http://www.uiowa.edu/~incinema/DEVDAS.html

I think Creekmur's review certainly raises some interesting questions, but I firmly feel that he is misreading Bhansali's version. His closing line strikes me as particularly odd as he usually champions the same sort of ambiguity that he's criticizing in Bhansali's Devdas; would he have preferred a more didactic approach or what?!

That was a very good review/comparison of the three most famous Devdas films, as well as an illumination on the cultural background.

I largely agree with his assessment of the SLB version. While Bimal Roy did an excellent job of making the setting palpable and real, SLB made his a spectacle, a treatment I found inappropriate for this story. Like the author of the review, I felt the fantasy and spectacle overshadowed the story, which is very much grounded in real customs and traditions and conflicts.

Where(geographically) sahab Bibi Aur ghulam was based??

Calcutta, according to Philip Lutgendorf's site, from which the Devdas article comes.

The extravagant environment and costumes were what I disliked and not so much the plot workings of the SLB version. Bimal Roy and SLB version are diametrical opposites in this regard. Roy used a spartan neorealist style, with real settings and tried to capture the mood of the era and place as well as the dark turmoil of Devdas while SLB created a visual feast. Paro is supposed to be of lower status, but one might not know it from all the nice clothes and jewelry Aishwarya Rai wears.

Where(geographically) sahab Bibi Aur ghulam was based??



The same also stated in 84 min BBC Doccumentary "In Search Of Guru Dutt" (also included in Guru Dutt film DVDs from YRF).

Rana

I have never quite liked the story of DEVDAS. As I had mentioned in an earlier post, perhaps it was a story more in tune with the thinking of the times of a post-independance audience, just about getting a whiff of freedom, creative expression etc. It is a defeatist story in a nutshell and I have no patience for a protagonist bent upon self-destruction with such single-mindedness. In any case that is my opinion. SLB sought to add color to a story that was morose and thought it may appeal to audiences of today. Notice that Bimal Roy's movie was a weepily sad movie, as were all the earlier versions. If nothing SLB made DEVDAS more of a bearable tale for me. But it is not a classic by any yardstick, since the story itself is not in my book! But hey that's me, I know people that swear by the story, including my younger brother.

if so, thats what i thought too..Devdas was nothing like that real Calcutta, it was all made up, phony, extrvagant..when i watched the film, that was my comparison..