There is only one sequel in Hindi cinema that has done better than the first-born. Dhoom 2 not only outdid its predecessor, it took the franchise to another level altogether. But it took a scorching hot Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai in her skimpiest costumes ever (we can be pretty sure she's not going there again), Bipasha Basu in a bikini, loads of action, disguises and chart-busting songs — whew, was there anything they left out?

Going by its trailers, Don 2 doesn't seem to have as many weapons of mass attraction. It certainly doesn't look like it is going to bust the sexometer — the costumes are elegant but not in-your-face sexy, the music has been a bit of a disappointment. But it might yet up the ante when it comes to two factors: action and dialogue.

The action bit is inevitable; every passing year brings with it new technology and better cinematic artistry. But it is with the dialogue that director Farhan Akhtar should score. He has taken ‘ Don -isms', as they have now been christened, beyond the success of that line taken from the original Don : ‘ Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin, namumkin hai ' (It is not difficult to catch Don; just impossible).

In Don 2 , Akhtar is relying more on smarts than sex appeal, laconic one-liners instead of abbreviated costumes. And the writing has none of the sleazy or cheesy undertones that sent The Dirty Picture to the top of the charts. Case in point: When a young man addresses him as ‘Sir', Don drawls: “Sir? Sir bahut shareef sa lagta hai (‘Sir' sounds too respectable). Call me Don.”

When he declares in even tones: “I like love stories,” the underlying threat is, of course, that he also likes breaking them up. And there is “ Aaj yeh sun kar meri maa kitni khush hoti ,” (How proud my mother would have been of me today), uttered when his arch-enemy Mallik tells him he is wanted by police forces across the world.

Bad is good!

Really, it's going to be a bit of a relief to see Shah Rukh Khan playing a baddie once more, and not have to see him in schmaltzy romantic interludes or long emotional scenes (quit cryin' already!).

What's attractive about Don is that he is unrepentantly evil. No woolly-headed justification for his behaviour, no change of heart timed for the climax, no twist at the end of the tale that reveals he's really an undercover cop (you mean you didn't guess?), no getting bumped off at the end.

Director Farhan Akhtar says the only justification — if you could label it thus — is one that Don has in his own head: “He genuinely believes he is smarter than everyone else.”

It's the lure of pure evil brushed with humour, a trope used memorably in movies like The Silence of the Lambs or by the Joker in the Batman series. The idea is to make Don attractive, or “magnetic” to use Akhtar's words, in spite of the fact that he's a gangster and murderer. Unlike Hannibal Lecter or the Joker, however, Don is a cool guy. As Akhtar points out, “In a weird way Shah Rukh makes Don likeable. Not because of any goodwill but because he plays him so real. He's a guy who likes the good life and being in the company of good-looking women. He likes to take care of his appearance because he uses that to charm people and get things done.”

Made for Shah Rukh

The role of Don, one of Bollywood's coolest, smoothest, most glamorous baddies, is one that seems so tailor-made for Shah Rukh Khan, it's astonishing it took that long for a director to cast him in an ‘out-and-out negative role', to use industry lingo. After Baazigar and Darr (both in 1993), and Anjaam (1994) were such runaway hits, Khan stayed away from the baddies. K.k.k.kyon? (Sorry, couldn't resist that one!) Perhaps because, once he got caught up in the success of Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai , he stayed with the hyper-romantic lover-boy for decades. The actor himself claims he didn't want his young children to see him in violent scenes.

Pity, because few actors can serve up slick, stylish menace or toss off one-liners the way he does. It is only Farhan Akhtar who has tapped Shah Rukh Khan's dark side as an actor in recent years. A lot has to do with their own personal styles — both have an edgy, non-conventional sense of humour and a fondness for toss-away lines. Akhtar says he had long discussions with Shah Rukh about how Don was to be played, and the first thing they decided was how not to play him. Safe to say: not conventionally.

Akhtar's own

How much further can they take Don in the sequel? And will it be better than the first? This time around, the story, dialogue and all else will be original and Akhtar's own. He says it has left him free to explore the action-thriller genre in his own style. Also, that he can jump into the action straight off as he doesn't have to spend too much time establishing the characters.

With a trigger-happy cast such as Don 2 's, Akhtar and his actors can revel in the evil. And so will we, hopefully. Predicting a movie's box-office fate is an exercise for the foolhardy, but let me stick my neck out and say that Don 2 should be a big money-spinner.

Though Christmas and the New Year are approaching, its currently the season for bad guys and gals, for smart talk and wicked lines at the b-o. Milan Luthria, Vidya Balan and The Dirty Picture have shown the way. Over to you, now, Farhan Akhtar, Shah Rukh Khan and Don .

shashibaliga@gmail.com

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