Have to say too many people disagree with this.. now.. just because they feel a movie cant be made with three characters.. firstly.. I never say this.. only that its a story of three characters.. and the rest should only linger in the background to make the film(especially this film)appealing.. and I just wanted to say that the beautiful sets and costumes being the USP of a film is pretty pathetic.. and that even more so with Devdas.. and who wants a 19 reel movie.. make it shorter... but please make it better..
Devdas? whats that to us... a classic.. was it a love story or was it a family drama... was it classic literature or was it popcorn fare.. was it about love or was it about vanity? now lets see.. I read a review that is so contrary to what I felt.. with due regards to his opinion.. I think that Devdas is a story of three principle characters.. Devdas Paro and Chandramukhi.. perhaps you can add Chunnilal to that list... but when you go to see Sanjay leela Bhansali’s film, for most part of the time you are lost in the number of other characters that seem to rush through the film.. agreed Kiron Kher is damn good in the movie.. but the point is.. why did she have to play such a prominent role in a film thats about Devdas.. or about Paro or about Chandramukhi.. he could have easily reduced those extra roles (extra coz they need not be glorified... the story is not meant to glorify their vanities.. but those of Devdas and Paro)
The mounting of the film is so vast with such exquisite sets.. and such colour and grandeur.. but then.. I would like to believe that it is just that gloss that keeps you away from the gist.. but I would agree that the dialogues were worth a mention.. as for shah rukh khan... it is such a pity that he underacts in a film that needed him to go overboard.. well to each his own interpretation of devdas.. Aishwarya is the one part of the movie that you would love.. grace personified and elegant to the hilt.. the childish laughter.... the beautiful face.. she just fits the bill(please... I never considered her a great actress and am not one of her fans) Madhuri was as good as the role required... and Jackie was awesome..
But it is such a pity that you dont feel the lament.. you dont feel the pain.. you dont feel the guilt.. you dont enjoy the movie.. you dont move with it... you laugh at the vulgar shrillness of Kiron Kher’s voice.. you are tired of the bhabhi’s face... you feel its too much a test of your patience.. you wonder ’’ why could’nt he make the story move more around the principal characters? ’’.. why does the screen look so crowded when it is supposed to look quie the opposite .. desolate..
However he succeeds in finding the haunting sense in the childish voice ’’Are O’Deva’’.. he succeeds with the music.. ’’Hamesha tumko chaha’’ placed so fittingly.. with shreya goel excelling beyond imagination with ’’silsila yeh chahhat ka’’ .. and then he succeeds with the climax.. Aishwarya running towards Devdas through those halls will haunt all those who watched the movie.. but the fact is.. we wont be as deeply moved by this tragic story as we should be.. because that sense of beauty and that sense of desolation is lost in the grandeur and the colour of the movie. Also Binod Pradhan.. perhaps you can do better with a stillcamera and a straight one too .. I mean... look at the opening sequence.. could’nt he have shown a straight camera look at the haveli.. why be crooked.. well I guess you need to watch it through his eyes... coz as of now.. we got no other choice guys..
I know most of you who like the movie will hate this review.. but I think I have been as honest as I can be..
wish he had made a purer love story.. because this was one story he need’nt have corrupted.. I had expected nothing more.. from the man who made a Hum Dil De chuke Sanam.. truly I was bored through the first hour of the movie.. those silly antics of Salman Khan (HDDCS) .. but it was Ajay Devgan’s introduction that makes you sit up.. and he handled the movie so very well from there on.. though I would like to believe that Maniratnam’s version ’’Mounaragam’’ was a classic again that was not meant to be corrupted.. but then Sanjay Leela bhansali to his credit stuck to the principal characters in that movie and in fact there were so many beautiful sequences thereon..
its such a pity now.. with devdas... as always