My Devdas Review

10/10


In all its opulence, Devdas is a classic!! This movie tops my Indian movie list. I just loved the way Sanjay Leela Bhansali handled Devdas. Let me start with the performances. I must say the starry platform is shared between many stars. Shah Rukh, Madhuri, Aishwariya, Kiron Kher, Smita Jayaker and Milind Gunaji.



The story, like the older versions, is embellished in emotion. The introduction of the new scenes that were not in the older versions (Meeting of Chandramukhi and Paro) make for excellent viewing and adds to the ‘classic’ touch. I must say that in the first half Kiron Kher as Paro’s mother is EXCELLENT!!!!!!! Her role will never be forgotten. These are the most memorable scenes in for me in Devdas:

The ‘Silsila Yeh Chahat Ka’ Song is excellent. Aiswariya graces the screen with her dance.
KIRON KHER in and after the ‘Morey Piya’ Song. She is really good!!!
Madhuri’s Entry is Grand. The opening scenes of her and the mirror is in itself a magical entrance. The white outfit Madhuri had on was to die for!!!
‘Kahe Chhed Mohe’ is fantastically choreographed. Madhuri in that 35Kg Ghagra carefully dances and her facial expressions deserve special mention. You should see Devdas’s reactions to Madhuri’s “Isshhhhhh…” simply spellbinding.
Jackie Shroff’s inspiring Devdas to Drink is a tough task but he manages when Paro shuns him at her wedding.
‘Hameshaa Tumko Chahaa’ is excellent. Watch it to believe it.
Shah Rukh is outstanding as Devdas. The scenes where he leaves home, almost burns the house and the climax is heart wrenching.
‘Maar Dala’ is definitely the best mujhra song picturisation in the whole movie. Her facial expressions in the song are marvellous. Madhuri has short screen time , but definitely impacts the audience. You really feel for her especially where Devdas lets her touch him. Madhuri and Shah Rukh scenes are astonishing and you wish there were more.
‘Dola Re Dola’ is exquisite and makes for superb viewing. The aftermath of the song leaves Milind Gunaji telling Chandramukhi about the ‘ghastly’ effects of having a tawaif at an aristocrats house. The scene leaves you spellbound and you are only cheering for Madhuri after she stands up to him.
The climax is superb, We have Shah Rukh going back to his Paro and reminiscing about his past. In all that was brilliant. We also have Paro seeing this man lying there, not knowing who he is? It just increases the intensity. I wont tell more. Watch the end and you will cry your eyes red!!!


On the whole, This is Sanjay Leela Bhansali BEST movie and nothing short of a classic. The songs especially the mujhras take you back to ‘Pakeezah, Mughl-E-Azam and Umraao Jaan’. The movie, for me is on par with the classics of the past. The climax has a dark feeling and you can almost feel the doom that lies ahead. Sanjay at least doesn’t take his audiences for granted as a special level of intelligence is need to view the movie. A must watch!!!!!



Keep Well

Aadil Moosa

:love:

I really enjoeyed hum dil de chuke sanam, even though salman khan was very irritating.. but was a better film storywise and entertainment wise than Devdas.. i honestly really did hate this film... as for these type of films i presume u are refering to love stories, i do actually like some of them but annoy me to say the least... Im not being biased in anyway what so ever, and its my opinion on the film.. at the end of the day Devdas has the same storyline as Muqadar Ka Sikandar, which is my all time favourite movie, but Devdas did really suck.. i personally felt the characters did not really have a base to stand on.. i.e. Jackie Shroff, why was he the way he was, SRKs sister in law.. why was she so bitchy.. Milind Gunanjis characters, why did he hate Paro..

As for high standards, i do not keep high standards, ive really enjoyed awful films, i.e. Baaghi (sanju) but with the big hype over such a movie that irritates u to say the least... that puts the cherry on the top for me to hate the movie even more

Come on faddy, why beat around the bush? I know you hate this movie simply because of SRK and if AB had played Devdas you would have been singing a different tune!

