Don 2 - A big disappointment

The trailer of Don2 was one of the most promising trailers we have seen in recent times. It was slick and stylish. But unfortunately the movie is not even 50% of what the trailer promised.

I was not a huge fan of Don 1 but there were lot of things in the previous version that had impressed me including the direction, performances and overall styling. Overall the movie was decent and worth once a watch.

However, not much can be said about Don 2.

First, the movie lacks a story line. A famous gangster like Don has been brought down to a simple conman who wants to commit one of the biggest bank robberies in Europe. Movies on bank robberies have been created so many times that I wonder if there will be a new and original idea to rob a bank this time. And Alas there was nothing new. In fact the robbery shown in Don 2 is pale in comparison to many others seen even in Hindi movies earlier. It lacks credibility. Its a band of crooks stealing with guns, grenades and hostages. Lot of technicalities discussed but nothing used in execution.

It’s also a wonder that such a dreaded gangster will have such poor skilled enemies. That they can hope to kill him with a local hitman.

The story and direction has so many flaws that you really wonder this is the same director who gave us Dil Chahta Hai, Lakshya and even Don 1 (Guess Farhan didn’t have to worry about story in Don 1 as it was a remake with a simple twist in the end).

Coming to performances: Shahrukh Khan though acted well looks similar to so many of his previous performances. He has his trademark smirk through out the movie which I believe he should now patent it. The smirk and the laugh was considered overacting in the past but I think now its part of his persona.

Boman Irani and Om Puri such acting stalwarts reduced to paupers is a major disappointment. Priyanka Chopra has so much potential to be a true “Junglee billi” but the director decided to tame her to be a domestic cat. Its beyond me that a girl can still love someone who was responsible for killing her brother and had deceived her so many times. The romantic plot was poor and absolutely unnecessary. It makes her character extremely weak. Lara Dutta has no role whatsoever. You can take her out and nothing will change.

All the rest have been intentionally chosen as weak characters to make Don look strong.

There are hardly any songs to talk about. The background score is a continuation of Don 1 and hence mixes well with the scenes. Some of the dialogues are very good but the issue is you have heard almost all of them in the trailers in the previous few weeks that the novelty factor is totally lost. The only plus point was the stylised locations and the cinematography. The starting scene in Thailand has been shot very well.

Overall, I will rate the movie between 2 and 2.5 stars depending upon how much expectation you go with. Unfortunately, for me this was one of the most anticipated movies of this year and disappointingly falls flat.

A note: If the price for 3D is substantially higher than 2D version, you can safely opt for 2D as there are not many 3D effects in the movie.

The Dirty Picture – More Dirty than Picture

Since the time the first trailer of TDP went live, there has been an enormous amount of curiosity surrounding this movie. Milan Luthria’s next venture after the very successful and brilliant movie “Once upon a Time in Mumbai” coupled with Vidya Balan’s probably first time bold and sexy avatar was something that I was definitely looking forward to.

As there were so much expectations riding on the movie, the movie disappoints in many ways.

The Dirty Picture probably focuses more on shocking the audience with its bold images and double meaning sentences than the story itself. The story is confusing and convoluted many times. It revolves around a young plain village girl (played by Vidya Balan) who runs to Madras city to become a heroine. She is ready to do “anything” to grab a role. One accidental role and she transforms into SILK (very clearly laid out on SILK Smitha’s character from South India film industry).

There are three male protagonists in the movie. Naseeruddin Shah is playing a typical South Indian actor who can shoot Rs 100 note and break into 100 coins of Re 1. Tushar plays Naseer’s shy brother by profession a writer but most of the time either in awe of his brother or in awe of Silk. The last but the main Emran Hashmi who never gets his role clear but for a change doesn’t play the Dirty character.

The story revolves around Silk, these three characters and then again Silk. What makes it confusing is are we supposed to sympathize with her or accept her as a popular item girl. She is initially shown to be a clever, opportunist, who gets ready to drop anything that she wears for a break and subsequent roles. Later she gets affected by stardom and bias in the industry which subsequently leads to her downfall.

I believe Milan got obsessed with Vidya Balan’s first time bold image and decided to capitalize it to the maximum extent possible. In this endeavour, he misses the main story line. There are so many questions which are left to the audience to decipher. Why does Emran Hashmi hate her in the first half and then suddenly starts liking her? Is he a director, critic or an actor? Why does the journalist publicly write against her but keeps applauding and appreciating her in private? Why is Tusshar’s role required in the first place? Is being SILK good or bad? The second half probably is more puzzling than the first. At least in first there is a regular dose of “The Dirty Picture”.

All said above, the movie has its many plus points as well. The first is definitely Vidya. Vidya Balan puts in a towering performance and is clearly the highlight of the movie. She will not just amaze you with her sleazy costumes but will also win you with her acting. She is bold and bindaas. She does justice to both halves. The first one where she is naturally sexy and daring and the second one where she wants to continue with her image despite it not being working out. It is so obvious how much hard work and efforts she would have put in to live the image of SILK. Its only Vidya who could pull off such a role with such command. Any other actress, and there are chances the movie would have looked sleazy even bordering on soft porn. The movie will definitely hand over Vidya Balan the best actor award.

The make up man has also done a superb job in the second half including making her look overweight and then trying to conceal her fat.

All three male actors have put in a good job despite a lack of connect built into their roles.

The dialogues are another highlight. Despite being double meaning at many places, the dialogues have been written with so much power. This is in continuation with Once upon a time in Mumbai. Some of the one-liners were razor-sharp and witty at the same time.

Overall, The Dirty Picture is a one-time watch.

A note: Be prepared to whistles and loud roars from college students and others sitting next to you everytime Vidya Balan exposes herself or a double meaning punch is spoken. And I can assure both are there in generous quantities.