First things, first ! Is shahrukh better or was the original Beeg B the real thing ? I won't comment on that, as I have very faint memories of Don, the original, and hence, this review is going to be fresh, with me having a small ilk of what was going to happen when I walked in. To be precise, I had walked in, to watch SRK turn on his oodles of style as promised by the slick 40-crores worth of Promos. And SRK doesn't disappoint. As the ciggy-smoking Don, he is suave, hip-cool and almost a role model :P, but he uses a really outdated phone, atleast he could have used the new Moto KRZR :-).

But, then why ho-hum ? Well, because besides SRK a good movie needs a soul, a story. And here is where Farhan fails miserably. A wee-bit under 3 hours, by the time the movie ended, almost everyone in the theatre was ready to get out, prepared never to come back. The action shots are too long and though stylish, slick, Hulk / Kill-Bill / Con Air / Point Zero inspired they maybe, too much of everything is soporific. If the movie was only 30-45 minutes shorter...but, good things don't happen a lot, do they. But, to the credit of Farhan, he has a real sting in the tail in terms of the climax, and those final five minutes almost redeems him for what he had done to my senses for three hours. Suddenly all those three hours seemed to add up trying to make a mockey of the movie itself, so that those 5 minutes could shock the audience out of their skin. But, as I said, it came a bit too-late like England's spin bowling off-late in one-dayers :P.

So, is it watchable ? For the 1st time, I will have to say, I don't know. I want to tell you to watch it for those final 5 minutes, but I don't know if it is humane to ask you to subject yourself to the nincompoop stuff that goes before it. So, take your pick and have fun :-).

Happy Diwali and tk care !

Ranjan