Don 3 dilemma: If not Ranveer Singh, then who?

Farhan Akhtar and his casting team must fancy employing gyarah mulkon ki police right now, to get Ranveer Singh on the Don 3 set. Akhtar has already knocked on the doors of the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE), seeking action against Singh for allegedly walking out of the film before shooting was to begin.

As the filmmaker cried about losses, FWICE leapt into action like a junglee billi and slapped a non-cooperation directive on Singh. The boycott has no legal relevance, but it could coerce the federation's workers across various filmmaking departments from being associated with any Ranveer Singh project till the issue is solved.

Which brings us to a root problem. If Shah Rukh Khan, the Last Don of Bollywood, is not an option any more and if Ranveer Singh is in no mood to play the mob boss despite FWICE diktats, who could Akhtar possibly cast as the next Don?

SRK the secret sauce of his Don films

Let's take stock of the tremendous legacy any new actor who signs up to play Don would be burdened with. We'll come to Amitabh Bachchan, Real McCoy of Dons, later. Let's first talk Shah Rukh Khan, since his Don films connect more easily with Gen Z.

Shah Rukh Khan played Don with inimitable charisma over two films in 2006 and 2011 – a cheeky rake and criminal mastermind rolled into one; a silky, smirking monster. He swaggered through the role with the signature superstar vibe only SRK brings to his characters. It was an act that blended the witty with the stylish and the sinister.

Here's the trailer of Don 2006:

But it was also an act let down by the films themselves, which can at best be termed mediocre. Akhtar's reimagining of the original Don of 1978 in his first film of 2006 hardly made an impact, testing patience with a generic execution and inordinate runtime. The 2011 sequel, although glossier, did no better to redeem the crime thriller franchise. Essentially, it was SRK's screen presence that held the two films together.

To his legions of fans, therefore, replacing him in Don 3 felt like changing the secret sauce of a curry that hardly had anything else to rave about. Don 3, not surprisingly, has waited a decade and a half now to take off.

Ranveer Singh's walking out of the project after SRK's exit, throws open the situation all over again. Trolled initially by fans who felt no one could, and should, replace Shah Rukh Khan, Ranveer had slowly started to ease into the Bollywood fan psyche as the next Don. If anything, he's always had an X-factor that few other contemporary heroes can flaunt – an actor who can strike that undefinable balance between quirk, glamour, style and humour even as he blends pure evil with disarming charm.

The demands of the role, unconfirmed reports have said, went against Don 3 for Ranveer Singh. Fresh from his blockbuster run of the Dhurandhar films, Singh is said to be looking for exclusive projects. A sequel – that too, a third film in a series kickstarted by the remake of a seventies hit – is probably not his priority right now. Plus, Farhan Akhtar reportedly plans to amp up the blood-and-gore quotient in Don 3, and insiders believe that's not the direction the actor wants to go after the heavy-duty violence of Dhurandhar.

Here's the trailer of Don 2:

After Don 2, Don who?

The question, then: After SRK's Don 2, Don who?

Bollywood cannot come up with many other options at the moment, of actors who can live up to the Don image. Theere are superstars who can still sell films – Akshay Kumar and the Khans, notably – but Akhtar and team would probably look for a younger face to carry forward the Don saga.

Many thought it would be Hrithik Roshan, Bollywood's resident adonis, who did an amusing cameo in Don 2. The rumours were subsequently dismissed. Ranbir Kapoor has the dapper look and versatility, but he is caught between Lord Rama and Animal. It would be tough finding a hero in Bollywood who can strike that balance between evil and charm.

Beyond SRK, after all, there is the towering legacy of Amitabh Bachchan's superstardom, even if the new-generation audience has not seen Big B's original Don of 1978.

Big B's legacy won't go away

The Bachchan imprint on any new-age Don film is bound to stay – Salim-Javed created the character and concept with the actor in mind, after all. When the Chandra Barot-directed Don released in 1978, the film was initially received by fans with caution. The idea of Amitabh Bachchan, reigning superstar of the era, playing an antihero would have seemed too outlandish for the audience back in the day when stars were meant to portray morally upright characters.

Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar redeemed Bachchan's presence through his dual role, bumping off his titular evil gangster early in the story and substituting him with a golden-hearted lookalike who's planted by the police to destroy Don's criminal syndicate.

Bachchan notably added a new dimension to his superstardom with the role, which let him bask in shades of grey. The unconventional Don would emerge as the third-biggest hit of 1978, behind two other Big B films – Muqaddar Ka Sikandar and Trishul (notably, multistarrers both). The seeds of the new-age antihero had been sown in Bollywood.

The truth is the hero's casting for Don 3 was always a challenge, given the expectations of following up two of Bollywood's biggest superstars in their prime. Ranveer Singh's exit only makes it nearly impossible to find a perfect fit for Don among Bollywood's current crop.

Farhan Akhtar must realise the awful truth. The problem with his lead casting for Don 3 probably lay hidden in the film's most popular line all along: Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin, namumkin hai.