CLASSIC REVIEW DEVDAS
Rating *****
Blow the conch-shells. Beat the drums. Open the champagne bottles. Raise a toast to Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Devdas has arrived and how!
The legendary love tale, penned years ago by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and adapted by Prakash Kapadia and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, strikes you like lightning. If it is visually breathtaking, its story and screenplay also leave you gasping for breath. If the costumes and jewellery of the characters in the film cast a magical spell on you, their performances leave you spell-bound. If the background score fills your ears with sounds that tell a hundred tales, the dialogues (Prakash Kapadia) mesmerise you and haunt you for hours after you’ve left the theatre. If the film’s opulence and sets make you pinch yourself in disbelief, the narrative leaves you open-monthed and tongue-tied. The romance of the age-old story appears lily-fresh.
The tragedy of the romance sweeps you off your feet and often draws tears from your eyes. Some sequences are so masterly and heart-wrenching that you clap in appreciation, may be crying at the same time. Note, for instance, the scene in which Paro’s (Aishwarya Rai’s) mother (Kiron Kher) breaks down emotionally when told by Devdas’ (Shah Rukh Khan’s) mother (Smita Jayakar) that the two can’t get married. The dialogues, the performance, the taking, the background score - the entire sequence could shake a dead person back to life! Or, take a look at the scene in which tawaif Chandramukhi (Madhuri Dixit) slaps one of her clients (Milind Gunaji) in full view of his family. The slap hits you like crazy!
Mega Bollywood P. Ltd.’s Devdas is the story of three characters - Devdas, Paro and Chandramukhi. The childhood friendship of Devdas and Paro blossoms into ethereal romance but the class differences and Devdas’ parents play the proverbial spoke in the wheel. Paro is married off to a rich widower leading to a dejected Devdas taking to the bottle. He tries to find solace in tawaif Chandramukhi’s kotha, but can neither forget Paro nor give up drinking. Ultimately, Devdas drinks himself to death, having failed in love.
The orignal story by Sarat Chandra has emotions to wrench the heart. Its adaptation and the dialogues further accentuate the dramatic effect and draw tears in at least five scenes. For the women audience, the film is a tear-jerker all the way. The first half is fast-paced and full of brilliant moments. Even clichéd scenes have been lent touches of novelty. The scene in which Paro’s mother is insulted by Devdas’ mother and the former’s emotional outburst thereafter, is the high point of the first half. The masses and the families will go berserk with joy at the utterances of Paro’s mother. Yet another emotional high comes at the interval point when Paro’s mother, triumphant after her daughter’s marriage, blows the conch and proclaims that Devdas and her mother would be doomed from then on. Of course, besides these dramatic scenes, there are light, emotional and romantic scenes which touch the heart oh so often. The grandeur and the film’s canvas are to be seen to be belived.
The pace drops in the second half and the film becomes a bit class-appealing at places. But this half, too, has sequences that mesmerise the masses and classes alike. The entire lengthy climax, with minimal dialogues, has such an overpowering impact on the audiences that they are on the edge of their seats all through it.
Songs are surefire hits and at least four of them - ‘Dola man dola’, ‘O piya’, ‘Ishhh’ and ‘Maar daala’ - are extraordinary. The other songs are very tuneful and picturisations of all the numbers are absolutely heavenly. ‘Kahe chhedh chhedh’ is not so good.
Shah Rukh Khan is mindblowing as Devdas. He plays his character with such finesse and aplomb that it is sheer delight to watch him. He evokes the right kind of emotions in the viewers’ hearts, never once going overboard. He looks splendid and mesmerises the audience with his acting in many scenes. As a man madly in love, he proves that there could have been no better choice than him for the role.
Madhuri Dixit gets lesser scope among the two heroines but her performance as the tawaif is first-rate. She may have looked slightly less fresh but her acting more than makes up for that. Her emotional and dramatic scenes and her dances in particular are just too fantastic. Her confrontation scene with Aishwarya Rai is emotionally extraordinary.
Aishwarya Rai looks like an angel. Her beauty stuns the viewer. Her acting also is just too splendid. It is difficult to imagine any other actress in the role of Paro. In one word, she is extraordinary.