BTW I really hate Muqadar Ka Sikandar and I have no idea why you are comparing Devdas to that thrash.

:sly: Muqadar Ka Sikandar and trash

We just have different tastes

saw devdas last night.... loved the film... i could go and see it again...
while the film may not be very strong script wise but the presentation, the technical aspects combined with the music and performances made this a very very watchable film and the best film this year... I was surely not dissapointed.... madhuri dixit was absoultely brilliant... so was ash and while ddint expect shahrukh to perform well he surprised me with his performance...
like every other bollywood film this film has its flaws and weak points.. I wouldnt call it a classic but it is one the best movies i have seen in a while...

I agree 100% with u filmi buff!
on music notes, i'll add my salute to MONTY who did background scre..he has done a tremendous job, along with Drbar!! :love: mas:

So....it's mostly eye/ear candy?

add one more to the list of devdas lovers. i must say i enjoyed every precious minute of each song. "hamesha tumko chaha" was simply powerful and "dola re dola" was mesmerizing. as for the script, it wasn't perfect and left many things unexplained. plus it was a little too sad for my liking. the acting was superb, and the two ladies looked and danced perfectly. the sets were beautiful, a little unrealistic, but beautiful. easily the best movie of the year.

I completely agree with you, but sadly, many don't realize that fact.

Devdas: Rum with a view By: Khalid Mohamed

July 14,2002 Devdas Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Madhuri Dixit Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali Rating: ***

This is probably the Best review he has written since the review of Satya...easily one of his best...he has a good cinematic eye...its just his subjectivity sometimes is mind boggling...anyway, I liked this review!

Bingo, here comes the sting-o. An expert at swatting mosquitoes, lighting up period-flavoured cheroots and setting snowy white pillows aflame, he’s a strange-deranged number who desperately needs a night of peaceful slumber. Blumber dumber.

Sorry to report but Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas is more laboured than a labour of love. It is also a wasteful, self-indulgent and eye-shattering exercise in kinky kitsch pitsch. Boasting of extravagant sets which are subconsciously inspired partly by V Shantaram (Jhanak Jhanak.., Navrang) and are certainly copied from Kamal Amrohi’s Pakeezah (the kotha balconies with twirling courtesans, the unstoppable fountains), Bhansali appears to have lost his touch for originality and story-telling aesthetics.

More tinsel than stylish, every decorative element is as obtrusive as a mongoose among snakes — right from the plastic Gulmohar trees to the wrinkle-free, out-of-period costumes (note some shirt collars with buttonholes and mini-ball buttons, ugh). And please, what was Bhansali thinking of while twisting and tweaking Sarat Chandra Chatterjee’s 1918 classic novel into a script that, in effect, seems to be located in the medieval ages? Mughal-e-Sharaab anyone?

Moreover, creepy-crawly chauvinistic references abound, women here long to fall at a man’s feet (“Mujhe tumhare charanon mein jagah de do”) and a scorn’d mother curses a feudal household, “May you also suffer the birth of a girl like I did.” Whoa, not said. In addition, the childhood romance between Devdas and his societally-underprivileged Paro is heightened to such a degree that neither appears to have grown up during the decade of their separation. Arrested development what! Holding on to their nostalgia-inducing trinkets, the twosome make a mammoth song-‘n’-dance of their reunion.

As for the heavily-becostumed mother of Devdas, she hogs acres of footage to welcome him back home from London. By the way she wears Gucci white high heels! If she’s Jodhabai, our Dev boy (Shah Rukh Khan) is a veritable Prince Salim. And the dude’s dad (theatre actor Vijay Crishna swathed in suffocating shawls) fumes-‘n’-frets like Emperor Akbar Prithviraj Kapoor. The match between Dev and Paro is doomed. Boom. Injured to the core, Dev asks Paro to forget him, she takes him for his word literally and is hurriedly married off to an elderly zamindar (Expressionless Wonder), who also resides like everyone out here, in one those baroque havelis constructed in Film City, Goregaon.

