Badly Don(e)? Don, a Preview.

I had written about the Don being remade by Farhan Akhtar nearly a year back and then said that it wouldn’t work because

The biggest reason for these two remakes(ed: Sholay, Don) not going to work is that unlike Sanjay L Bhansali, or Vidhu Chopra(or whoever directed Parineeta), these folks have chosen stuff that is mostly fresh in the minds of people – and that is the biggest challenge – which was why, until small B found his niche, he just couldnt do things Big B was doing/had done!

Well, Farhan Akhtar has almost proved me right – going from the previews at least. The storyline, though set outside of India, apparently, retains the same characters, and remains mostly true to the original. And Farhan Akthar has made the crucial mistake of retaining the old songs, but in their own 2006 versions.

(E)Xtreme fudging. The CBZ Xtreme.

Nothing pisses one off more than products claiming to deliver the moon. Heck, even space agencies dont make that claim!

So in comes Hero Honda Motors with a new product that it advertises as the CBZ Xtreme. Taglines like “Blink, and you will miss it!“, or “Once you see it, impossible to forget!” hyped the product up, like never before. If you had followed the Indian biking scenario, and saw this kind of advertising, you would be thinking the CBZ Xtreme to be at least a quarter-litre bike delivering 25+ bhp (One wouldnt expect litre class bikes from HH, after Honda has entered India on its own).

Ah! But that is the twist in the story. The CBZ Xtreme is a bike in the 150cc class, which is.. the same class as the original CBZ was! Shaking your head in disbelief? Dont, not yet! There’s more to it.