IF there’s anybody who leaves a lasting impression on the audience, besides the three principal artistes, it is Kiron Kher. As Paro’s mother, she delivers a performance that will go down in history as par excellence. So wonderful is she that her absence in a good part of the second half is sorely felt. One has heard of scenes being deleted from films after their release, but the makers in this case should seriously consider adding a couple of scenes of Kiron Kher in the second half (there may be plenty of them in the edited portions). It will add to the box-office prospects of the film. Jackie Shroff is cute and his typical dialogues will go down well with the masses. Smita Jayakar is effective. Preeti (Ananya) Khare deserves distinction marks. Milind Gunaji leaves a mark. Vijayendra Ghatge, Dina Pathak, Manoj Joshi, Tiku Talsania, Apara Mehta, Jaya Bhattcharya and the rest of the cast, all lend good support.
Leela Bhansali has made a classic. The film is poetry on celluloid. Visually very, very rich, it is also emotionally very strong. Sanjay’s shot-takings are fantastic, his narration is splendid. The director’s understanding of the cinema medium is masterly and his treatment of a legendary love tale is fresh as ever. In one word, the man is a GENIUS.
Ismail Darbar’s music, as mentioned above, is very good and the film’s songs are bound to further grow in popularity. Nusrat Badr’s lyrics are rich. Song picturisations (Pt. Birju Maharaj, Saroj Khan, Vaibhavi Merchant and Pappu Mallu) are fantastic.
Binod Pradhan’s camerawork is just too terrific. Nitin Chandrakant Desai’s sets are rich and completely eye-filling. Costumes (Abu-Sandeep, Neeta Lulla and Reza Sharifi) will be talked about for months to come. Editing (Bela Segal) is brilliant.
Production values are grander than one can imagine. Money has been spent like water! What’s great is that every rupee spent shows on the screen.
Story - 10/10
Screen play - 10/10
Music - 10/10
Cinematography - 10/10
Special effects/sets/locations - 10/10
Performances - 10/10
Overall rating 100%
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Great Review Mustafa
I thnk U can rate evythn 10/10 it luks baised, i really liked the vision of director , very rare u find a director with a vision in his mind n hardly anyone achives that
Srk was Great in devdas , I bet no one cud have done better than him in this generatation
Mustafa did u saw old Devdas of dilip kumar starrer
WAt do u thnk Srk or dilip as devdas
New Devdas or Old devdas as movie
I liked this movie but no way it is 10/10 for me.
dis looks very biased.though srk did a good job but i would always prefer dilip over srk at any day.
crazytasa: Acting wise Dilip Kumar was better but his movie was more of semi-art type with Bimal Roy as the director whereas Bhansali and SRK tried a commercial movie. So, you can’t compare these two different type of movies. But you should remember, SRK is the only actor in India whose Devdas became Superhit whereas every other movie was a flop including Dilip Kumar’s version.
Agree with Master Ji
Basically these are Classic Movies which will get 10/10, so that is why it is not Biased. My next Review will be a little bit different you will not find everything 10/10.
As for Old Devdas, I have sceen it for 10 Minutes but didn’t understand much. But the People of that era or Older Generation say Dilip Kumar was Outstanding in the Movie. According to them Shah Rukh Khan did full justice to the Role, but Dilip Kumar was better. At least those people have courage to accept, look at Amitabh Bachchan Fans they cann’t say truth that Shah Rukh Khan was Oustanding in Don - The Chase Begins Again.
te problem with new devdas is that it got lost in the gloss n grandeur.too melodramatic i must say.
crazytasa: Bhansali wanted melodramatic, so I don’t think that was the flaw. He wanted to make Devdas as a stage play and he achieved it 100% perfectly.
I guess that was sanjay’s vision
anyways we cant always think in terms of BO alone.then movies like swades , yuva will be ignored 4 sure.
i admit old devads was just an average at the BO but the kind of impact it has till now is just awesome.same cant be said abut the new devdas.
Crazytasa, the old devdas was not all that impactful. Only Dilip Kunar’s peformance is remembered and impactful now. All the songs, roles by actresses, direction, art direction, so on has been easily improved in the new Devdas. Madhuri and Ash easily score over Vyjantimala and Suchitra Sen. Though SRK doen’t overcome Dilip’s performance he played it differently and successfully. And for the impact, I think Devdas will be remembered for next 100 years. It is new age Mughal-E-Azam for cinematic history. It will always be remembered in Indian film history. Not because it is a Classic but it is too important a film to be ever over looked when talking about early 2000’s or talking about SRK’s career or Ash’s career or Bhansali’s career or Madhuri’s first post-marraige film, so on. It is very important film for Bollywood.
@master
i felt bhansali went over the top with DEVDAS.it looked like an extravaganza with out a soul.it had its moments but i guess it fell short when it comes to depicting the pain n emotions the lead characters went through.
