Farhan Akhtar On Mixed Reactions To Casting Ranveer Singh In 'Don 3': He’s Great For The Part

Last week, Excel Entertainment, the production house by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani, revealed the first-look video of Ranveer Singh playing the lead in ‘Don 3’. The reaction to the announcement was largely mixed, and fans were not too happy with Ranveer Singh replacing Shah Rukh Khan for ‘Don 3’. 

Now filmmaker Farhan Akhtar has finally addressed the mixed reactions to the announcement, and revealed how Ranveer is 'really excited and really nervous' to step into the franchise. In an interview with BBC Asian Network, Farhan said, “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 Shah Rukh did it and everyone was like ‘Oh my God, how can you replace Mr Bachchan?’ That whole thing happened then.”

For the unversed, Shah Rukh took over as Don in the 2006 movie ‘Don: The Chase Begins Again’ and its 2011 sequel ‘Don 2: The King Is Back’. The character was originally played by Amitabh Bachchan in the 1978 film ‘Don’, which was helmed by Chandra Barot.

Talking about his added responsibility as a director to make the sequel work, Farhan 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 is 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.”

Meanwhile, Ranveer revealed on Instagram how he always dreamt of becoming an actor after watching Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan in films.