In 1978, Chandra Barot made a film titled 'Don' which was written by the duo Salim Khan and
Javed Akhtar.
Amitabh Bachchan played the lead role of Don/Vijay.
The plot revolved around an underworld don who is killed while running around from police.The police officer in whose car don died while trying to escape comes up with a plan to keep his death a secret and send another guy, a look-alike of Don named Vijay also played by Amitabh, in his gang as his mole in order to wipe out the gang. He locates Vijay from the report filed at his station which had Vijay's detail and two kids whom Vijay had found on the streets for which he came to report at police station some time back. The two kids named dipu and munni were abandoned on the streets when their father Jasjit aka JJ, played by Pran, was arrested by police while trying to pull a job assigned to him by the Don's gang. The Police Officer convinces Vijay about his plan who is not willing initially but agrees to work for him when the officer offers him good education and life for the kids he was looking after. Vijay, an uneducated simple man, goes through a training session to adopt Don's way of life and is sent back to the gang as Don but appearing to have difficulty in remembering everything due to accident while running away from police.The members accept him but are a bit suspicious until one day he announces that he has recalled everything when he gets hold of the secret diary which had all the information about Don and his associates which he hands over to the Police Officer without anyone's knowledge. Vijay meets Roma, played by Zeenat Aman, who joined Don's gang in order to avenge her brother's death by killing Don. She comes to know that Vijay is not the real Don and starts helping Vijay in his mission and eventually they get involved romantically also.Vijay's plan is ruined and he is trapped in a web when one day the Officer dies in a crossfire as he was the only person who knew the true identity of Vijay. Vijay is arrested as Don and is unable to prove anything about his identity and the officer's plan. He manages to run away from the police to prove his true identity. Vijay struggles to prove his innocence as both police and the gang is after him now but eventually he manages to come clean with the help of Roma and Jasjit aka JJ who had the diary which he stole from the Officer's place after coming out of jail.
The Film is a cult classic with a gripping story, excellent back ground music and slick camera work.Amitabh Bachchan as always simply gave a magnificent performance as The Don.He gave Don the required dignity, style and the ruthless attitude.Amitabh with his intense acting caliber made the character of Don very realistic and yet larger than life. Its was hard to believe when he came back in film as Vijay, a complete opposite character from that of Don. His body language and dialogue delivery was completely different in both characters which is a delight to watch.
In 2006, Farhan AKhtar, son of Javed Akhtar who had co written the original Don, decided to remake the film as 'Don - The Chase Begins Again'.
The plot of the film was almost the same except for a few changes. This time Vijay is unable to get to the gang as the real don happens to hear the officer's plan while he is explaining it to Vijay at the hospital. The director kept the audience in suspense all through the film which he only revealed in the end that it was the don and not Vijay who had killed him at the hospital.
This new version of the cult classic is technically very stylish with excellent cinematography and back ground music mostly shot in Malaysia.Like every other
bollywood (indian film industry), Farhan took his version of Don to Malaysia in order to give his film an international (read Hollywood) look. Every film maker is trying hard to make films which are at par with Hollywood at least in look if not in content, performance and selection of actors as required in the subject of a film.The twist incorporated by the director where the real Don hears the officer’s plan who is briefing Vijay outside the room and then killing Vijay there, looked very lame and stupid. It looked more of an escape from a tough situation where the director falls short of logical and thrilling idea on how to bring in the twist he desried.Though the action sequences looked good they lacked the required thrill except for the background score which tried to save the scenes. Selecting some one like Shah Rukh Khan as Don was another mistake. Shah Rukh Khan is a total miscast for a role which required lot of style and dignity, he reduced the image of larger than life Don to a petty cheap crook with his shallow loud acting. There was hardly any difference between The Don and Vijay when Shah Rukh Khan played the roles in this new version of Don.
The new version is more of Don(key).