Don turns 14: Not Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan was Farhan Akhtar’s first choice, read other lesser known facts about the film

As Farhan Akhtar’s Don turns 14 on Tuesday, we bring you some lesser known facts about the film that was a remake of Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Don from 1978.

As Shah Rukh Khan’s popular film Don turned 14 on Tuesday, filmmaker Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar have posted tweets, remembering their experiences while working on the film. Farhan remade Chandra Barot’s famous Amitabh Bachchan starrer in 2006 and cast Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Arjun Rampal and Isha Koppikar in his adaptation. The original film was written by famous writer-duo Salim-Javed and also featured Helen, Zeenat Aman and Pran.

Shah Rukh Khan’s Don turns 14

Sharing a picture celebrating 14 years of his film, Farhan tweeted, “Don ko yaad rakhne ki zaroorat nahin kyon ki Don ko bhool jaana namumkin hai. #14YearsOfDon (You don’t need to remember Don because it is impossible to forget him).”

Here, we bring you some lesser known facts from the film. While it had a sequel in 2011, Don 2, fans continue to enquire filmmakers about the third film in the franchise.

Farhan’s birthday for password
The wrong password that the character of Joshi enters onto the computer at first, is “F09AK74”. It is a code for director Farhan birthday - January 9, 1974.

Shah Rukh choreographed a flight sequence
A fight sequence between the Don (SRK) and DCP DeSilva (Boman Irani) was being shot in Langkawi. Boman was supposed had another shoot in Goa as well and Shah Rukh stepped in to ensure the sequence was choreographed in time for Boman to report to his other shoot location timely.

Farhan’s first choice was Hrithik, not SRK
Farhan and Hrithik had agreed to work together for the remake of Don while working on their film, Lakshya (2004). It is said that Farhan decided at a later stage that he wanted a “more mature actor”. In Farhan’s own words, “a face that had seen the world and roughed it out”. That is how SRK came into the picture. Nonetheless, Hrithik made a special appearance in Don 2.

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