The Don (2006 film)

The Don is a 2006 Indian Malayalam-language gangster film directed by Shaji Kailas from a story written by J. Pallassery. It stars an ensemble cast of Dileep and Lal.

The Don
VCD cover
Directed by	Shaji Kailas
Written by	J. Pallassery
Produced by	S. Chandrakumar
Starring	Dileep Lal
Cinematography	Sanjeev Sankar
Edited by	Don Max
Music by	Mohan Sithara C. Rajamani (background score)
Production company	Malavika Films
Release date	September 5, 2006 (2006-09-05)
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

The Don was released on 5 September 2006.^[1]

Premise

Unnikrishnan becomes a trusted right hand to Kasim Baba after he saves him from a group of goons. However, when Kasim gets killed by his nephew, Sulaiman, Unni gets accused of the murder and is arrested. He decides to prove his innocence and avenge Kasim's death, by killing his murderers.

Cast

• Dileep as Unnikrishnan (Salaam)
• Lal as Kasim Baba
• Saikumar as Advocate Subramaniam Swami
• Maniyanpilla Raju as MLA Abdullah Kutty
• Harisree Ashokan as Mani, Unni's friend
• Gopika as Shahida,(Voiceover by Sreeja Ravi)
• Chitra Shenoy as Khadeeja Baba's wife
• Bheeman Raghu as Sikandar Bhai
• Baburaj as Abutty
• Lalu Alex as Jail Superintendent Vishwanathan
• Kazan Khan as Sharon Bhai
• Spadikam George as DYSP Anirudhan (Voiceover by Shobi Thilakan
• Shammi Thilakan as Sulaiman, Baba's nephew
• Subair as Koya Sahib
• Sreejith Ravi as Vasu, Unni's friend
• Anil Murali as Joji, Unni's friend
• Augustine as Kabir Bhai
• Sukumari as Devakiamma

Production

This film marks the first collaboration between Shaji Kailas and Dileep.^[2] Pooja was initially considered to be the heroine. However, the role went to Gopika.^[2][3]

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Mohan Sithara.^[4]

• "Chandanatheril" - M. G. Sreekumar, Jyotsna Radhakrishnan (lyrics by Vayalar Sarathchandra Varma)
• "The Don (Theme)"

Release

The Don was scheduled to release before Onam but was pushed to the first week of September.^[2]

Critical response

Paresh C. Palicha of Rediff.com gave the film a rating of one out of five stars and wrote "The Don is simply a hotchpotch of many action-drama films, clumsily put together".^[5] A critic from Webindia123 wrote that "It may be better for Dileep to stop trying to become an action hero".^[6]

Future

Dileep and Shaji Kailas were reported to collaborate again for another film produced by Dileep which did not materialise.^[7]