A fan's tribute
RANA SIDDIQUI
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Farhan Akhtar couldn't have improved the good old "Don", so he made a new one retaining all that he admired.
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FAN, ACTUALLY Farhan Akhtar says he fell in love with the original "Don". So the only way to express his love was to remake it.
Farhan Akhtar watched the old "Don" 40 times "for the sheer magic it would spell" each time. So much was he in love with it that he didn't want to "tamper with it" while remaking it. "I only wanted to take the `characters' and then tell my own tale through them. And as a great fan of `Don', I wanted to retain those famous dialogues that have overwhelmed me for ages, as `Don ka intezar to gyarah mulkon ki police kar rahi hai'. And to keep that old Don's nostalgia alive, I used the same mosaic shirt on Shah Rukh Khan as Bachchan wears in the `Khaike paan' song, and similar dance movements and pathos in `Yeh mera dil'."
Sentiments
He also had in mind the impact his film would have on people, specifically the inevitable comparisons. "I took care that I don't hurt people's sentiments by trying to better the old one. It would have amounted to disrespect. I couldn't have improved the old one so I made a new one. So when people go to watch this film, they would be able to separate the two. I also wanted to introduce `Don' to the new generation, especially the age group of 10 to 12 years who don't connect to the old one. People of my age have fond memories of Amitabh Bachchan's `Don', but not this generation."
We saw Helen dancing to "Yeh mera dil" while Farhan chose Kareena, a heroine, to do the job. Farhan avers, "Helen ji was a vamp in other films, but in this film she wasn't one. She is a tragic character whose fiancée is killed by Don. So she tries to take revenge on him. She looks more heart-broken than a vamp wearing a revealing costume. Moreover, she never looked vulgar in any song. Kareena exudes the same class. However revealing her dress, she never looks cheap. If I had taken any vamp for it, she would have surely looked more devilish than a tragic character."
The old "Don" opens in Khandala and the new one in Paris. It moves to Malaysia and then comes to Bordi, a small location on the Maharashtra border. This Don too jumps from a height of 15000 feet. "In this sky diving scene I took help from Air Force personnel. Hollywood's Joe Jennings was the director of all stunts, and Angelo Saheen, an expert in bomb explosion scenes, who also worked with me in `Lakshya', helped me."
Now an actor
Not that Farhan is restricted to direction and writing. You will see him acting in debutant director Anand Sorapan's film "Fakir".
He plays a production co-ordinator in the film that is being shot abroad. "It is based on the true story of a fakir who is known to have taken samadhi. In this film, my character takes him to the place where he is supposed to take samadhi and captures him on camera. Anu Kapoor plays the fakir in the film," he reveals.
From directing to being directed, Farhan says he has no ego hassles. "Importantly, today filmmaking is far easier. There is no hierarchy. Earlier actors wouldn't even speak to assistant directors, forget taking commands. Now films are made in a more friendly and warm atmosphere. So there is no ego clash anywhere. Moreover, I wouldn't like to act in a film in which I can't contribute. Since I know the camera job, I could contribute my bit," he shares. Farhan is also producing his sister Zoya Akhtar's film, "Kismat Talkies", based on an old cinema hall in Mumbai.
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