Don (character)

Don is a fictional character and the villain protagonist of the Don film franchise. He was first introduced in the 1978 film Don. He later appears in a reboot Don and its sequel Don 2. Created by the writer duo Salim–Javed (Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar), he was portrayed by Amitabh Bachchan. In the reboot series, Don was played by Shah Rukh Khan (briefly portrayed by Hrithik Roshan in Don 2 in a special appearance). In the films, Don is characterized as an extremely selfish, manipulative and unapologetic villain, though he is shown to exhibit a little romantic interest in his friend-turned-foe Roma Bhagat. In the original film, he is a lieutenant who works under Vardhaan Makhija. He is killed in a police chase, with Vijay Pal, a lookalike of Don, taking his place to work as an informer to the police. The 2006 remake altered the plot, featuring Don who works as a manager under cartel leader Singhania, one of the two lieutenants of deceased Russian kingpin Boris, the other being Vardhaan whose identity remains unknown. It added a twist revealing that Don is alive and had killed Vijay to take his place just to escape from police and takes control of the cartel. In its 2011 sequel Don 2, he manages to control the entire drug market of the Indian mafia and eventually takes control of the European counterfeiting mafia, emerging as an undisputed mafia kingpin. The character had appeared in several films, comics, and video games, and has managed to gain a cult status in Indian cinema.