Don Review

Cast: Nagarjuna, Lawrence, Anushka, Nikitha, Kelly Dorjee, Chalapathi Rao, Jeeva, Chetan Hansraj, Nasser and Others
Director:Raghavendra Lawrence
Producer:M.L.Kumar Chowdary
Music:Raghavendra Lawrence
Action:Vijay
Art:Ashok Kumar
Cinematography:S.Gopal Reddy
Dialogues:Abburi Ravi
Editing: Marthand K. Venkatesh
Story, Screenplay And Choreography:Raghavendra Lawrence
Banner: Sri Keerthi Creations
'Don' has Nagarjuna as a do-gooder, wearing stylish clothes and living a flamboyant hi-tech lifestyle. It has some stylized action sequences and about three good scenes (including dialogues). And that's about it. 'Don' has an average first half, with a hyped entry scene and some video game fights. The second half goes downhill with absolutely no consistency. Raghava Lawrence is the director, choreographer and has additional credits for music, story and screenplay and is also the Don's right-hand man, taking up as much space as the Don.

Plot:
Suri is influential and powerful in the state, and people know him as Don. He isn't a mafia don; on the contrary, he lives to see that justice is served and that 'his' people are happy. Stephen is a Mafia king who's taken over most of the country, and now he wants Andhra Pradesh under his control. Don refuses to let Stephen gain any power over his state and the war between the two Dons, the good one and the evil one begins.

What's Good:
Suri's entry scene, with the street children now grown-up into big 'Boys' wearing leather jackets and looking like they belong to Italian Mafia. The scene where Stephen and Suri meet for the first time, that's the one before the break. The song 'Dada Puttistha' is good, but the timing is totally wrong-it dilutes the entire situation and the movie fails to pick up after that.

What's Not:
The screenplay and the inconsistency of the protagonist. Don's character is not clearly defined, what his 'business' is and how come a do-gooder spends such huge amounts on his lavish lifestyle. His background is a huge secret in the beginning, which Stephen mentions without any significance later on. The second half has been ruined because of several factors-bomb blasts and songs cropping up at the worst possible moment being two worth mentioning. Don challenges Stephen that he will drive him insane, but does nothing of that sort. Stephen remains cool and collected till the end. Long drawn chases, Raghava Lawrence grabbing amount of limelight he can get and an illogical climax sequence sums up the second half.

Anushka acts like she's in a school play and Nikitha hams too. The two girls hardly have any role to play, except as romantic interests and all the scenes with them are badly scripted with bleak humor. Coming to the humor part, those who watch Cineranjani reruns and laugh uncontrollably seeing the same comedy scene for the 100th time are the only ones who'll find the supposed comic bits funny. The rest will smirk painfully or grin at rare moments. Only a dialogue or two tickles the funny bone. Raghava attempts at some humor through his character, but it's very repetitive.

Performances:
Nagarjuna is stylish, no doubt about that. He carries off all that leather and those trendy boots perfectly. But he looks tired, he remains stiff in the little dance he involves himself in and he and Anuskha have no chemistry. In fact, he and Raghava seem to have better timing than the lead pair. Acting-wise, he doesn't flaw but its not his best either. Raghava Lawrence: When it was just choreography or just acting (Style), he did a decent job. Now, with all his fingers in all the pies, he can't concentrate on any one department. He hams, simple. He also, as the director, makes Anushka and Nikitha ham. Jeeva is okay, while Chalapathi Rao's character is confusing-which father dances with joy seeing his daughter in someone's arms?

Kelly Dorjee looks the part-Stephen, a Mafia Don. Cool is the word, with his white outfit contrasting Nagarjuna's black one. The makeup, white hair and beard, is done well. Acting-wise, not bad; ditto goes for Chetan Hansraj, better known for his roles on Hindi soaps. Nasser in a brief role has good presence.

Music and Dance:
The first song 'Su Su Suriyana' and the last one 'Dada Puttistha' are okay. The rest of the songs are bad, the picturization is boring and the choreography is not exciting. The background music could have been better; the first half is okay, in the second half it gets too loud.

Last Word:
'Don' has a good title, fashionable outfits, lots of leather, three good scenes, two tolerable songs and some video game action. Oh, and it stars Nagarjuna and Raghava Lawrence. Sounds interesting? No? Well, Manchivallaku Suri and Chaddavallaku Don (the oft-repeated dialogue in the flick). And we all know most of the population is good and they might not prefer this Don.