Don 2: The King Is Back, better simply known as Don 2, is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film written and directed by Farhan Akhtar. It is the second instalment in the Don reboot series and sequel to the 2006 film Don. It was jointly produced by Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani, and Shah Rukh Khan under their banners Excel Entertainment and Red Chillies Entertainment. The film stars Khan as the titular anti-hero, and Priyanka Chopra as Roma, alongside Lara Dutta, Boman Irani, Kunal Kapoor, Om Puri, Nawab Shah, and Alyy Khan in supporting roles. Set five years after the events of the first film, Don, a powerful international drug lord, plans to steal currency printing from a bank in Berlin to take over the counterfeiting business in Europe, while Roma has joined the Interpol to hunt him down. The film's soundtrack was composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, with lyrics written by Javed Akhtar.
Following the success of the first film, Akhtar began planning a sequel in 2007, although plans did not materialize. The project was later announced in early 2010, with filming scheduled to commence later that year. Principal photography took place primarily in Berlin, where most of the film was shot. Jason West handled the cinematography, while Anand Subaya edited the film.
Don 2 was released on 23 December 2011 in 2D and 3D formats, along with dubbed versions in Tamil and Telugu. Upon release, the film received positive reviews from critics, receiving praise for its story, cinematography, production design, soundtrack, background score, action sequences and performances of the cast. Don 2 was a commercial success, grossing over to emerge as the third highest-grossing film of the year.
At the 57th Filmfare Awards, Don 2 received 5 nominations including Best Film, Best Director (Farhan) and Best Actor (Khan), and won 2 awards – Best Action and Best Sound Design.
Plot Five years after seizing control of the Asian underworld, Don turns his focus to dominating the European drug trade. In the French Riviera, European cartel bosses convene and sanction a contract on Don's life, as his aggressive price undercutting severely compromises their operations. Operating from a remote stronghold in Thailand, Don arrives to collect a shipment of narcotics, only to be ambushed by his associates, who have allied with the Europeans. Don eliminates the traitors, destroys the compound, and sets his sights on an even larger scheme.
Don travels to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and voluntarily surrenders to Inspector Vishal Malik and Roma, who is now an Interpol officer. Sentenced to death, Don is incarcerated in a high-security prison where he encounters his former nemesis, Vardhaan. While Vardhaan initially seeks retribution for his prior downfall, Don proposes an alliance to execute a prison break. The duo poisons the prison water supply, incapacitating the inmates and guards, and successfully escapes in the ensuing chaos.
In Zurich, Don reunites with his trusted ally, Ayesha. Using a locker key previously held by Vardhaan, Don retrieves an audio-visual recording implicating J.K. Diwan, the vice president of the Euro-printing Deutsche Zentral-Bank (DZB) in Berlin. The tape reveals that Diwan paid Singhania to assassinate James Werden, the preferred candidate for bank president, enabling Diwan’s superior, Fabian Kohl, to secure the post. Don travels to Berlin and blackmails Diwan into handing over the blueprints to the bank's subterranean currency-printing vault. Diwan gives Don blank discs instead and hires Abdul Jabbar, a ruthless mercenary, to eliminate him. Anticipating the trap, Don overpowers the ambush and bribes Jabbar into joining his operation.
Under coercion, Diwan hands over the genuine blueprints. Concurrently, Roma and Malik track Don to Berlin and interrogate Diwan, but find insufficient evidence to detain him. Don and his crew—including hacker Sameer Ali—infiltrate the DZB, seize control of the vault, and steal the original currency printing plates. Once the theft is complete, Vardhaan and Jabbar betray Don, taking the vault staff hostage and seizing the plates. Don escapes through an air vent, but Sameer seemingly betrays him by tipping off Interpol and the Berlin Police, leading to Don's capture outside the perimeter.
Don negotiates with Malik and the German authorities, demanding absolute immunity and full pardons for his team in exchange for disarming the explosives inside the bank, securing the hostages, and recovering the stolen printing plates. Re-entering the facility alongside Roma, Don battles through Vardhaan’s mercenaries to reach the central command room. When a standoff ensues, Vardhaan orders Roma to shoot Don. Paralyzed by conflicting personal feelings and her commitment to legal justice, Roma refuses; Jabbar fires at her, inflicting a non-fatal gunshot wound. Enraged, Don guns down Jabbar and overpowers Vardhaan in hand-to-hand combat.
Vardhaan is taken into custody, and Don safely carries an injured Roma to an awaiting ambulance. Having satisfied the agreement, Don surrenders the currency plates and a flash drive to Malik in exchange for signed immunity papers. Shortly after, Don detonates a remote explosive planted in Diwan’s vehicle, killing Diwan and incinerating the recovered printing plates inside.
