Review: Don 2 looks seriously slick

It's a bit perplexing to see just how young, fit and fresh Shah Rukh Khan looks in the promos of his films. We saw the glaring gulf between the way he looked in the Ra One promo earlier this year and the way he looked on TV with Karan Johar or supporting his IPL team, and now we see him again, looking lethal in the first trailer for Don 2. Maybe those who do makeup and CGI for Rajnikanth are working their magic in SRK's films, or maybe King Khan only saves up his shininess for when it counts the most.

Either way, the Don 2 trailer looks pretty darned sharp. We see a speedboat slice through verdant green waters as Khan, in over-baritoned voiceover, tells us that his enemies thought he was dead and now he's back and ready for more. We catch peeks of Khan in tattooed longhaired Bangkokjunkie/underpaid chinesevan waiter mode, both of which make sense as a disguise while the wounded tiger licks his wounds. A word about the voice, though: in a sequel to a film where he stepped into Amitabh Bachchan's shoes -- which seemed a couple sizes too big for him at the time -- this voiceover seems to be yet another tribute from Khan, trying to sound a bit like that man who keeps proving he'll never be too old.

And then, just as he uses up all the gravel in his throat mouthing the 'remember who I am, I'm the Don' lines from that classic song used smartly here as dialogue, he smiles and says 'boom', a car explodes on cue, and then it's Shah Rukh all the way.

The rest is standard blockbuster fare, explosions and slow motion turns to the camera, maximised for dramatic effect. But there's absolutely no mistaking the fact that this film looks very, very slick indeed. Clearly Farhan Akhtar's out to prove a point, and so far, he looks like he knows what he's doing. Wish they didn't throw in the weird Khan smirk at the very end, though.

What do you think of the Don 2 trailer? Do you think SRK will give us the year's biggest blockbuster with Don 2 or Ra.One? Do you think director Farhan Akhtar, who has given us unforgettable films like Dil Chahata Hai and Lakshya, and Don will be fourth time lucky?