Tampered version. Review on Devdas - New

Devdas by Sanjay Leela Bhansali is a movie loosely based on Devdas- the classic novel by Sarat Chandra.

The old novel is one of most touching tragic love-stories ever written.

The difference between the novel and the movie can be told in just one sentence- the movie lacks soul.

Bhansali has tampered with the original story to make his product salable.

So, if you want to know the real devdas, read the novel or its translation, or watch black and white movie versions.

The pros of this movie first-

1)Sets and costumes- the lavish huge sets are impressive. The costumes are very gaudy- nothing subtle, but it’s evident that the dress designer has worked very hard.

2)Camera work and lights, sound - the technicians have done a good job.

3)Music- The ‘Devdas theme’ music is the best. It gives that sad and depressing feel- the essence of Devdas’ s tragedy. ‘Silsila yeh chaahat ka’ and ‘bairy piya’are nice.

4)Acting- Aishwarya Rai was perfect. She gives a natural and brilliant performance.

Shahrukh Khan was a bit weird in the beginning. His unique laughter style (?) and extremely weird mannerisms were funny but it was difficult to accept him as Devdas.

In the beginning, he was like – ‘ he… e e…he he e e pa roo..he he’– the scene was supposed to be romantic but I found it very funny.

But, he gave good performance overall. Madhuri was flawless as usual. Kiran Kher’s acting was also good.

5)Paro’s character was sketched very well, and the scenes between Paro and Devdas were comparatively much better than the rest of the movie.

Now the major flaws-

1)Too much of Cinematic liberty- Bhansali sends Devdas to London, which wasn’t the case in original novel. And it seemed as if Devdas’s grandmother was saying ‘hi’ to Paro in that ‘binocular’ scene. (How modern!) Bhansali makes Paro and Chandramukhi dance together (they don’t ever meet in the original novel).

2)Slow and boring- The pace of the movie is slow and since nothing much happens on the screen except stale, artificial dialogues and ‘song-n-dance’ routine, boredom cannot be avoided.

3)The actresses playing Devdas’s mother and his sister-in-law were annoyingly loud. (Who trained them? Ekta Kapoor?) . Jacky Shroff was irritating.