Box Office Collection: 33 Cr (Worldwide) Approximately
Director: Lawrence Raghavendra as Raghava Lawrence
Producer: M.L. Kumar Chowdary (Tamil Version) and Mohammed Imran Qureshi (Hindi Version)
Music Director: Raghava Lawrence, Chinna
Don (2007) is a Telugu Action Crime Movie initially released on 20 December, 2007 (India). The movie was dubbed in Hindi in the year 2008 and released as Don No. 1. The movie was originally produced by M.L. Kumar Chowdary whereas the Hindi version was produced by Mohammed Imran Qureshi. Don (2007) was directed by Lawrence Raghavendra who not only played a pivotal role in the movie but also made his Music Director’s debut with this movie. In addition to these he also wrote story and screenplay of the movie. The movie was also remade in Bangladesh as Don Number One (2012).
Don No. 1 Movie Plot: Surya (Akkineni Nagarjuna) is a criminal but love his country very much and does not allow any criminal to make drug or any such business which is against the humanity. He is everything for the poor section of the society and takes care for all they need. Circumstances changes when an International Mafia King Feroz (Kelly Dorji) wants to make India a new market for drugs etc. and directly clashes with Surya. He also kills Surya’s right hand Jadhav (Raghav Lawrence) whom Surya treats like his brother. Life of Surya’s love interest (Anushka Shetty) is also in danger because Surya has denied to join hands with Feroz.
Star Cast: Akkineni Nagarjuna, Anushka Shetty, Lawrence Raghavendra, Nikita Thukral, Kelly Dorji, Chetan Hansraj, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Nassar, Chalpathi Rao and Supreeth.
Don No. 1 Full Story: Young Surya (Akkineni Nagarjuna) guns down a drug dealer who used to torture some young boys including young Jadhav (Lawrence Raghavendra). Surya starts small illegal activities and all those boys start helping him. Surya eventually becomes a big criminal and Raghava becomes his right hand to whom he treats like his younger brother.
Surya becomes the biggest Don in India but he is very helpful to poor section of the society and they care for him like their God. Surya also takes law in his hands and punish those who does anything wrong to the weaker section of the society. Police Commissioner (Nassar) tries to make him understand to leave the criminal world but Surya continues the work he think good for society.
A Pakistani Criminal Feroz (Kelly Dorji), boss of every international mafia don, does every possible illegal activity including murder, smuggling, blackmailing, kidnapping etc. without leaving any proof against him; now wishes to make India his new hub for making enormous money and strengthen his power.
Indian Police comes to know the evil plans of Feroz and a special Superintendent of Police (S.P.) is appointed to catch or stop Feroz. But the SP is actually an agent of Feroz and instead doing his duties for the country he tries to convince big Industrialist Madhav Ji Ram and MLA Raghunath Sharma to become partners of Feroz. When they deny joining Feroz due to Surya, the SP visits Surya and offers him to join hands with Feroz. Surya threaten him to leave Feroz otherwise he would be killed. One businessman Ashu who join hands with Feroz for making duplicate medicines is killed by the henchmen of Surya.
In the meantime Surya falls in love with Priya (Anushka Shetty) who is eventually daughter of Mathur (Chalpathi Rao), a henchman in his gang. Similarly, Jhadav also falls for a girl namely Nandini (Nikita Thukral).
The SP rapes the daughter of MLA Raghunath Sharma and Surya kills him in front of lots of people. Police Commissioner tries to convince people but no one witnesses against him. Surya informs the Commissioner about the corrupt SP to prove his point.
Since the main Indian agent of Feroz was killed, he himself visits India and meets Surya. He tries to frighten Surya by revealing some secrets of him. But Feroz is taken aback when Surya reveals those secrets about Feroz which he used to thinks undisclosed to anyone. Surya does not get afraid of Feroz and advise him to leave India. This enrages Feroz and he plays a foul game to eliminate Surya and for his team. For this he first kills Jhadav and kidnaps Priya.
Background Music: The music was given by Chinna and Lawrence Raghavendra who make his musical debut in the movies. The background music is absolutely fine and matches with the theme of the movie. In fact Lawrence Raghavendra did lot of things in this movie and gets a sheer success in every field.
Acting: The entire movie revolves round Surya (Nagarjun) and Jadhav (Raghav Lawrence). Even the lead Actress did not get much screen space. Akkineni Nagarjun is looking hot and dashing in the role which suites him very much. As a Don he did justice to his role. But the surprising pack is Raghava. We have seen him in many films doing comedy. But this time Raghava is excellent. It would not be an exaggeration to say that at some places Raghava has suppressed Nagarjuna. Raghava put life into the role of Jadhav which is without any doubt made him the best supporting actor of the movie.
Story, Script and Screenplay: Though there is nothing new in the story yet the screenplay is written in a very good manner. To make a good film, a story is required to be converted into good screenplay and thereafter, the director reins the battle. In this movie both the sections were handled by Raghava. Certain twist and turn and i.e. too in such Masala Movies are amazing to watch.
Direction: This was the forth directorial of Lawrence Raghavendra after Mass (2004), Style (2006) and Muni (2007). Raghava is known for his comic timings but this movie does not have typical South Indian comedy which is not bad at all for Bollywood Movie lovers. The movie is an Action Crime with every element of Masala Cinema. Raghava intelligently handled all the responsibilities for this movie but he did not forget the direction point of view. Since screenplay has also written by Raghava, he has fully utilized his imagination in the movie with his directorial finishing. Film does not get bored and runs with pace. No scene seems to be stretched unnecessarily and this gives movie a regular pace and audience enjoy the same. Though there is not much space for twists yet Raghava places a few at right place and with right pace. Overall Raghava has done a good job as a director.
Don No. 1 Movie Review
Don No. 1 is an Action Crime Masala Movie for all age groups. No vulgarity is there in the movie hence the entire family can watch the movie together. The movie is not a masterpiece but a full time pass Masala you would love to watch again and again.
It is not that there are no shortcomings in the movie. But the director and good actors like Nagarjuna and Raghava himself have covered them up. These shortcomings can be seen by critics but do not have much impact over the audience and that is why the Hindi Dubbed version has made an impact of Bollywood Lovers also.
