{"id":208,"date":"2006-10-13T09:35:00","date_gmt":"2006-10-13T09:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/2006\/10\/an-ode-to-twitching-eyebrows-or-the-new-don.html"},"modified":"2011-06-30T20:00:40","modified_gmt":"2011-06-30T20:00:40","slug":"an-ode-to-twitching-eyebrows-or-the-new-don","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/2006\/10\/an-ode-to-twitching-eyebrows-or-the-new-don.html","title":{"rendered":"An Ode to Twitching Eyebrows (or the new Don)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hmm, guess who\u2019s eyebrows ? Shahrukh Khan\u2019s ofcourse ! I didn\u2019t think much of them in KANK<\/a> , and I don\u2019t think the twitch will help with the upcoming Don. I don\u2019t condone the actual twitching. After all one must have one\u2019s personal signature style; Rajesh Khanna had his immensely annoying mannerisms and we must forgive the Khan his.<\/p>\n

\"newdon\"<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

With all the hype around Don, it looks like we have a major block-buster at hand. Or so says my husband, who\u2019s an ardent fan, actually more of a devotee of the Big B. If worshipping at Amitabh\u2019s feet was an actual paying job, I think he\u2019d have done that. But then, I suspect, so would have millions of desi fans. He has seen Amitabh\u2019s Don<\/a> more times than I can count, and when he talks of the magic of the film his eyes glaze over. So when such an absolute devotee looks forward to a remake of THE CLASSIC, I am floored.<\/p>\n

A Don Remake ? Blasphemy, I think ! Has Farhan Akhtar lost his marbles ? It is one thing to remake a crappy film, because you have a good chance of making it better. But to remake a 70\u2019s classic super-hit, when the chances of recreating that magic are slim, one must be either really brave or really stupid. I thought Farhan belonged to the former category.<\/p>\n

Plus he seemed to have the knack for story-telling an UNTOLD story \u2013 take \u201cDil Chahta Hai\u201d or \u201cLakshya\u201d. Both exude exhuberance and youthfulness, and tell well-crafted stories. They are modern day classics. They create original magic, the keyword here being \u201coriginal\u201d. Borrowed magic, my dear Farhan, is after all borrowed. Why borrow when you have your own ?<\/p>\n

\"old_don\"<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

Don (1978) was the film it was because of it\u2019s cast. Besides AB (much discussed and upon whom I could write reams), there\u2019s Zeenat Aman, Helen and Pran. 4 actors I consider inimitable. Now consider the replacements : SRK replaces Amitabh. Can SRK recreate AB\u2019s magic ? Hmm, can pigs fly ? You shake your head vigorously – No,No. I concur. SRK will be SRK, first and foremost. Any other character he might be playing comes second. Always. The only time he seemed to indicate otherwise was in \u201cSwades\u201d<\/a>. But that was it. After that he has well and truly reverted to the SRK persona.<\/p>\n

\"flg_pig\"<\/a><\/center>
Yes, SRK does embody the modern-day Rahul as much as Amitabh embodied the yester-year Vijay. But, can today\u2019s Rahul emulate the yester-year Vijay ? Again consider, will there ever be a time when pigs will fly ? You shake your head vigorously – No,No. I concur. And then of course then there\u2019s the very indisputable fact : Bachhan can act. Can Shahrukh ? Yeah, let\u2019s not go there . . .<\/p>\n

Priyanka Chopra replaces Zeenat Aman. Yes, I agree that Zeenat couldn\u2019t act either, but there the similarity ends. Ms. Aman had truck-loads more oomph, and a very upmarket touch-me-not aura to her. Chopra on the other hand is far more earthy; a poor man\u2019s Zeenat if you will.<\/p>\n

Then Arjun Rampal replaces Pran. Sacrilege ! Pran-like actors are born but once every googol<\/a> years. To even think that Rampal can carry off Pran\u2019s role, is inviting God\u2019s wrath upon oneself. Rampal has the kind of face which belongs to handsome models, not raspy-voiced rascals with hearts of gold. Pran was the ultimate villain with acting abilities (even though he plays Officer<\/em> Jasjit). Rampal in neither a villain, nor does he posses an iota of Pran\u2019s dramatic talent. Don\u2019t get me wrong; acting abilities or no, Rampal is very easy on the eye, and I do like seeing him on-screen. However not as Jasjit \u2013 please, please, Nooooooooooooooooooo . . .<\/p>\n

Kareena Kapoor as Kamini. Helen was the original Kamini. A Kamini like no other. If there was ever a Kamini, then Helen was it. I am more kindly disposed towards Kareena after her blow-you-off-your-feet performance in Omkara<\/a>, but that still doesn\u2019t make her Kamini. It makes her Dolly. Still at least she can act. Which is more than I can say for the others.<\/p>\n

Still Farhan Akhtar\u2019s track-record leaves me optimistic. In the hope that he will take this ambitious project and be able to imbue a stale tale with freshness. Put a new spin on the old Don. Bedazzle us with visual imagery, enchant us with a tall-tale, and captivate us with cinema yet unthought of.<\/p>\n

One hopes. And one waits with bated breath.<\/p>\n

Categories : _films , _film_reviews<\/p>\n

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Hmm, guess who\u2019s eyebrows ? Shahrukh Khan\u2019s ofcourse ! I didn\u2019t think much of them in KANK , and I don\u2019t think the twitch will help with the upcoming Don. I don\u2019t condone the actual twitching. After all one must have one\u2019s personal signature style; Rajesh Khanna had his immensely annoying mannerisms and we must […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_17000648_17000648":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bollywood","category-movies"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"post-thumbnail":false,"sow-carousel-default":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"amodini","author_link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/author\/admin"},"uagb_comment_info":3,"uagb_excerpt":"Hmm, guess who\u2019s eyebrows ? Shahrukh Khan\u2019s ofcourse ! I didn\u2019t think much of them in KANK , and I don\u2019t think the twitch will help with the upcoming Don. I don\u2019t condone the actual twitching. After all one must have one\u2019s personal signature style; Rajesh Khanna had his immensely annoying mannerisms and we must…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":677,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions\/677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}