A new Robin Hood on Telugu screens

When debutant directors in the Tollywood prove successful with their debut films, their second films are anti-climaxes rather than super successful. Is this a curse or overconfidence or unduly high expectations from audiences? Choreographer-turned-director Raghava Lawrence overcame this jinx and was able to overcome this "second-film-failure". Incidentally, he chose to direct his second film, not in Telugu but in Tamil, then claimed this to be a bilingual film and released the same in Telugu. Hence, all the three films he directed so far--Mass, Muni and Style--turned out to be hits. Again, this successful director joined hands with Nagarjuna for Don. Lawrence reportedly scripted a fantastic screenplay and the movement of the story is said to be quite thrilling. He further claims that the film would not only prove to be a big hit in Telugu but make Bollywood producers queue up for remake rights of his Don.

Industry sources say the storyline of the film is quite typical. Hero Nagarjuna plays the role of a good Samaritan for to the poor, downtrodden people and workers and remains a 'Don' for them. He always supports the workers and saves them from goons. When the downtrodded people face problems, the hero appears in various get-ups and saves them. In a nutshell, the character would be on the lines of a modern Robin Hood. The story was created around a fight between dons from the mafias of Mumbai and Hyderabad. Nagarjuna, belonging to a 'good mafia' of Hyderabad, ensures the welfare of others and earns a good recognition among the people around him. The film has land-grabbing mafia in its backdrop. Anushka, who paired with Nagarjuna in Super, her debut Telugu film, is again playing the female lead. A speciality in the film is that Lawrence is also enacting a full-length character as the hero's younger brother. It is said that Jagapatibabu, who is making special appearances with several young heroes, is making a special appearance in this film too, as a close friend of the hero Nagarjuna.

The film is said to have been made with lots of commercial elements, almost double compared to Mass, the earlier film with Lawrence-Nagarjuna. The performance, style, fights would attract the audiences in general and youth in particular. Audiences should not feel that Don is a just another youthful film and may not attract family audiences. Like any other Nagarjuna film Don too has several elements to attract family audiences. Director Lawrence has created a new definition for the word Don, hitherto a synonym for mafia kings. Nagarjuna sports multiple attractive costumes and disguises ('get-ups' in local jargon) and avataars; fans will recognize him, but the villain and heroine will fail to identify him.

Behind the screen, lots of homework was done by Lawrence. He ensured that all the fights in the film are modern, stylish and novel. They appear quite exciting on the big screen. Action scenes were choreographed under the direction of fight master Vijay. Some songs were shot in Austria. In addition to wielding the megaphone, Lawrence also provides choreography and music for the film. For any successful film, the 'sets' bring richness, especially during song sequences.

A huge set was erected for Don with over 33,000 bulbs for a song. Art director Ashok erected the set at huge cost. A song was choreographed on Nagarjuna and Anushka at this set over a period of four days. The song itself is with a special concept; to express the concept, they erected that set. The song would remain a highlight in the film. Senior cinematographer like S. Gopal Reddy wielding the camera, dialogues by Abburi Ravi, who has scripted fantastic dialogues for many films, would definitely add flavour to the subject.