Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2001 5:53 pm
Posts: 14989
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This time RAKESH BUDHU ko bhi AQAL AAGAYEE!!
The ´Devdas´ DVD
By: Rakesh Budhu
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Whether one loves it or hates it, Sanjay Leela Bhansali´s Devdas has reciprocated in a way favorable for the production team. Now acquiring the much overly glamorized Oscar green light hoping to get an envious foreign film nomination, the extremely high budget drama which came across as a glamorization of an epic tale has finally been released on the golden disc (or should I say discs).
Unfortunately, Eros Entertainment has not attained the prestigious reputation for DVD´s that such a magnamous distributing company should have, hence the high hype that followed the release of the DVD was always left in question. The faltering company has muddled the DVD´s for many a big films previously and at times their picture qualities are quite poor, so the fact that they were releasing Devdas with two discs wasn´t enough to ensure that the film´s DVD would be of standard desired.
But in many cases, as the DVD has finally hit the marquee, the Special Collectors Edition follows the trend that the film did, a great deal of style with not the equivalent of substance. A two disc set, richly packaged in a bible like book case is catchy to the eye (and much more of an excuse to raise prices five dollars higher than normal). And one postcard, souvenir and inlay booklet are all enough to get the consumer excited (though Yash Raj´s special collections come with that and just much more), but is the quality of the DVD worth all that trouble?
For Devdas in comparison to the numerous other Eros releases yes, and no. The picture quality is more regular than anything else and for a film where all glitters sometimes the picture is missing that shine. (Even Yash Raj´s Mujhse Dosti Karoge had scenes with clearer picture quality. While that may be considered being picky, a film in which 50 crores has been invested should at least have a crystal clear picture quality). Even the climactic portion of the film, with its dark connotations, is highly unclear with the black portions clearly evident of the lack of effort to remove the computerized effect that a typical DVD has.
However, the overall picture quality is consistent. The DVD is not of the horrendous quality that other films has been treated to and that is thankful enough. That is not reason enough however to look over the drawbacks. We are privied to size fourteen (unchangeable, possibly bigger) subtitles which scream at us! And many scenes where the subtitles have extra comma´s, apostrophes, quotation marks are very noticeable. Wonder why the company didn´t strive to achieve the "perfection" (read, sarcasm) that Sanjay Leela Bhansali did in the film itself?
Devdas was clearly made in the attempt of reaching some type of international standard. And if the grandiose settings weren´t an attestment to this, the influx of interviews that came out this past weekend when the film was sent as India´s official Oscar entry should be enough to convince one. Yet one wonders why the film only has English subtitles. If Yash Chopra can release a Dil To Pagal Hai with subtitles in five languages, popular or not, shouldn´t India´s 2002 Oscar Entry (or in the case of the DVD release, ´potential´ Oscar release, and let us not begin that argument; for, the minute July 12th arose, bad and good reviews combined couldn´t have stopped the film´s entry as India´s submitted Oscar contender), at least have the subtitles in another language? It was, after all, featured at the Cannes Film Festival, where the official language was not English.
So the film´s DVD was not that ecstatic but not that horrendous as well. Now we anxiously look at the special features disc which including the film should add up to a total of 5 hours non-stop entertainment!
The interviews are edited (in one scene where Shah Rukh Khan is being interviewed, he refers to Aishwarya as a growing actress and his comment is quickly (but quite obviously!) edited into another sequence which not surprisingly, ends off with him speaking positively about the actress. That may be the most intriguing thing about the whole Devdas venture itself...)
And of course, intense rumors aside, whereas Shah Rukh and Aishwarya have commented on each of their co-stars, why is Madhuri not asked about Aishwarya? I´m not one to step down to the gutter like media and websites which cater to this gossip (like those that reported Aishwarya´s miff with Bhansali the day before Devdas released because the reports were on that Madhuri´s role was bigger, and better received than hers! Could the film prove them any more wrong?), but that one sequence was oddly missing. That too, Jackie Shroff. Where as his role was unearthly annoying and required a deletion from the film, his absence from the special features is a notable statement to the fact that the makers of the film and its promotions got ´editing his role´ quite wrong.
The film´s premiere at Cannes is muffled. Sanjay Leela Bhansali is speaking in English but the television show in which the interviews are being aired is not aired in English, hence there had to be a translator. The translator is more audible than Bhansali. Furthermore, the film is dosed with (uniquely) scenes from some of the main lead´s biggest films. Whereas there are usually songs from the star cast´s films, scenes are thrown in. Unless you can´t get enough of the actors these clips are almost useless in entertainment value (many of the sequences are unexplained and don´t do much to provide us with any clue as to what the scene may be pertaining to).
There are more extras, like the making of the film shot in bits and pieces. But, while the DVD is enticing and at the most satisfactory, it, like the film, could have been, and should have been much more.
I think, we should SEND a COMBINED PETITION to EROS..whether they hear or not! and to WATCH DOG( NAZAR RAKHNE WALLAH KUTTA!!) too!! to take a NAZAR on this and RIGHT a GENUINE! Not LULLA LIFTING, REVIEW!
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