the performances, Shahrukh Khan delivers yet another believable performance this time as the elusive DON. No comparisons can be drawn between him and the Big B and SRK cannot get anywhere near to Rajinikanth(DON's orginal tamil version of "BILLA") but obviously, but Shahrukh does manage to leave an impression, which is different from his chocolate hero image. His portrayal of Vijay isn’t as convincing and looks forced on.
Priyanka Chopra tries to step into the shoes of Zeenat Aman as Roma and comes out with an ok performance.
Boman Irani plays the role of ACP D’Silva with much ease. He has quite a decent amount of screen time in the movie and makes good use of it.
Isha Koppikar plays DON’s interest in the movie as Anita and as like in her previous movies she doesn’t have much to do in this one as well.
Arjun Rampal tries to do a Pran but it doesn’t come naturally to him and is definitely miscast in this movie.
Om Puri as Inspector Malik is totally wasted.
Kareena Kapoor is in the role of Kamini and she may be no Helen, but she definitely got the crowd whistling for her through the song.

Plus points for the movie:
1) Modifications done to the original storyline do make the second half of the movie interesting.
2) The choreography of the song “Khaike Paan Banaraswala” deserves special mention here. When I seen the promos on TV I was like yucckkk, but the full song on full screen was a delight to watch. I have never seen the crowd give such a reaction to any song. You had people whistling, singing along and applauding throughout the song. Big B fans will say that is because the original song itself was a huge hit and I wont deny that, but even this version is very likeable.
3) The climax of the movie will have you talking about the movie after it is over. We have seen similar endings in many Hollywood movies and we appreciate them there. I would like to do the same here.

Negative points for the movie:
1) Its inevitable comparison to the original version.
2) A very slow first half. Kareena Kapoor’s dance was the only major attraction of the first half.
3) Some really unwanted scenes such as the rescue of Don by Priyanka Chopra, etc only prolonged the ending.<B<>r>
While seeing this DON, I had no fresh recollection of the original movie and that is why probably I enjoyed this movie much better than others. Farhan Akhtar has already shown us that he is a very capable director and although this movie of his might not generate great critic reviews, there is no doubt that his movies are definitely worth a watch.

So give this movie a watch...

Rating: ***

Travel ???????AGAIN??????? Gone Mad or what??????

I know all of you will be asking this question when you finish reading this blog. I cant help it. This is what I can do very happily than anything else in this world. OK. This time it is the traveling tale to Bangalore and Mysore. I had decided to take a trip to Bangalore on Friday (13.10.06) night and reach Bangalore the next morning. I decided to do so on Wednesday (11.10.06) itself. I had to apply for leave on Saturday as it was a working day due to the bandh and curfew situations in Mangalore for the past one week. With great difficulty I got leave for Saturday.

I took the non a/c sleeper bus from Mangalore to bangalore at 10.30 pm on Saturday. I planned to sleep but could not because of the great condition of the roads from Mangalore to Hassan. This is the worst road in whole of India I believe. There are no roads in the ghat section and it is covered by muddy roads. This was due to the heavy rains that still last in the Ghats. After a painful journey for half the distance and after reaching the plains from Hassan to Bangalore I had a nice sleep.

I was supposed to reach at 7 but, due to the bad roads I could manage to reach at 8. Why was I going to Bangalore suddenly? This time it was my brother Kannan from Chennai who had to take a break from his regular calls he was receiving daily. He wanted to just switch off his mobile for 2 to 3 days and go to some other place. He also had some personal works to do in Bangalore. By the time I reached Bangalore he was already there. Even though Bangalore is equidistant from Mangalore and Chennai, (about 350 KM) it takes 5.5 hrs from Chennai and around 7.5 hrs from Mangalore because of the ghat section and thanks to the bad roads.

After taking bath he had left to have a look at the venue for some competition he is supposed to assist with soon. I had to spend that time in repairing a computer as much I could but only managed a little. Then we decided to take lunch and leave to Mysore. We boarded a super fast train from Bangalore to Mysore which was really super fast and reached Mysore in another 2 hrs and 15 min.

We took a prepaid auto to the bus stand and then had to walk some distance to reach to the local bus stand. We took a look at the palace en route to the bus stand. We didn’t plan to visit the palace as we both had been to it before many times. So we boarded the bus which would take us to the KRS (Krishna Raja Sagar) DAM. It was the perfect time (5.30 pm) to visit the dam as it has a beautiful garden known as the Brindhavan Gardens. First we took a look at the beautiful dancing fountain that was a real crowd puller at this venue.

