Created by the writer duo Salim–Javed (Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar), he was portrayed by Amitabh Bachchan.
In the films, Don is characterized as diabolically evil and cunning with zero empathy or remorse, though he is shown to exhibit a little romantic interest in his friend-turned-foe Roma Bhagat.
The 2006 remake altered the plot, featuring Don as a lieutenant who works under Singhania, a rival of Vardhaan's.
The character had appeared in several films, comics, and video games, and has managed to gain a cult status in Indian cinema.
Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, Chandra Barot and Manoj Kumar suggested him to make another film.
According to Javed's son Farhan Akhtar, his version of Don's real name is Mark Donald as per his fictional creations.
[4] Don (Amitabh Bachchan) is one of the most powerful men in the business of crime, who in spite of being one of the most wanted on the list of Interpol, remains elusive to the police.
Along with the police, Don makes a few other enemies through his merciless approach to running his organization, especially when he kills one of his own men, Ramesh, when the latter decides to leave the business.
A shattered, revenge-seeking Roma gets her hair cut short, trains in judo and karate, then enters Don's gang after deceiving them into thinking that she too is on the wrong side of the law.
As luck would have it, D’Silva remembers his chance encounter with Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan), a simpleton trying to survive in the hustle and bustle of Bombay in order to support two small foster children, who is an exact lookalike of Don.
Don and his gang, consisting of Anita (Isha Koppikar) his girlfriend and Narang (Pavan Malhotra) travel to India to trade some drugs.
Meanwhile, Jasjit (Arjun Rampal), Deepu's real father has just been released from prison and becomes bent on killing D'Silva.
The bosses of the European drug cartel meet in the French Riviera to discuss a new threat emerging from Asia.
Don has been living in Thailand for the past five years and goes to a remote settlement to pick up a shipment of cocaine.
He then inexplicably goes back to Malaysia where he surrenders to Roma (Priyanka Chopra) and Inspector Malik (Om Puri).
Don is sentenced to death and sent to a Malaysian prison where he meets his old rival Vardhaan (Boman Irani).
The locker holds a tape that shows J.K Diwan (Alyy Khan), the vice president of a Euro printing bank called DZB (Deutsche Zentral Bank), sent by Fabian Kohl to bribe Singhania (Rajesh Khattar) to kill a competitor.
Don blackmails Diwan into giving him the blueprints to the currency center so that he can steal the printing plates.
After stealing the printing plates, Don is betrayed by Vardhaan and Jabbar but manages to escape.
It is heavily implied that Don also has strong feelings for her as he too passionately demands her to shoot him when she was asked to (he had also gotten shot in the arm while saving her from goons in a previous scene).
In one of the films he says 'Don ke samne aadmi ke pass sirf do raaste hote hain..mann jaye ya mar jaye...jaisi uski marzi' (When in front of Don, a man has only two choices, agree or die...his choice).
He initially started working under Singhania along with Vardhaan, but betrays both of them and establishes himself as the leader of the drug cartel.
At hand-to-hand combat Don is shown to be a perfectionist, his fighting style appears to be a mix of Krav Maga and Wing Chun.
In one of the situations he kills his opponent by breaking his neck in two, spits on him and says "see you around" When in the jail he easily overpowers Vardhaan who threatens him with a knife.
[10] Ajith Kumar played the character in Billa's 2007 remake of the same name,[11] while Prabhas reprised the role in its 2009 Telugu version.