Daily Times

Actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar has finally addressed the apprehensions of people regarding Ranveer Singh’s casting as the new Don in the upcoming film.

After much back and forth, the makers of the action franchise finally announced ‘Don 3’ starring Ranveer Singh earlier this month. While his name had been abuzz for the iconic role for quite some time, the loyal fans of previous Dons, Shahrukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan were simply not ready to witness the actor in the shoes of Bollywood megastars.

Following much hatred and trolling towards Singh, Akhtar finally responded to the reservations of viewers in the new interview.

In a recent conversation with a foreign tabloid, Akhtar said, “I’m just really looking forward to get it going. I mean Ranveer is amazing. He’s great for the part.”

“He’s also as you can imagine, really excited and really nervous, about the thing you’re filling some big shoes before you. But we went through the same emotional process when Shahrukh did it and everyone was like ‘Oh my God, how can you replace Mr Bachchan?’ That whole thing happened then,” he explained.

Further gushing over his ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ co-star’s acting prowess, he added, “It really is about an actor coming in and owning the part and making it really like, giving it their style and their flair. And he has that, he has that in spades. So, he’s going to do a great job. I think the responsibility is more mine now to make sure that the script and the film work out the way I imagine.”

Moreover, when asked for some mandatory skill set for an actor to play Don, Akhtar listed, “self-confidence, flamboyance and the ability to do anything that your mind is set on,” as some of them. He also confirmed the film, set for the 2025 release, will go on the floors in January same year.

‘Don 3’ will be directed by Akhtar as the first two movies of the franchise, while his joint production banner with Ritesh Sidhwani, Excel Entertainment bankrolls it. Meanwhile, any confirmation on the female lead of the action flick is awaited.