New Delhi: Farhan Akhtar’s recent announcement about the third instalment of his hyped franchise Don 3 has sparked outrage among fans.
As the filmmaker took to his Instagram and made the awaited announcement of the movie with the caption “a new era begins”, waves of netizens fumed and began chanting ‘No SRK no Don’ in the comment section. Some fans even went on to say that Don without SRK won’t be accepted at all.
One internet user wrote, “If this is your new era then better stuck to the old one.” Another user commented, “I would rather watch Don 2 again than watch any other actor doing Don 3.”
A third comment read, “Imagine not having SRK in a Don Movie.”
Here are some more internet reactions
Can it even be D3 without SRK?
Movie needs at least 15-20 minutes of SRK to avoid tanking, no doubt about it! 🎬🤝
#Don3— Abhinav Singh (@ProteinEnforcer) August 8, 2023
No one on God’s green earth can replace Shah Rukh Khan as Don 😎#Don3 #ShahRukhKhan𓃵 pic.twitter.com/jgTDrrwi9K
— Rohit SRK 😎 (@Rohit12srk) August 8, 2023
Waah waah kya Don hai pic.twitter.com/GABWiedZnf
— 𝙎𝖆𝖓𝖆 𝙎ʀᴋ 𝙎𝖙𝖆𝖓 𓀠🤍 ثنا امان خان (@iamsanasrk02) August 8, 2023
All time disaster is loading 🤣
— RB (@iRbHUNTER) August 8, 2023
Without SRK
Don franchise is finished— RB (@iRbHUNTER) August 8, 2023
Farhan responds to trolls
Hours after receiving harsh trolling and unwelcoming responses from the netizens, Farhan Akhtar came up with a follow-up tweet through which he officially announced Shah Rukh’s exit from the franchise saying, “The time has now come to take the legacy of Don forward.”
In the same tweet, the talented filmmaker also hinted about the new Don actor (reportedly Ranveer Singh) saying, “Joining us in this new interpretation will be an actor whose talent and versatility I have long admired.”
Check out his complete tweet here
— Farhan Akhtar (@FarOutAkhtar) August 8, 2023
Is Ranveer Singh the new Don?
Previously when Ritesh Sdhiwani, the co-producer of SRK’s career-defining franchise, made the announcement about working on the third instalment of the super hit crime drama franchise, SRK’s fans went gaga and started looking forward to witnessing their favourite actor once again reprising the role of one of his most celebrated character Mark Donald AKA Don on the big screens.
However, the fan’s hopes and excitement were short-lived as they soon got blurred out after several reports claiming SRK’s withdrawal from Don 3 started making rounds on the internet. The same reports further claimed that after Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan, Ranveer is going to be the third superstar who will step in the shoes of Don.
About Don
It all began when Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sdhiwani bought the rights of Amitabh Bachchan’s 1978s classic Don after locking a successful deal with its makers.
Subsequently, the filmmakers released a recreated version of the classic crime drama with Shah Rukh Khan as the lead actor in 2006. To everyone’s surprise, The movie did wonders at the box office and established Shah Rukh Khan as the new undisputed Don of Tinsel Town.
Later, when Farhan and Ritesh came up with a sequel to the movie titled Don 2, packed theatres and houseful shows welcomed Shah Rukh once again as Don as the movie clocked Rs 203 crore at the box office and became the second-highest grosses Hindi movie of the year.
Now, following the enormous success of Don’s 1st and 2nd instalments, the makers have decided to plan the conclusive third instalment of the timeless franchise titled Don: The chase ends. However, this time, SRK disappointed his fans and walked out of the movie while leaving the makers with no choice except for finding another Don for their final instalment of the franchise.
What made SRK reject Don 3?
As per the reports, one of the main reasons that made Shah Rukh turn away from Don was his willingness to focus more on commercial films that have the potential to target a wider section of the public. As Don clearly doesn’t fall in the said criteria, SRK might have lost interest in it and called it quit.
Some sources even claim that before the covid 19 pandemic, Farhan and Samji even had a meetup with Shah Rukh during which, the filmmakers tried to rope the actor in for the movie and even discussed its script with him. However, Shah Rukh made it clear to them that he is not eager to be seen in Don 3 at this crucial stage of his career.
What’s next for King Khan?
Shah Rukh, who was last seen in 2023’s most successful Indian movie Pathan, will appear next in his highly anticipated movie Jawan which is heard up for its release on September 7.
Besides the King, Jawan’s Star-studded cast also features Vijaya Sethupathi, Nayanthara, Sanya Malhotra, Deepika Padukone and Priyami in crucial roles.