A final epilogue reveals the entire operation was orchestrated by Don from the start. Sameer’s betrayal was a scripted contingency to legally secure Don’s immunity papers via hostage negotiation, and the printing plates destroyed in Diwan’s car were duplicates, leaving Don with the genuine plates. Furthermore, the flash drive surrendered to Interpol contained the identities and financial trails of Kohl and the European cartel bosses, prompting their immediate arrest across the continent. With his rivals eliminated, law enforcement neutralized, and both Vardhaan and the European cartel leadership imprisoned, Don departs Berlin alongside Ayesha and Sameer on a high-powered motorcycle, crowned the undisputed king of both the Asian and European underworlds.
Cast
Production Development A sequel was announced in 2007, a year after the release of Don (2006) by Farhan Akhtar. However, the film got delayed due to Shah Rukh Khan's shoulder surgery. The original cast reprised their roles except for Arjun Rampal and Ishaa Koppikar; Lara Dutta and Kunal Kapoor were cast in new roles. Akhtar said that he decided to make a sequel to his 2006 film because it "gave him a lot of freedom to explore the character". Khan copyrighted a tattoo of "D" on his arm and grew his hair long for the film.
Khan exercised extensively for the role and performed almost all the stunts by himself. Don 2 marked Khan's return to playing villains after earlier films such as Darr and Baazigar. Chopra learned martial arts and trained for over two months. Boman Irani lost 12 kg for the role and grew a beard to make his character look "cold, cunning and deceitful"; he felt that playing a villain was "a big stretch" for him as an actor. Dutta was cast after Koppikar, who played the role in Don, dropped out of the film. She was recommended to Akhtar by Khan, who had worked with her on Billu in 2009. However, her role was changed after her casting, and turned out to be a different character than Koppikar's. In an interview with The Hindustan Times, Dutta said that it was exciting to play a new character, since there would be no predecessor to live up to.
Filming
Principal photography of Don 2 began in October 2010 in Berlin, becoming the first Hindi film to be shot there. The decision to shoot in the city was made after Khan attended the Berlin International Film Festival for its screening of My Name is Khan and realised that the city provided the required realistic backdrop for the film. Before shooting began the German government announced the film on its website, promising support and co-operation during filming. A 70-member Indian crew travelled to the city for two weeks of preparation for shooting. Scenes were filmed at the Brandenburg Gate, the Alexanderplatz, the French Cathedral and the East Side Gallery. The German government provided €3 million in incentives to the film's producers, since it was shot in Berlin. The shoot cost €6.8 million.
Khan experimented with several looks and performed his own stunts in the film. In Berlin, he performed a 300-foot jump for a scene. A car-chase scene using 67 cars closed main thoroughfares (including the Brandenburg Gate) for three weeks. Each day, alternate routes were provided around roads cordoned off for filming. The shooting schedule also included a special appearance by Hrithik Roshan, whose presence was kept under wraps by filmmakers. In December 2010, the Berlin schedule ended.Priyanka Chopra to return in Don sequel – Rediff In February 2011, the actors flew to Malaysia, where several scenes were shot in Malacca Prison with prisoners as extras. A section of the prison block was made available for filming, with special T-shirts distinguishing crew members from prisoners in the high-security zone. Khan trained with Hollywood stunt and fight director Wolfgang Stegemann, who also played Karl in the film.
In September 2011, filming resumed on a song featuring the two leads. Another song was shot with Khan in Goa in late November, only a month before the film's release. The song was shot as an action sequence, but did not appear in the film. In August 2011, the producers said they will release Don 2 in 3D. The idea of 3D conversion occurred to Akhtar while shooting; after tests in Los Angeles, it was decided to convert the entire film. The director of photography had used special lenses, which made conversion easier. Sidhwani said that the idea of converting the film into 3D came to him after seeing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. Chuck Comisky, a veteran S-3D innovator who supervised 3D stereo and visual effects for Avatar and Sanctum, was given the job. Anand Subaya was the editor and Jason West served as the director of photography. The digital intermediate and VFX of Don 2 were by Pixion Studios, and the 3D conversion by Reliance Mediaworks.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, with lyrics written by Javed Akhtar. The album contains nine compositions: four original songs, two instrumentals, a dialogue snippet, and two remix out of four original songs. The vocals were performed by Vishal Dadlani, Anusha Mani, Usha Uthup, Shankar Mahadevan, Sunitha Sarathy, KK and Caralisa Monteiro. It was released on 16November 2011 by T-Series.
Marketing
The distributors, Reliance Entertainment, bought the rights to Don 2 from Excel Entertainment for and spent another on prints and marketing. Zee Entertainment Enterprises acquired the satellite rights for . Distribution rights in Tamil Nadu and Kerala were bought by Sudha Screen's Sreeraj for an undisclosed price. The music rights of Don 2 were sold to T-Series for . The theatrical trailer and poster for Don 2 were released with Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. A second trailer was released online on 24 October 2011. The film previewed at the Dubai International Film Festival. The producers collaborated with McDonald's and Café Coffee Day in 20 cities to provide free Internet access with Wi-Fi in their stores so that viewers could watch songs in 3D on their computers.