Do You Know Farhan Akhtar Wanted THIS Actor To Play Don's Role Before Shah Rukh Khan!

The 2006 film Don brought Shah Rukh Khan back to the silver-screen in a negative role, which perhaps, only he could have pulled off. His portrayal of the ruthless, charming Don won him praise from every quarter. A remake of the 1978 original which had Amitabh Bachchan playing the titular role, the story’s plot remained the same, barring the ending, which director Farhan Akhtar changed to suit the sensibilities of the present generation. What’s interesting is that his dad Javed Akhtar, who had written the original film, with Salim Khan, helped him write the script of the remake too.

The slick action sequences, coupled with Priyanka Chopra and SRK’s sizzling chemistry were a hit. The songs, such as Morya Re and Aaj Ki Raat were chartbusters, and the former is still a must-listen on Ganpati Visarjan every year.

As the film completes 11 years of its release today, here are 5 interesting things about the thriller that we bet, you didn’t know.

1. A fight sequence between the Don (SRK) and DCP DeSilva (Boman Irani) was being shot in Langkawi. Unfortunately, the fight choreographer was not being able to create the sequence, and Boman had to leave for a flight to a shoot in Goa. So, with time running out for Irani, Shah Rukh Khan choreographed the sequence. Khan explained to Irani the scenes, when to enter the frame, etc. after several takes the sequence was finally executed and Irani caught his flight in the nick of time.

2. The password that the Joshi character mistakenly enters onto the computer at first (during Jasjit’s (played by Arjun Rampal) flashback), is “F09AK74”, which is a code for Farhan Akhtar’s birthday, January 9, 1974.

3. Don’s disc is actually a PSP (Playstation Portable) UMD.

4. Farhan Akhtar initially wanted Hrithik Roshan for the titular character, after having worked with him on their previous film Lakshya (2004). However, Akhtar later felt that the character required a more mature actor, saying he wanted “a face that had seen the world and roughed it out”, and instead cast Shah Rukh Khan for the part that had been portrayed by Amitabh Bachchan in the 1978 film. Hrithik, however eventually made a special appearance in Don 2, the 2011 sequel to Don.

5. Veteran choreographer Saroj Khan agreed to choreograph the new version of the popular song Khaike Paan Banaras Waala, which had been choreographed by her mentor PL Raj in the original film!