At this time I had the memories of my last visit to this place with my college mates which was supposed to be an industrial visit which we converted to a tour :). After enjoying 2 songs at the fountain we headed to the dam via the garden. It was pitch dark at 6.30 and we both were confused as to whether the garden was closed so soon. Then we came to know that it was due to the power failure. With the help of the moon light and my mobile we reached the dam site and then had a look at the dam. Water could be seen to a long distance and I was surprised that even though having such large resources of water why Karnataka could not release water to Tamilnadu. (Ok no more politics). Then just as we turned back to look at the garden to take our walk back via the garden it was lighted again and it was a awesome place covered full of lights and some fountains. The garden was well maintained. I was wondering when Chennai could get such attractions. Hope the best.

Then we headed back to the bus stand and took dinner before we boarded a good bus back to Bangalore. We slept as soon as we boarded the bus but could not continue after an hour as it was too cold inside the bus and we had a little chat before we reached the Bangalore bus stand. Than we headed back to the guest house of my brother’s office and took a nice sleep from 2 am to 8 am.

I planned to take my brother to my Bangalore office in electronics city. We took some snaps at my office thanks to Abhishek (my best friend from the training period in Hyderabad) and we had a good lunch in office. We then proceeded to MG road and brigade road as we planned to do some shopping for diwali. I purchased a cargo and some t-shirts and my brother bought some rain jackets (as if it is raining always in Chennai). Then we headed back to the guest house and had a nice match in TV waiting for us (IND vs. ENG) which India eventually won. We had dinner and headed to majestic to catch our buses back to Mangalore and Chennai. Our routine work was waiting for us from tomorrow.

Don’t scold me for taking trips now and then. I promise you all that I wont go on a trip in the near future. Oh!!! No!!! It is getting late for my train to Chennai. Ha ha ha. Its diwali guys and I have to be back home enjoying food. See you all soon.



Wish you all a happy and safe diwali.<>

Mangalore nagaram urangum neram thanimai niraindhadhu mazhaiyum peyyudhu!!!

Those who do not understand the topic just leave that. It has got nothing to do with this post. It just says how I started this weekend and how boring it is to be alone. After a very tiring week I decided to stay back in mangalore at least this weekend so that I could take some rest without travelling anywhere. Friday(29.09.06) evening started with a birthday party in office. Not knowing what to do till night I decided to stay back in office for some time and left at around 8 to my house. I had dinner in my house itself and slept. Next day(Saturday/30.09.06) morning started at 04.30 hrs. Why so early?. That's because I was supposed to meet my neighbour from chennai in the railway station by 05.15 hrs(Scheduled arrival of the west coast express).


Aaram se I started from home and also rain had started by then. So I preferred taking an auto from a nearby stand(Autos doesn't cost you much in mangalore). Chalthe chalthe I reached station in just 5 minutes. Now the time was 05.00 hrs. As I neared the station only i realised that the train had come already.( Don't be surprised. It actually happened. Yes, first time in the history of southern railways, according to my knowledge, a train had arrived 30 minutes before scheduled arrival. Claps for the engine driver). Now I rushed to the station hoping that my neighbour come late out of the station. As I entered the station I saw my neighbour just coming out of the platform. They were travelling to udupi(Place near mangalore about which I will cover later in the post). Wondering why I got up so early?. Here is the answer-Mom had sent some snacks(murukku) thru them for me which I was supposed to collect.


As I reached back home after thanking them, my roomies where still enjoying their sleep. I was all alone watching some boring stuffs in T.V. Then one by one my roomies got up and we were ready for breakfast. Guess what for breakfast?. All the snacks which I had brought was finished in a flash. Everyone liked it very much and we enjoyed a good breakfast. Then we were only three left in the room. One had gone to pune for the weekend, One to Bangalore and one more had been to Office. We where planning what to do and how to kill time. So we decided to go to a movie. We first went to book tickets and I insisted for "LAGE RAHO MUNNA BHAI". One of them had seen it twice already and one had seen it once. But they agreed to see once more for me(poor guys). We got tickets for 15.45hrs show. But what to do from 12.00 noon to evening. As we reached home we had lunch and the other 2 slept happily again. I was alone again. You should know one thing now

"The most difficult thing to do is doing nothing."

I was whiling away time and did not feel sleepy also to have a good nap. Then I passed some time by watching some sports channel. Then it was around 3.15 and we started to the theatre. The movie was too good and i enjoyed it very much. The theatre(ADLABS) was also very nice. Then we went to a super market to buy some stuffs which my roomies needed for their trekking expedition planned for Sunday and Monday some 60-70 KM from mangy. Wondering why I didn't join them?. Surprise!!! So we had nice dinner in some restaurant near office. We went home and slept. Next day(01.10.06) for me started again at 04.30 hrs. My roomies were getting ready to leave mangy and catch a bus to that trekking place at 05.15 hrs. Was that the only reason I had got up so early in the morning that day also. No!!! I left at 04.45 hrs from home and reached where? The railway station. Again??? Today it was not my neighbour and it was my dearest friend from college. Who else other than kris.(For who doesn't know kris, krishna is my classmate who is presently working in Synaptris decisions as a web designer.) As yesterday i was late again no no the train was early again. Don't know what has happened to the railways. I think the employees are happy on them receiving the bonus for this month.

