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Legendary lover with more gloss
SANJAY LEELA Bhansali's much awaited Rs 50 crore risk, `Devdas' seems to be a calculated one. Being the fourth interpretation of Sarat Chandra Chatterjee's classic Bengali novel in Hindi cinema's history, this version is a sincere effort to explore the layers of meaning in this tragic love story of yesteryear for the `New Age' audience.
So, the `Devdas' of 2002 is all about grandiose and opulence that has become mandatory to build up excitement around any film in Bollywood. Mind-boggling sets (by Nitin Desai) and enchanting camerawork by Binod Pradhan, which you feel Bhansali may have used as props to attract the crowds to the theatre, to tell a heart wrenching tale, because after the initial moments of awe and scepticism have subsided, you are automatically drawn into the story. The director uses the first few reels to establish the main players of this gloomy story. Devdas and Paro are shown as fairly egoistic persons madly in love with each other, doomed to be torn apart because of familial pressures. Then the story progresses to how Devdas, unable to bear the separation from his childhood lover, chooses the path of self-destruction by hitting the bottle, and seeking solace in the arms of a courtesan, Chandramukhi, and ultimately dying at the doorstep of Paro's house.
Despite the lavish treatment and external gloss, a sense of gloom stays in your heart much after the film is over, and that is the real success of the director. He has not lost the substance of the story whilst using expensive resources in every department. On the acting front, the performance of the three main actors is top notch. Shah Rukh Khan excels in the role of his lifetime; he shows a tendency to go overboard in the scenes where he is shown in an inebriated state, but that is just a minor glitch in an overall controlled performance. Aishwarya Rai carries off her role as Paro with poise, her character gives the feel as if it is an extension of Nandini that she played in Bhansali's previous film `Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam'. Madhuri Dixit is the surprise pack of the film; as the courtesan Chandramukhi, she walks off with the show in the second half. In a role that is similar to the one patented by Rekha in films like `Muqadar Ka Sikandar', `Umrao Jaan,' Madhuri leaves her own stamp, whether it is the dance steps, choreographed by kathak maestro Pandit Birju Maharaj or the show of dejection in the subtlest of forms. The cast, which includes Jackie Shroff, Kiron Kher, Smita Jayakar and Tiku Talsania resort to theatrical form of acting, with exaggerated body language and loud voices. Songs deserve a special mention, composed by Ismail Darbar and penned by Sameer. Debutant Nusrat Badr gives a true musical feel. All seen and said, the question remains, will the audience of today empathise with the melancholic loser of the 1900s?"
PARESH.C.PALICHA
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