MUMBAI: A much-hyped remake of a Bollywood cult classic about a suave mobster is set to trigger comparisons between superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan for their versions of the gangster when it opens on Friday.
‘Don’ is this year’s most awaited Bollywood remake because it pitches Khan, whom Time magazine called — in terms of recognition — the world’s biggest movie star, with Bachchan, named the best actor of the millennium in a BBC online poll.
Bollywood is often locked in a debate over which of the two is more successful, but the actors have always maintained that they respect each other’s capabilities and both are easily the industry’s most bankable stars.
“How I always dreamt of playing a part like Don, have a gun in my hand and girls on my side,” Khan said in a statement.
“I obviously can’t question the greatness of the old Don but what I have tried achieving is to make this Don a little more relevant in today’s world.”
Bachchan’s ‘Don’, released in 1978, was a runaway hit, telling the story of a gangster whose death is kept a secret by police because they want to infiltrate his gang with a look-alike country bumpkin.
The mole finds himself trapped after the only police officer who knows his identity is killed while his gang also learns the truth.
Khan’s version is almost the same — with even the same soundtrack remixed — but the slick new film is mostly filmed in Malaysia instead of Mumbai of the older version.
The bow-tie and dotted shirts of Bachchan make way for Khan’s glamorous black leather ensembles and designer suits. And the glitzy trailers have given “Don” a Hollywood’s “Matrix” meets “Mission Impossible” feel to the production.
“Don’s” young director, Farhan Akhtar, says the gangster’s character left such an impression on his young mind that he was totally mesmerised.
Akhtar, 32, is among a new breed of directors who have tried to make films removed from the Bollywood staple of candyfloss romances or gory revenge sagas.
“‘Don’ is a film that takes me back to one of my first memories of Indian cinema,” Akhtar, whose father Javed was the co-author of the original script, said.
“I remember being really scared of the guy but at the same time totally mesmerised by him. Was there anybody cooler?
“It is with this passion for the character and the film that I set out to recreate the persona for moviegoers today.”
Almost 67 per cent of respondents to a poll on Bollywood Web site www.indiafm.com said Khan could pull off Don.