Next: the vaguely cowardly zero-hero is either treated to intoxicating fluids by his rummy chummy Chunnilal (Jackie Shroff absolutely irritating) or to free boarding-‘n’-lodging by the chweetie pie platonic courtesan Chandramukhi (Madhuri Dixit). Chances are that Sarat Chandra may well rock-‘n’-roll in his heavenly grave on detecting that his memorable creations Paro and Mukhi actually jazz-dance to the blistering beat of Dola re dola re at a Durga pooja festivity no less.

Hello, all is not squandered yet. Of the 19 reels, three or four do make emotional contact. Your heart does reach out to Devdas when he is sincerely apologetic for his weaknesses. Gratifyingly the last 15 minutes or so, comprising the tragic climax are truly moving, making your eyes moist. How you wish Bhansali had achieved more such displays of intimacy instead of futzing around with a mega-budget which could well have bankrolled 10 separate films relevant to our time and age. The sets which resemble a godown for chandeliers, candles, stained glass and crimson curtains can be sadly mistaken for sumptuousness. The majorly flawed screenplay is salted with avoidable quasi-villains, witless vamps and token Bengali words (mishti, sondesh); the dialogue caters to the gallery at times, with those mandatory references to the tawaif ka dil and pimps.

Ismail Durbar’s music is not a patch on his score for Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, while the editor could have been tougher with the self-absorbed director. Why that doleful river barge talk-talk scene a la Amar Prem or a woman unfolding her hair into a water basin a la Meena Pakeezah?

Of the cast, Madhuri Dixit is bankably competent. Looking like a gorgeous dream, Aishwarya Rai is first-rate, tender and tough. Stealing the thunder from La Dixit, this is Ms Rai’s best performance yet. And of course, the infallibly excellent Shah Rukh Khan is the main reason to venture, if at all, into the Bhansali bar. Controlled, concise and commanding, the actor rises way above the helter-skelter script to breathe oxygen into the drop-dead Devdas.

However apart from the three lead performances and stray moments of sense-‘n’- sensibility, Bhansali’s magnum opus-pocus makes you want to hit the bottle and fast out of sheer disappointment. Hic hic hurray? Hardly.


:love: mas:



Edited By arsh on July 15 2002 at 10:46

Just recieved an e mail review from M. ali Ikram..Chief Editor PB/INDOLINK!regarding his 2 cents on DEVDAS!

***(BTW! I have great respect for Ali Ikram! this guy if likes some thing will not hesitate giving it 10/10(DCH),
Or he wont compromise..lok at his HKKN review 2.5/10, he saved my money on that one!)

Here is Ali ikram's opinion on DEVDAS, and I think he is RIGHTFULLY RIGHT ON THE PULSE!:

Ladies and Gentlemen! i present Mr. M. ali. Ikram!!taaliyan!cheers!

From: "M. Ali Ikram"
Subject: Re: My opinion of Devdas and Kannathil Muthamital
Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2002 12:51:04 -0400




