Sorry purists, but Shah Rukh Khan was more of a Don than Amitabh Bachchan was | Opinion-entertainment News

Con of the Don

Shah Rukh Khan’s rise in Bollywood during the 1990s coincided with the steady decline of the Amitabh Bachchan phenomenon, which peaked two decades before that with films like Don. Bachchan, once the face of the Angry Young Indian rebellion against the establishment, was now scrambling for his losing glory and relevance at a time when the new order in Bollywood was embracing younger romantic heroes instead of the angry middle-aged men of the 1980s. Of course, Big B enjoyed a second innings in the new millennium, but that came at the cost of being relegated to a supporting actor, that too by being pitted against Shah Rukh Khan in Aditya Chopra’s 2000 romantic drama Mohabattein and Karan Johar’s 2001 family drama Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.

Both filmmakers, who grew up on Bachchan’s 1970s cinema, probably saw their respective fathers, Yash Chopra and Yash Johar, in him (guess what his character was named in K3G?). He was a towering figure of authority, but also the old guard of a value system that a new, liberalised India came to challenge. So, Bachchan, with his school of parampara, prathishtha, anushasan and riti-riwaz, kayde-usool, served as the antithesis to Shah Rukh’s call for love across classes. So, it was only natural that when another filmmaker, who grew up on watching the Angry Young Man and whose father was in fact the co-architect of that flaming brand of cinema, thought of adapting a Bachchan film, only Shah Rukh could step into those shoes.

Amitabh Bachchan in and as Don in 1978.

Farhan Akhtar first got the idea of remaking Don while listening to Kalyanji-Anandji’s unmistakable theme, feeling that just like that score, there’s far more to explore in the Don universe. While his interpretation remains largely in sync with the story and screenplay of Salim Khan, he chose to make it more faithful to the film’s memorable dialogues, penned by the other half of legendary screenwriter duo — his father Javed Akhtar. “Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahi namumkin hai” became the beating heart of Farhan’s Don, as he felt that killing off the actual titular character in the first 35 minutes of the film didn’t do justice to the inherent lion-sized confidence of Amitabh Bachchan’s character.

So, in a way, by turning the story of Don on its head, Farhan actually did it a favour. By giving a new lease of life to Bachchan’s titular role through his subversion, he offered it an ode like a true-blue fan who never wants his favourite character to die. It’s also a hat-tip to his father’s major contribution to the original film, by using another dialogue — “Mujhe jungli billiyan bahut pasand hai” — as his secret weapon of choice to deliver one of the most striking twists in recent memory. Not willing to be a relic of the past, Javed Akhtar also lent a helping hand to Farhan’s vision, by writing two new layered songs — “Aaj Ki Raat” and the new title track. If you listen closely, both the tracks condense the entire film, along with that twist, within. It’s a masterstroke, like the one he pulled off with “Jiya Lage Na” in Reema Kagti’s 2012 cop thriller Talaash: The Answer Lies Within, also produced by Farhan’s banner Excel Entertainment years later.

Shah Rukh Khan’s craftiness vs Amitabh Bachchan’s flamboyance

With a skeleton in place, Shah Rukh Khan just had to infuse some blood and flesh into it, which he did ironically, with crafty coldness. The USP of Amitabh Bachchan’s Don was his flamboyance — the three-piece suits, the briefcases, and the suaveness. Remember the iconic introduction shot where he approaches a bunch of smugglers in a pink car? It was a tall order to live up to, stylistically, but Shah Rukh dabbled in a lot of black (wardrobe and accessories) and blue hues. His first look was unveiled with him dressed entirely in black, enveloped in a translucent haze of cigarette smoke. Interestingly, Shah Rukh’s Don maintains from the start of the film that he’s trying to quit smoking — but he doesn’t kick the butt till the last shot — which underscores the man that he is — conniving, deceptive, and hopelessly unreliable.

Shah Rukh Khan in and as Don in 2006.

Unlike Bachchan, Shah Rukh didn’t just have to play Vijay, a boy from Banaras masquerading as Don. For much of the film, he played Don himself, who was pretending to be Vijay pretending to be Don. That’s quite a few layers of deception, but even on a rewatch, Shah Rukh never loses sight of the character’s complex identity: Don playing Vijay playing Don. He keeps that craftiness alive and kicking, even in the parts where he’s supposed to be Vijay. Bachchan clearly outshines in his portions as Vijay, also owing to his real-life background of a “chhora Ganga kinare wala”, but Shah Rukh, quite aptly, is just pulling off an act. He once said he plays obsession on screen extremely well — whether it’s the swanking, arm-spreading lover boy Raj of Aditya Chopra’s 1995 romantic comedy Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge or the possessive stalker in his father Yash Chopra’s 1993 romantic thriller Darr.

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Don, as the character makes amply clear, is bored to death by romantic talk. That’s why when Roma (Priyanka Chopra) confesses her love to him, assuming he’s Vijay, he uses that as an opportunity to cryptically slide in a ‘checkmate’. Even his primary love interest changes from Anita (Isha Koppikar) to Ayesha (Lara Dutta) in the 2011 sequel Don 2. Just like the tie that’s worn beneath his shirt, instead of above it, Shah Rukh’s Don always keep his cards strategically close to his chest. It’d have been interesting to watch how Ranveer Singh would’ve made the character his own had he not opted out of Don 3. But that may just be a blessing in disguise. Because for anyone to top what Amitabh Bachchan did with the original Don, you have to be either all in or out. Shah Rukh Khan was all in, but taking over the Don throne didn’t give him a hall pass to replace Bachchan on every front. Because as he knows rather well, dethroning the megastar takes far more than just replacing “lock kar diya jaye” with “freeze kar diya jaye“.