India Masala

Don 2: Don’t expect too much

It’s been a while since Bollywood dished out a slick, fast-paced action film. Wait, who am I kidding? Bollywood doesn’t do fast-paced action films any more, we just turn to Hollywood to get our share of those. So kudos to Farhan Akhtar that he thought of attempting it — not once but twice.

While the first was a remake of the 70s hit “Don”, the sequel is an entirely new story, and doesn’t have too many connections with the previous film, except for some of the characters who make a comeback.

We are introduced to Don (Shah Rukh Khan), five years after he escaped from the clutches of police — with longer hair and the entire Asian drug trade at his command. When he decides to move his trade to Europe, drug lords there decide that Don is better off dead. To escape from their clutches, and hoping to stay safe in prison, Don surrenders to Interpol officer Roma (Priyanka Chopra), who till 5 years ago, was part of his gang. How she makes that switch, we are never told.

Inexplicably, the minute he gets inside prison, Don makes a plan to escape. If all he wanted to do was escape immediately, why surrender in the first place? And that’s the first of the plot holes. Unfortunately, Akhtar makes no attempt to plug any of these holes — they only grow larger as the film progresses.

Shah Rukh Khan’s new look in “Don 2″

It’s been a little more than a year since the last Shah Rukh Khan movie released, but this year the star has two big releases – “Ra One” and “Don 2″, directed by Farhan Akhtar. “Ra One”, starring Khan and Kareena Kapoor, is set for a Diwali release while Don 2 is releasing on the Christmas weekend. Given his long absence from the silver screen and the muted response to his new TV show “Zor Ka Jhatka”, Khan will be banking on these two films to do well. “Don 2″, directed by Farhan Akhtar, is the sequel to his 2007 remake of ‘Don”, and stars Khan alongwith Priyanka Chopra, Boman Irani and Lara Dutta. The film was shot in Berlin and the cast is currently shooting in Malaysia. Here are pictures of Khan’s look in the film. What do you think? Which avatar of Khan’s have you liked the most?

It’s been a little more than a year since the last Shah Rukh Khan movie released but this year the star has two big releases — “Ra One” and “Don 2″.

Karthik Calling Karthik: Farhan saves this insipid thriller

Farhan Akhtar has now come to be associated with a particular kind of cinema – slick production values, quirky characters and smart writing. So when I went in to watch his latest production, “Karthik Calling Karthik”, I was expecting something similar. While I got to see the first two aspects, the third, and the most important was gravely missing.

The film, a thriller about a meek, submissive man called Karthik, whose life changes when he gets phone calls from an anonymous caller who also calls himself Karthik, starts off well, and is engaging enough, but for some bad writing and corny dialogues, which take away from the edge-of-the-seat thrill that a film like this should give you.

Luck By Chance: An insider’s look at Bollywood

My favourite scenes in Zoya Akhtar’s “Luck By Chance” are when Rishi Kapoor is on screen as the over the top, aging Bollywood producer Romy Rolly.

And that’s not just because he is brilliant in the part — he is. But the scenes capture perfectly the subtle performances and nuanced characters this film is bursting with.

Rock On: A band’s story of love and friendship

Rock bands and their members don’t really have a cult following in India — at least not the kind seen in the West.

So, basing an entire film in a milieu not many Indians would recognise is a risk in itself.