Shah Rukh Khan to star in Don 3

Editor's note (2026): This is a 2014 report, kept as originally filed. It did not pan out as stated: in August 2023 Farhan Akhtar announced Don 3 with Ranveer Singh — not Shah Rukh Khan — as the new Don, with Kiara Advani later confirmed as the female lead.

When the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Don 2 hit theatres in 2011, the film's director Farhan Akhtar told a section of the media, "I need a break from action films. As a director, it's my right to explore different things." Three years after that dismissal, reports in 2014 said Farhan was returning to direction and the genre with the third part of the Don franchise — and that SRK would again lead the cast.

Confirming this, Farhan's business partner Ritesh Sidhwani said: "How can I do Don without Don? SRK is Don and Don is SRK." The film had reportedly been in the works for some time, with buzz that Farhan, Ritesh and their team had completed almost 50 per cent of the script. The actor had reportedly held several meetings with Farhan and Ritesh after the release of Chennai Express in 2013 to fine-tune the modalities of the third instalment of the commercially successful franchise. The leading lady had not yet been cast; Priyanka Chopra had toplined the cast in the first two instalments.

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