By Subhash K. Jha, IANS

The tuning between director Farhan Akhtar and his leading man Shah Rukh Khan is the talk of Bollywood and the former claims that both of them are a huge fan of Amitabh Bachchan and "Don".

"We were friends before 'Don'. See, both Shah Rukh and I are ardent fans of 'Don' and Mr. Bachchan. When we finally started working together it was like his enthusiasm combined with mine. Shah Rukh's energy level is very infectious. He gives very intelligent suggestions. And since I'm always open to suggestions - who says I'm not, that's totally untrue - I enjoy Shah Rukh's inputs," Farhan told IANS.

"We're having a whole lot of fun. Though I must tell you, it's a lot of hard work. I can't even begin to describe what it's like to work in Malaysia."

Talk veers to the much talked-about "Khaike paan banaras wala" song-and-dance, which is choreographed by Saroj Khan.

"We knew what Mr. Bachchan had done to the song in the earlier 'Don'. Shah Rukh and I weren't even thinking about it when we took the plunge. It's truly a monster of a song. But what Sarojji did with 'Khai ke paan' is incredible. Of course, there's an element of deja vu in the choreography. But Sarojji has taken the number somewhere else."

Farhan says that his "Don" is homage to the original.

"All of us are paying a homage to the earlier 'Don'. It's true that we've improved on the technical value immensely. But how far could we go with technique alone?

"Whether it's Shah Rukh, Priyanka Chopra, Arjun Rampal, Isha Koppikar, Boman Irani, Om Puri or Kareena Kapoor doing that incredible number 'Yeh mera dil pyaar ka deewana' by Helenji, we see our efforts as a tribute to a film we've all seen and loved featuring our ultimate screen hero Amitabh Bachchan."

Farhan regrettably does not recall ever going on the sets of Chandra Barot's "Don" as a child, which his father Javed Akhtar had written.

"All my nostalgia for the film comes from watching 'Don' on screen. It's taken me to a totally new territory. It's fun but also very stressful and not because people are going to compare my film with the previous 'Don'. That doesn't bother me. I just wonder if my vision would come through in the film. The rest is all hypothetical right now."