Recently, there has been much hype and roar over Farhan Akhtar’s decision to replace the legendary Shah Rukh Khan as the fictional underworld mafia ‘Don’ and cast Ranveer Singh in it. In the world of movies, certain movie franchises are synonymous with certain iconic actors and actresses and it is almost near to impossible to imagine the series of the movie without them. One such iconic face from the Hindi movie industry is the most beloved Shah Rukh Khan, who has enthralled millions and millions of his fans and the audience alike with his memorable portrayal of an underworld kingpin in the most famous ‘Don’ movie series. Such has been the performance of the actor in the series of the movie that ‘Don’ and Shah Rukh Khan have almost become inseparable from each other. Such has been the acceptance of the ‘King Khan’ in the particular role that he not just overshadowed another legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan as the original ‘Don’ of the Hindi film industry but at the same time has made it almost next to impossible to imagine anybody else reprising that character but not him.

The decision taken to replace the ‘don’ of the Hindi movie industry with that of a comparatively new actor Ranveer Singh has sparked huge controversy with half of the netizen population voting for the coming back of Shah Rukh Khan as the ultimate ‘don’ that they want to have a look at. Farhan AKhtar’s ‘Twitter’ account has been flooded in the literal sense of the term with negative comments with some comments being scathing enough. A large section of the netizen population has expressed serious doubts as to whether Ranveer Singh would be able to play the character or not. This has made the director Farhan Akhtar addresses the negativities surrounding the ability of the actor to play the role.

The Game of Replacement

It was after the legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan that the character of ‘Don’ has become almost synonymous with Shah Rukh Khan when he featured himself in ‘Don 1’. The film was a reboot of the original ‘Don’ that was played by Amitabh Bachchan. However, even though the original ‘Don’ received immense appreciation from the audience and was a blockbuster hit at the box office, everybody went crazy over the portrayal of the character of ‘Don’ by Shah Rukh Khan in the rebooted version ‘Don 1’. Since then, Shah Rukh Khan has been unofficially bequeathed the sobriquet of the ‘Don’ of the Hindi movie industry for his spectacular and memorable portrayal of the character in the movies. No wonder it is practically impossible for the audience to imagine some other face portraying the character all of a sudden.

On Tuesday, 8^th of August in this year, the director of the movie Farhan Akhtar took to his social media accounts on Twitter to announce before the audience that he would want the beginning of a new era with a change of face of the actor, who is supposed to play the role of the ‘Don’ in his upcoming movie ‘Don 3’. This caused quite a buzz in the air as it left the audience engaged in various kinds of thoughts and speculations. As soon as it was told that the director has chosen the actor Ranveer Singh for the role of the ‘Don’, the netizens and fans alike started slamming the director and the entire authority associated with the making of the film severely on the internet. The sudden and drastic decision to get a new face portraying the character in the place of the ‘King Khan’ of the Hindi movie industry has left the fans shooting out at Farhan Akhtar and the makers of the movie.

The ‘Khali Bali’ Moment for Ranveer ‘Don’ Singh

Though it is undoubtedly true that with his energetic performance, natural charisma and good skills in acting, Ranveer Singh has often won over the hearts of several people, especially, the younger generation of boys and girls who are a fan of his weird sense of fashion. However, taking over the lead from Shah Rukh Khan’s hands is not an easy feat for anybody, no matter how good the person is with the craft of acting. Several netizens have already expressed their apprehension as to how somebody with such a carefree and happy-go-lucky persona as that Ranveer Singh will be able to portray such a character that requires an extreme level of seriousness to be portrayed on the screen.

This has made the director finally open up and share his views about why he feels that there has been no mistake on his part in deciding to get Ranveer Singh cast as the newer version of ‘Don’ in the third instalment of the franchise. “I’m just really looking forward to getting it going,” said the director. At the same time, he said that Ranveer Singh was a bit upset as well as apprehensive of himself, whether he will be able to step into the shoes of the character and maintain its realistic and larger-than-life image as that of Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan. “I mean Ranveer is amazing. He’s great for the part. He’s also as you can imagine, really excited and nervous, about the thing you’re filling some big shoes before you. But we went through the same emotional process when Shah Rukh did it and everyone was like ‘Oh my God, how can you replace Mr Bachchan?.’ That whole thing happened then,” added Farhan Akhtar. On top of this, he feels, “It is about an actor coming in and owning the part and making it like, giving it their style and their flair. And he has that, he has that in spades. So, he’s going to do a great job. I think the responsibility is more mine now to make sure that the script and the film work out the way I imagine.” The actor-director was asked what the required eligibilities needed to qualify as a good Don. Farhan Akhtar replied, “Self-confidence, flamboyance and the ability to do anything that your mind is set on.”

However, it seems that the fans of Shah Rukh Khan are not yet satisfied with the excuse that Farhan Akhtar has provided. Scathing remarks have not stopped despite so many attempts by the makers of the third instalment of the franchise. One comment read that allowing Ranveer Singh to take up the baton from Shah Rukh Khan’s hands was not a wise decision as neither is Ranveer Singh a great actor nor has he been able to produce a single super hit for so many years. The comment even compared him to that of a South Indian actor somehow mouthing the Hindi dialogues. Another comment read that getting Ranveer Singh to replace Shah Rukh Khan was like getting the legendary singer Kishore Kumar with that the modern-time rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh.

Thus, this clamour will keep on continuing as it is understandable that the decision has deeply injured the sentiments of several Shah Rukh Khan fans. As viewers, we can just hope that Ranveer Singh does enough justice to the character so that this Farhan Akhtar directorial turns out to be a ‘Rock On’ work of him because if any botch job happens on the part of Farhan Akhtar then the opportunity to correct ‘Na Milegi Dobara’.