Don

Don is a 1978 Indian Hindi action film  produced by Nariman Irani and directed by Chandra Barot, with music by Kalyanji Anandji and lyrics by Anjaan and Indeewar. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, Pran, Iftekhar, Helen and Om Shivpuri, Satyen Kappu and Pinchoo Kapoor. It was the third-highest grossing Bollywood movie of 1978, and was classified a golden jubilee by Box Office India. A remake and sequel   were released on 20 October 2006 and 23 December 2011, respectively.

                      

Directed by Chandra Barot
Produced by Nariman A. Irani
Nariman Films
Written by Salim-Javed

Starring Amitabh Bachchan
Zeenat Aman
Pran
Helen
Iftekhar
Music by Kalyanji Anandji

Production company Nariman Films

Release date May 12, 1978

Running time 175 minutes
Country India
Language Hindi
Budget ₹7 million (equivalent to ₹130 million or US$2.1 million in 2016)
Box office ₹70 million (equivalent to ₹1.3 billion or US$21 million in 2016)

Cast

Amitabh Bachchan as Don and Vijay: Don is the most wanted criminal. The police are always unsuccessful at nabbing him. However, in a police encounter Don is fatally shot. Vijay is the spitting image of Don and is soon forced to pose as Don in order to help the police arrest Don's gang members.

Zeenat Aman as Roma: A simple girl whose brother Ramesh works for Don. Roma despises Don for his having murdered her brother. She joins Don's business with the secret motive to kill him.

Pran as Jasjit "JJ"

Iftekhar as DSP D'Silva

Om Shivpuri as Vardan/INTERPOL operative R.K. Malik (Impostor)

Pinchoo Kapoor as INTERPOL operative R.K. Malik (Real)

Satyendra Kapoor as Inspector S. Verma

Jagdish Raj as Police officer

Keshav Rana as Police officer

Abhimanyu Sharma as Inspector Sharma

Prem Sagar as Police inspector inspects the ambulance

Paidi Jairaj as Dayal, Judo & Karate Instructor

Kamal Kapoor as NarangArpana Choudhary as Anita

Helen as Kamini

M. B. Shetty as Shakaal

Mac Mohan as MacBaby Bilkish as Munni

Alankar Joshi as Deepu

Moolchand as Govinda

H. L. Pardesi as Banarasi, Pan seller

Gyanesh DJ as Police officer

Sharad Kumar as Ramesh

Kedar Saigal as Doctor

Rajan Haksar as Kishan, Jasjit's employer

Yusuf Khan as Vikram

Crew

Director: Chandra Barot
Writer: Salim-Javed
Producer: Nariman A. IraniProduction Company: Nariman Films
Cinematographer: Nariman A. Irani
Editor: Wamanrao
Art Director: Sudhendu Roy
Costume Designer: Ramola Bachchan, V. Scharwachter
Wardrobe: S. Irani, Manikrao Jagtap, Mani J. Rabadi, Mehboob Shaikh
Stunts: Haji Khan, A. Mansoor
Choreographer: P. L. Raj
Music Director: Kalyanji Anandji
Lyricist: Anjaan, Indeevar
Playback Singers: Asha Bhosle, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Amitabh Bachchan

Soundtrack

Don
Soundtrack album by Kalyanji Anandji
Released 1978
Label EMI Records
Producer Kalyanji Anandji

The soundtrack of the film has been composed by the duo Kalyanji Anandji, while the lyrics were written by Anjaan and Indivar.

According to film music expert Rajesh Subramanian the song "Khaike Pan Banaraswala" was composed by Babla, younger brother of famous music director Kalyanji Anandji.

Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle received accolades at filmfare for the tracks "Khaike Pan Banaraswala" and "Yeh Mera Dil" respectively.

No. Song Title Singer  Time
01. "Main Hoon Don" Kishore Kumar  4:45
02. "Yeh Hai Bombay Nagaria" Kishore Kumar  5:53
03. "Khaike Pan Banaraswala" Kishore Kumar  3:57
04. "Jiska Mujhe Tha Intezar" Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar  4:20
05. "Yeh Mera Dil" Asha Bhosle  4:18

Awards

Filmfare Awards
Best Actor - Amitabh Bachchan
Best Male Playback Singer - Kishore Kumar - "Khaike Paan Banaraswala"
Best Female Playback Singer - Asha Bhosle - "Yeh Mera Dil"

Don series

The film was remade in 2006 as  Don  starring Shah Rukh Khan in the lead role of Don, Priyanka Chopra as Roma, Arjun Rampal as Jasjit, Boman Irani as D'Silva, and Om Puri as Malik. It was directed by Farhan Akhtar. With some changes in script, the film proved to be one of the highest-grossing films of the year. A sequel to that film, Don 2 was released on 23 December 2011.

Other Hindi remake

One Hindi remake was titled Dav Pech  (1989), starring Jeetendra. It was unsuccessful. Duplicate (1998), directed by Mahesh Bhatt and starring Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chawla, is partly a  parody  of Don. A film with the similar plot line was made starring Bollywood actress  Rekha. The film was named Madam X . The 2006 Hindi remake of this film starring Shahrukh Khan, titled Don was successful .

Remakes in other languages

Telugu Don was first remade in 1979 in Telugu as Yugandhar, starring  NTR,  Jayasudha and Jayamalini. In 2009, a second Telugu remake titled Billa was released, starring Prabhas, Anushka Shetty, Namitha and Krishnam Raju, and Jayasudha in a different role than the one she played in Yugandhar. This film used the same title as the Tamil remakes.1983 movie Roshagadu had a similar storyline and was remade in Hindi as Dav Pech. Tamil It was also remade in 1980 in Tamil as Billa, starring Rajnikanth.  Helen, who played Kamini in the original Hindi film Don (1978), repeated her role in this remake.The 2006 Hindi remake starring Shahrukh Khan, titled Don, inspired the Tamil directors who made the Ajith Kumar starrer Billa — a remake of the same-titled Rajinikanth film. Billa II  (2012) is a Tamil film starring Ajith and a prequel to Billa (2007). Malayalam In 1986, the movie was remade in  Malayalam as Shobaraj, starring  Mohanlal and Madhavi.Kannada1994 Kannada movie Alexander  starring  Shashikumar had a similar storyline. EnglishThe 2007 Hollywood movie The Death and Life of Bobby Z had a similar premise to this movie. It revolved around a lookalike of a gang leader who is asked to masquerade as him by law enforcement officer(s), though the remainder of the plot was largely different. It is based on a 1997 novel of the same name. The novel was well received, but the movie received negative critical and commercial response.

Music

A sample from the song "Yeh Mera Dil" was used by The Black Eyed Peas for their hit song "Don't Phunk with My Heart" in 2005. The song won the Black Eyed Peas their first Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, while the composers for "Yeh Mera Dil", Kalyanji Anandji, were awarded the BMI Award for being the originators of the melodies used in "Don't Phunk with My Heart."

The third season American Dad! episode "Tearjerker" uses the 1978 Don theme music in its intro sequence.