Each and every frame of Don2 is suave, exotic and exquisite but when all those frames are combined and run together, Don2 misses the plotline. The plot is very simple though: Five years later, Don(Shahrukh Khan)—after establishing his unchallengeable fiefdom in Asia—heads towards Europe to extend his drug-cartel. This expectedly does not go well into the European mafia and they consort themselves to ‘keel Don’. But Don apparently has some other plan and to pull it off, he needs his old-time ‘frenemy’ Vardhan(Boman Irani). So what does he do now? Simple: He surrenders himself to the cops: Roma(Priyanka Chopra) and Mr. Malik(Om Puri), and takes Vardhan out of Kuala Lampur jail. From there they head to Zurich and then to Berlin to steal “banknote printing plates” from the highly-secured central bank, which will make him, well, rich! Sounds simple? But Don has several sub-plans in the plans which make him con Vardhan again this time. In his sub-plans, his aides are Ayesha(Lara Dutta) and the hacker-guy(Kunal Kapoor). At the end of the story, Don has the banknote-plates and he manages to strike a deal with the police—remember the “disk” in the prequel? Yeah, he gives it to the cops and all the European mafia is behind bars—and Don, now, is a free respectable man!
Don2 begins with a slow and dragging first half and takes time to pitch in all the characters. The second half is much better and sharp. The movie is all about Shahrukh and he does not disappoint his fans a bit by pulling his character off with style and élan, though he sometimes go overboard with his baritone and pitch which diminishes the overall seriousness of the sequence. But full marks to the ease with he slips into negativity. Boman Irani, surprisingly, looks out of form here. And no matter how hard Priyanka Chopra tries, she does not look threatening et all and is a pain to bear. Om Puri disappoints and does not have much footage. Lara Dutta does her brief cameo with elegance and charm. Kunal Kapoor is okay.
Direction, costumes and background score is all where Don2 scores. Every single shot oozes style and polish. The fight and car-chasing sequences are engrossing and the shots of never-seen-before Berlin are breath-taking. But the plot, like a party-spoiler irritates, is hardly convincing (except the part where they loot the bank) and leaves many unanswered questions:
If getting out of jail was that easy, then was Vardhan waiting for Don all these years to get out? Why did Don need Vardhan? Didn’t he have his own men? Seemed so, given that in the opening sequence, he takes his own consignee!(In spite of being...well...DON, humility? )
After planning to ‘keel Don’, where was the European mafia partying instead of killing Don, he came to Berlin, right? We wanted to see someone apart from dumb Indian Cops chasing Don there!
Once bitten twice shy, right? Not so much in case of the cops (Priyanka and Om Puri) who are coxed by Don into believing in him. They repeatedly buy the fact that Don has got a change of heart and really want to help them!
As an insult to the viewer’s intelligence, the part where Hrithik (Yes, he’s there too to up the style-quotient) unmasks himself as Don, is well…very lame!
As an insult to the viewer’s intelligence, the part where Hrithik (Yes, he’s there too to up the style-quotient) unmasks himself as Don, is well…very lame!
Apart from the flaws in the plot, Don2 is a visual treat and matches the panache of Hollywood flicks like Ocean’s11. Watch it out for Shahrukh, who undisputedly is the king of—like everything—the movie. All cheers to Shahrukh and his charisma.
~My ratings (3/5)
