Devdas (2002)

Original title

देवदास

Directed by

Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Genre

drama film, musical film, romance film

Country

India

Runtime

3h 05m

Rated

0

Rating

7.5 of 10 from 385 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A wealthy man returns from London to marry his childhood love but his family rejects the match. He spirals into alcoholism and finds comfort with a courtesan while his former love marries another man.

melancholicvisually lushepictragicpassionatedramaticslow-burnromanticintense

What happens

Devdas is a 2002 Indian Hindi-language period romantic drama film directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and produced by Bharat Shah under his banner, Mega Bollywood. It stars Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit in lead roles, with Jackie Shroff, Kirron Kher, Smita Jaykar, and Vijayendra Ghatge in supporting roles. Based on the Bengali-language 1917 novel of the same name by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, the film narrates the story of Devdas Mukherjee (Khan), a wealthy law graduate who returns from London to marry his childhood friend, Parvati "Paro" (Rai). However, the rejection of their marriage by his own family sparks his descent into alcoholism, ultimately leading to his emotional deterioration and him seeking refuge with the golden-hearted courtesan Chandramukhi (Dixit). Bhansali was inspired to remake the novel into a film after reading it for a second time, and announced the project in November 1999. The screenplay was written by him and Prakash Ranjit Kapadia, who also wrote the dialogue. Nitin Chandrakant Desai built the sets between August 2000 and May 2001, spending ₹200 million (US$4.12 million). Along with Bhansali and other crews, he did extensive research on Calcuttan building design from the period of the British Raj. Principal photography was handled by Binod Pradhan from November 2000 to April 2002, taking place in Bikaner, Film City, and Filmistan. While Ismail Darbar and Birju Maharaj composed the soundtrack, Monty Sharma composed the background score. Devdas is featured in Out of Competition section at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival on 23 May 2002 and was released worldwide on 12 July that year. It was the most expensive Indian film ever made at the time, with a budget of ₹500 million (US$10.29 million). The film received mixed reviews when it premiered at Cannes, but was better received when it was theatrically released. The film was a major commercial success and emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film of the year, earning approximately ₹1.68 billion ($35 million) worldwide. It won several accolades, including 5 awards at the 50th National Film Awards, including Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and Best Female Playback Singer (Shreya Ghoshal for "Bairi Piya"). At the 48th Filmfare Awards, it won a record-setting 11 awards, including Best Film, Best Director (Bhansali), Best Actor (Khan), Best Actress (Rai) and Best Supporting Actress (Dixit). It was also nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language. Over the years the film has grown a cult following and considered an all time classic in Indian cinema. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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