Sorry, no ‘Don 4’!

Will another Don film ever get made? Don director Farhan Akhtar is frequently rumoured to be writing one more Don film for the longest time. Farhan has frequently denied these rumours. In fact when the rumours erupted the last time he confided in me, “I wish it was true. Every time these rumours crop up I feel terribly guilty. I feel I’m letting the fans of the Franchise. But the truth is, I’ve no script. I don’t even have an idea for a plot.”

It was hoped—not for the first time—that there would be a Don announcement for Shah Rukh Khan’s birthday. But it didn’t happen that way at all.

A source close to Farhan reveals, “Direction is far from Farhan’s mind right now. He is much more into acting and music right now. If at all another Don film is made by Excel (Entertainment, that’s Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s company) it would now have to be directed by someone other than Farhan which is easier said than done….or should I say, Don?”

It would have to be a director okayed by both Farhan and Shah Rukh. With the leading lady Priyanka Chopra already out of the Don series, and possibilities of another director replacing Farhan, Don may not be the same ever again.

According to the source Farhan won’t be taking on any directorial or acting assignments for the next one year.

“In any case Farhan has not directed any film since Don 2 in 2011. As for acting, Farhan is currently living the boxer’s life shooting for Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Toofan,” says the source.

One recalls Farhan’s full-scale commitment playing Milkha Singh in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.

One recalls a physical preparation as intense as Farhan’s only once before, when Rajkummar Rao played a man trapped away from human contact for weeks in Vikramaditya Motwane’s Trapped.

Says Mehra, “Farhan and I share a very special rapport. It’s to do with our commitment to tell a story about an individual whose life has a universal resonance.”