Farhan Akhtar To Make ‘Don 3’ With New Leading Man As SRK Exits Film: Report
Farhan Akhtar and his team at Excel Entertainment are looking to reboot the ‘Don’ franchise with a new leading actor in ‘Don 3’ after a report claimed SRK has decided to exit the project.
In what may come as a piece of bad news for SRK fans, the actor has reportedly decided to step away from ‘Don 3’. A few days back, producer Ritesh Sidhwani confirmed in an interview to PTI that Farhan Akhtar is working on the script of ‘Don 3’ and an official announcement shall be made soon. Ever since the recent update, fans have been eagerly waiting for the return of Shah Rukh Khan as the most wanted Don. However, as per a report by Pinkvilla, Shah Rukh Khan has decided to exit the iconic ‘Don’ movie franchise.
According to the report, Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani have had multiple detailed discussions with Shah Rukh Khan about ‘Don 3’. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, several ideas were also discussed, which took shape of a script through the pandemic.
Meetings have happened recently too, but Shah Rukh is not too keen to get back as Don at this point of time.
As per the report, Shah Rukh Khan is looking forward to do commercial films that cater to universal section of audience, and Don doesn’t fit the bracket of cinema that he is willing to do for the next few years. Shah Rukh Khan has conveyed his decision to the stakeholders at Excel.
To make the ‘Don’ franchise bigger, Farhan Akhtar and his team had also come up with an idea of bringing three generations of Don together – Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and a gen-next star – to lay down a platform for the generational shift of Don.
However, SRK felt the idea of spinning ‘Don’ universe would be gimmicky and hence advised the team about his exit. Farhan Akhtar, who will be directing ‘Don 3’, is working on a fresh script of ‘Don’ reboot now.
For the unversed, Amitabh Bachchan featured in ‘Don’ back in 1978. The same was rebooted with Shah Rukh Khan in 2005. And now, Farhan Akhtar is planning to reboot the franchise with a new leading actor.
According to the report, talks are already underway to cast an actor who has done two films with Excel Entertainment in the last decade. The actor, whose name was not revealed, is also keen to step into the shoes of Don but has his reservations as the legacy of the franchise and the actors who have played Don before can’t be replicated.
Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s banner Excel Entertainment bought the rights of the Amitabh Bachchan’s 1978 film of the same name and remade it with Shah Rukh and Priyanka Chopra Jonas in the lead.
The first installment of ‘Don’ released in 2006 and the second installment came out in 2011 with SRK and Priyanka reprising their characters. Both the films were directed by Farhan Akhtar.
Meanwhile, Farhan Akhtar is presently busy with the pre-production of his next directorial ‘Jee Le Zaraa’, starring Priyanka Chopra, Katrina Kaif and Ali Bhatt.
The film is expected to go on floors in November with a start to finish schedule. It might release in cinema halls in second half of 2024.
Shah Rukh Khan is currently busy shooting for Rajkumar Hirani’s ‘Dunki’, which will also star Taapsee Pannu. SRK will be next seen in ‘Jawan’, which will hit theatres on September 7, 2023.