Saw it yesterday, and while I feel it was WAY BETTER than HDDCS, I also
think it was too gaudy in parts. Bhansali's interpretation of Devdas
is
actually dying to be performed on stage. His screenplay, the sets,
performances, etc., would work perfect for the theatre, cuz it's all an
excercise in excess. And the theatre loves excess. On the big screen,
it
seems too showy at times.
The film is also too dark for universal appeal. Reminds me a lot of
Shakespeare's tragic heroes. No message about life. Just depression.
And
it unfolds tone-wise like Chandni Bar, but on an mega-inflated budget.
Aish is AMAZING performance-wise. Sad to say it, but the trauma Salman
has
put her through the past few years has vastly improved her acting
skills.
Madhuri too, is great, but Chandramukhi is not as well-developed a
character
as Paro. Shahrukh is tolerable in parts, excellent in others, and
annoying
as hell in others. Jackie is just plain out offensive. Who wrote his
ridiculous dialogues. They're "d" as in dumb. Hope the original novel
didn't have Chunilal mouthing such ridiculous and childish phrases.
Like everyone else, I agree that the opulence of the movie is great.
Some
of the sets and costumes are CHEEEEESY to look at, but impressive
nonetheless. The background score is MAGNIFICENT, as is Binod
Pradhan's
cinematography. And I finally get what the little kid is yelling in
all
those scenes. The rapturous end to the movie is one of my favourites
in
recent times, though there is not a single happy character at the end
of the
story. Not a single one. DEPRESSING!
8.7/10


:love:

i dont like that guy..he is full of himself plus he is big HRIDICK fan so all his comments on srk performance are void..

[i dont like that guy..he is full of himself plus he is big HRIDICK fan so all his comments on srk performance are void..]

Hmmm!! prince , i nver thought ali ikram was roshan Fan!!??
and i dont think he is!

As far as u are concerned u are a HUGE SRK fan, as i understand..looking at ur track record with Asoka, K3g and now patronizing Devdas! But there is nothing wrong , being a Huge "Pankha "of any body, unless and until u loose ur objectivity, and rightfull, opinion.

I think SRK fans thinking Asoka was a CLASSIC are Way Wrong! But SRK did very well performance wise in ASOKA IMHO, he worked very hard on that role! and he should have been nominated for BEST ACTOR award for that at least! But not for K3G!But this is my view! even Filmfare did not percieve it from that perspective..Only Asoka got Nominated for UNDOUBTEDLY for BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY, and was not Nominated in BEST MUSIC category either! Because it was not YRF!

Now in DEvdas..SRK was Good, he made up in 2nd half with very good performance after being not much effective in First half..as lacking persona/charisma of DILIP KUMAR to Portray as an ARISTOCRAT! Even With SUIT/BOOTS/HAT/STICK/CIGGAR/and HANKIES/SUSPENDERS/and TELESCPE???He still looks like the SAME ,GOOD, OLD SRK! While in 2nd half , He prooves his IRON!
I am not anti SRK! I enjoyed him extremely well! in HTHS! too!
I dont think, u could pick any one else besides SRK to Portray DEVDAS! He was the absolute pick..Not to omit that people like Bharat Shah..think he looks like DILIP KUMAR?

2ndly..I personally, Think, JACKIE SHROFF was outstandingly IRRITATING in role of CHUNNILAAL, his role was not written, concieved properly! He is IMMENSELY capable actor!
People thought he was OUTSTANDING in YAADEIN..I thought he was MISFIT and ANNOYING in That film too!!

3rdly!!I would like to request comments on KIRON KHER's Role as Aish's mom! Kiron Kher is an EXTREMELY talented Actress!! Oscar worthy! But her role was Conceived, VERY LOUDISH kind, that might be IRRITATING for a lot of People!
But If her role was conceieved as loud, middle class complexed, innocenct to the extent of being a bit Khiskila! kind, Boistrous, a little bit STUPIDLY, Straightforward individual, with Notanki Back Ground!! Then she Really did VERY WELL, even they made her dance!!
But if her role was not that way, then she becomes stupidly irritating too, possibly!?

I think ali's points are Valid, He is not praising SRK as an Absolute God! like some of BIG Hrithik/SRK/AB "PANKHAS" think!

Finally! DEVDAS is FAR LESS THAN PERFECT film, as it has been Marketed! BUT it Does have GOOD THINGS going For it too!!
Peace and Cheers!I'll RECOMEND to Every Body to watch it on BIGSCREEN, UNDOUBTEDLY! :vsneaky:

watch in on the big screen as arsh says and pray that u get one of the better prints!!!!!!!!!