Now that you know the reason behind me dropping out from the trekking expedition we ll continue with the story. What more do you want when you meet your friend after a long time? Say bye bye to trekking and other stuffs. Kris had come here as he also wanted to take a break. Poor guy works late nights in office. So we reached my house. Kris was surprised to see me living in a 8 storey apartments. Yes, cost of living in mangy(as kris used to call this place) is really cheap. You could get a well furnished house at around 1500/- per head. Kris freshened up and we both set our foot for a expedition in and around mangy. We walked happily in heavy rain for some distance before we could find some place to get a good film roll to take some snaps.



Our first plan was to go to Panambur beach near mangy. This place was to good early in the morning. We took some great snaps of a ship that was moving out of the port. We walked some distance into the sea not in water but a elevated stone way made of rocks into the sea. After having a good look at the beach kris made a wrong decision to have breakfast in the sea shore itself. I advised, but he was in no mood to listen.(Poor guy must not have had good food in train for the 18 hour journey he made.) So he ordered for a Dosa and I ordered a plate of Idly. As soon as the plates arrived I stared at Kris and he starred at me. What we expected was a dosa and idly but, god knows what they served us. One was a cake made of Idly dough and other was a Baked variety in a flat surface. We, sorry I managed to finish it some how and we left to the best place in this whole of mangalore. That place is none other than my OFFICE.


I just took kris around my office and he enjoyed the place. He was surprised to see the facilities available in office. So after spending half an hour in office we headed towards BIGBAZAAR(shopping mall in mangy). Kris bought some kurta for his brother and we came out soon. Then I took kris to a place called PABBAS which is a unit of IDEAL Ice Cream Parlour. Kris and Myself enjoyed something called as Pabbas special and also some chocolate choclatty or something which was awesome. For those who had not been to mangy or do not know about mangalore just know one thing that it is famous for ICE-CREAMS.


After having nice Ice creams we headed back home. We took just 5 min break and I had a call from a person who owns a franchisee of mental arithmetic system. Kris was supposed to meet him and discuss on some issues regarding their website. You wont believe what I am about to tell. That person's son who is just 6 years old was able to tell the tables for the number 162 in just 30 seconds and it is not by memorising and was all based on some calculations in mental arithmetic using ABACUS. Then he showed us some book on calligraphy upon seeing which we both busted out laughing as we both were nowhere near to good handwriting.

Then we had lunch and headed straight to UDIPI which is some 50 KM on the NH-17 towards GOA. As it was raining throughout the day we were always wet. We had a nice nap in the bus and it reached udipi in an hour. After getting down at the main bus stand we took another bus to the beach. We walked some 100 mtrs before reaching the beach. We looked at some islands 6 KM away from the shore where Tipusultan had built some watch towers via a telescope. The view was really awesome. We didn't venture into the sea as we were not really interested.



We decided to sit on the sand and we had a discussion on our college days.Those colourful days in every body's life. We should find a means by which we could travel back to those days using a time machine. Man cant go back in time but we still have memories left in us. We both visualized each and every college moment we had spent together. We took some snaps in the beach and then the time arrived. It was 18.00hrs and the sun was ready to set and poor guy kris did not have the luck in watching the sunset as it got cloudy and the sun set behind the clouds. Anyways the place was awesome and we enjoyed a lot in our discussion than anything else.

Then we decided to go to MANIPAL which is some 5-6 KM from Udipi. We just looked at around the various colleges of the MANIPAL UNIVERSITY(awesome place to study). Then we decided to get back home by a express bus to mangalore. We reached mangalore in good time for dinner and had nice food. We went home and slept. Next day morning(02.10.06) we were up by 8 and we decided to go to a place called Sultan battery near the river where we could not find a boat to cross us to the other side of the river.So we took some shots near the river and headed straight to Mangalore railway station. Kris was supposed to catch the mangalore mail back to chennai as he has to meet some person in his office without fail tomorrow. He boarded the train in a general compartment.

What am I doing after kris left to chennai??? I am just typing this blog for you all from my office. I ll update with the photos as soon as kris gives a soft copy to me. What next? Get back to work and it is just 4 days away. What is just 4 days away????. It is the next weekend. Enjoy the weekdays till then at work.