Chandra Barot, the filmmaker behind the original Don featuring Amitabh Bachchan, died on Sunday. He was 86. His wife, Deepa Barot, confirmed the news to TOI and shared, “He had been battling pulmonary fibrosis for the past seven years.”
Chandra Barot will always be known as the OG Don director. Even Shah Rukh Khan, who played the lead in the reboot, had huge respect for him. Previously, SRK addressed the reboot talk and said he had once thought of doing Don with Chandra Barot himself, reported Times Now.
In a Koffee With Karan episode, when Karan Johar asked, “If you woke up one morning and realised that you had gone back to the 70s, you would…”, SRK replied, “I would make Don with Chandra Barot and quell all the controversies that happen now.”
SRK led the franchise reboot with Don in 2006 and Don 2 in 2011, both directed by Farhan Akhtar. Now, Farhan is working on the third film, but this time Ranveer Singh is playing the lead role.
Coming back to the 1978 film, it is considered a cult classic. Amitabh Bachchan is seen in a gripping double role, playing both the ruthless gangster Don and his lookalike Vijay. The film also features Zeenat Aman as Roma, Pran as Jasjit and Iftekhar as DSP D'Silva.
Om Shivpuri, Satyen Kappu, P. Jairaj, Kamal Kapoor, Arpana Choudhary and Helen are also part of the project.
While Don is undoubtedly Chandra Barot's most iconic directorial venture, his filmography includes other titles such as Aashrita, Pyar Bhara Dil, Hong Kong Wali Script and Neil Ko Pakadna... Impossible.
Long before stepping into the director's chair, Chandra Barot had worked as an assistant director on some of Hindi cinema's notable works, including Purab Aur Pachhim, Yaadgaar, Shor and Roti Kapada Aur Makaan.