I can only say according to people of that era the Pain in the Climax of Old Devdas was missing in New Devdas, other that people have no complain as such.
I haven’t seen the earlier Devdas , i watched the new Devdas and loved it but i felt i can’t watch it again and again, yes the performances of Srk, Ash,Madhuri,Jackie were splendid.The sets were breathtaking but what i didn’t like about this film is Paro comes from a poor family how can she live in the huge bungalows,and the acting of srk’s mother ,her relative(i don’t know her name) and kiron kher in some scenes were over the top and too loud.The dialogues were wonderful and music was first rate and even the picturisation of songs was brilliant especially silsila , bairi piya ,chalak chalak, mar dala.The scene where Ash is holding a lamp reminds me one of Raja Ravi Varma’s painting ,i think there is also a poster of that scence.SRK as the drunkard lover was fantastic no other actor from this generation could have fit into this role.I heard Anurag Kashyap didn’t like the new devdas and he is making his own modern version of Devdas with Abhay Deol.
Some of my favorite scenes from new devdas:
1.Devdas meeting paro first time after he returns from abroad
2.Paro - Devdas mathematical calculation , when he talks about london
3.Devdas at his fathers death scene
4.Devdas liting the bed …asking keys
5.Paro meeting Devdas after marriage
6.Chandramukhi - Paro meeting for the first time
AS I HAVE SAID THE NEW DEVDAS HAD ITS BEAUTIFUL MOMENTS BUT OVERALL IT DIDNT SATISFY ME THAT MUCH.IT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER HAD BHANSALI FOCUSSED MORE ON HUMAN EMOTIONS INSTEAD OF THE SETS, COSTUMES ALL KINDA EXTRAVAGANCE.
Loud, over the top and totally annoying is how I describe Bhansalis version! UGH….Bimal Roy’s is the best anyday.
Bhansali’s best film remains KHAMOSHI, BLACK and HDDCS.
SRK was plain bland for the most, except the last 30 minutes,
thanks,
A.Shah
BTW Pradeep Sarkar’s PARINEETA was a far better film
I agree Dilip Kumar was better than SRK but I don’t agree that Parineeta is a better film Devdas at all. Devdas will be remember for years to come, on the other hand Parineeta won’t even be remembered after 5 years from now. Parineeta was a FLAT film.
Even the performance in devdas stand,Im suprised by this comparision made my akshay Shah , How can u compare classic like devdas with ordinary movie like parineeta.I agree that it was well made movie but not great that u can compare it to Devdas
U jst trying to degrade Bhansali or May be Srk.
May ur personal opinion,Bt anyday Devdas far superior product,For some ppl it may have fallen short bcoz of their expectation,but that does not mean it was piece of crap
Well akshay Everyone knws it was loud ,I agree with that ,but it was director’s vision.May be its Not in the best of Hindi Cinema,But a well made movie . . .
Akshay Shah!
Don’t compare Garbage Parineeta with Classic Devdas.
Master!
“Parineeta won’t even be remembered after 5 years from now.”
You are saying this. I will say people don’t remember it at all due to Akshay Shah many people came to know there was a Movie called Parineeta.
Akshay Shah!
“SRK was plain bland for the most, except the last 30 minute”
Answer for this is here “Shah Rukh Khan is mindblowing as Devdas. He plays his character with such finesse and aplomb that it is sheer delight to watch him. He evokes the right kind of emotions in the viewers’ hearts, never once going overboard. He looks splendid and mesmerises the audience with his acting in many scenes. As a man madly in love, he proves that there could have been no better choice than him for the role.”
Akshay shah!
Bhansali’s best film
(1) DEVDAS
(2) BLACK
(3) HUM DIL DE CHUKE SANAM
(4) KHAMOSHI
black was also too melodramatic n over the top.i guess bhansali’s best would be
khamoshi
hddcs
black
devdas
as far as srk’s performance is concerned he did a fine job.he was great in couple of scenes like at his father’s funeral n ofcourse the last 30 minutes as put by akshay shah.
See Amitabh Bachchan Fanatics problem is that they try to project Shah Rukh Khan Memorable Performances as Bad. When we do this to them they start crying. Yesterday an Amitabh Bachchan Fanatic was saying to me in Darr Shah Rukh Khan was over the Top and there was nothing exceptional about his Performance. I asked him does he know the meaning of ‘Exceptional’ and ‘Over the Top’ and He started giving stupid answer. Basically when we argue with these people they have nothing to say and they start crying.
why mustafa you are against of amitabh,why you are jelious from him,I think because of his Ist position in bollywood therefore.He is No:1.