Devdas Screening Problems?

I found it really appalling that they spent 500 million Rupees, mostly on the sets, but hardly anything was visible in the film screening that I saw. Why was the dress almost brown in “Kisne Hara Rang Daala” song (TV promos have a lot brighter picture where the dress color is green)?

The screening, I saw, was very dark.
Recall the famous saying from early 20th century, “Sun never sets over United Kingdom”. It seems, the sun never rose. It seemed as if all film had been shot in night without proper lighting. What’s the logic behind raising the most expensive sets that are not seen in the screening? The theatre where I saw this film has excellent film projection. I can’t fault the theatre projector, as the subtitles were so bright that they were bleeding out due to a futile attempt to make the screening brighter.

So, what was it? Are all prints like this or the film processing so bad? What about Quality Control for the most expensive Film in Indian History?

Rana

P.S.
BTW, getting a non-DTS print in a DTS theatre, not equipped with Dolby, was not as annoying as the dark screening.



Edited By rana on July 15 2002 at 12:49

Rana! Ji! My thousand apologies!It Was "Kiss naen Hara Rang Daala" Hazoor!!![in “Kisne Hara Rand Daala” ]Hazoor! Aap ne tou ROND daala!

The screening was Far From Perfect or Even Good!

My Biggest problem and Complaint is AUDIO!!!Just because of EROS! No DTS disc with prints, Defaulting to DOLBY SURROUND, Calling it DD??MY FOOT! DAMN
Besides, the Diologues were very Soft and laid back!Dynamics on Music was Minimall, and even heard was INAPPROPRIATE! Jahan Chaheey, wahan na dynamics hai, na surround activity hai!!VERY POOR/PATHETIC sound Quality!Chalak Chalak song showed a lot of AUDIO break ups and transition into surrounds was very bad very jerky!UNPLEASANT!

I agree DEVDAS is not an ACTION film, but LAGAAN was not Either and Pathetic Yaadein..Had a Very GOOD, Lively 5.1 channel, sound, Extremely Enjoyable!!

Lagaan is a Diff story! But only thing I liked by watching Yaadein, besides going through extreme FRUSTRATION/DISAPPOINTMENT was EXTREMELY GOOD THEATRIC SOUND PRESENTATION!

COMPARITIVELY! DEVDAS was TERRIBLE!

Now! VIdeo! The film, has a certain , brownish, orange hue to its color pelletes! In the First Half a lot of SCENES were Extremely Soft! OVERALL< lacking focus too, esp taken from DISTANCE! It is Original Print or Filming Problem! Indeed!
But later on! It was much better and Color Fidelity was Extremely Good and FAITHFULL to whatever Colors were used in the film!
COLOUR PELLETE used was not VIVID colors But Rich, warm, goldish overtones!Appeared Just Perfect on MY SCREENING....as a matter of fact, those BEAUTIFUL color SCHEMES and HUES were a PLEASURE to watch on BIG SCREEN!

Apun Ki Screen Par "HARA RANG" Hara Hi Dikha Rana ji! Esp, I liked that sudden changed that SLB did from her red outfit to Green outfit as soon as SRK is seen..I wish they would have shown, visually GUNAJI wearing GHUNGROO, and Walking Out..CHAN CHAN CHAN!?

I dont have much complaint on Video and it was not dark, where I watched it, besides a lot of other inconveniences!incured while entering into theatre!(cancelled 4 shows, 2 hrs of standing outside in sea of BADTEHZEEB desis, 1/2 Hr of EXTREME DHALUM PAEL! and Even Being First in line, Landing, in Front one Third of The Theatre, Screening to start at (pm, starting at 10 pm, No Air Conditioner, with Full Ticket!

But With All Pros and Cons, I still Liked The Film, as My Pros Weighed more than Cons!

But here is a humble suggestion, and Just to complete(partially) ur experience of Theatric Viewing! Spend another 2 Bucks and Rent CURTAIN RAISER DVD?

*****Rana Ji! or any body who has seen DEVDAS in THEATRE? I would highly RECOMEND watching 2 songs" Bairi Piya "and "Chalak chalak", on DVD"CURTAIN RAISER OF DEVDAS!Thats the way it should have been sounding in the theatre if had proper 5.1 sound..I could not believe my ears! What we have missed in the theatre!

I think All DEVDAS Lovers Owe themselves this,at lest RENTAL VIEWING at this time!!
As I dont know what is going to happen with FINAL dvd????

I WISH somebody like DEI ?would Rescue Great Visuals of this film, like wise they did HDDCS!???Allah, Maar Daala! Phir Hum Bhi Kahenge!"Kis naen hum pe hara rang daala1"

“Kisne Hara Rand Daala" hahaha thankfully rana did not spell it with a L. Just kidding guys...

Anyways I hated the print of Devdas. It was constantly out of focus and unsteady. And colours were not exactly the best I've seen. The print looked like an equilavent of Eros dvd actually. But my brother saw Devdas in another theater where the print he says was perfect. BTW I saw in Dolby Digital, not too bad...but would have preferred DTS.

hey guys, the film was just about perfect in all aspect - a great piece of filmmaking!!

as for the screening, I saw it in on an IMAX screen in Toronto, and the film looked "proper". I was sitting very close to the screen a little at the bottom so things kind of looked soft during certain parts. However I got out of my seat and walked up the aisles and from there, it looked just about perfect. The print was fine (no dirt marks, splices, or scratches) and the colours were dead on. Even from where I was sitting the cinematography and set design were just marvellous. These were proffesional people at the theatre I was in, and the print was intact, so my screening was well maintained.

The sound, OH MY GOD!! It felt like I was actually sitting in the mansions and palaces in 1930s Calcutta. The sound was just mindblowig! The surrounds were constantly active, dialogue sounded just right, and there was a tremendous amount of bass!! That "dola re dola" song sounded so SPECTACULAR in that screening.

So that goes to show, for those in Toronto, go to either Ontario Place, or any of the Mainstream theatres, cause the Indian theatres will screw up this magnificient film.

Looks like different problems in different prints. What I saw was too dark. Everybody was complaining about it. What Congress saw, was In & Out of focus. No attention is ever paid to DTS or Dolby compatibility with theatres, anyways. DTS print was ordered (as the theatre doesn't have Dolby) but Dolby Digital print arrived instead, and hence, got flat back-up audio track.

Quality Control is non-existant even for a 500 million rupees (they will argue it as $ 10) product. What a shame.

Rana

P.S.
I am unable to edit out my mis-spelling in the first post as I don't get Edit option. Ali, please help.

For Devdas Quality Control, please God help.



Edited By rana on July 15 2002 at 13:06

Dont Worry! Rana ji! I was just kidding!! Sorry! did not mean to offend u either! It happens! no prob! yaar!
I have a great respect of ur Vision and Expertise!wisdom too!! Agar yakin Na aaey tou Nath se pooch lo? mas:



Edited By arsh on July 15 2002 at 13:04

Is it possible, what I saw was actually from a DVD?? (I saw Ajnabee like that)

It definately was just like EROS DVDs. You never know. Does it make economic sense to block a film print only for 4 shows in a 550 seat capacity theatre on the first weekend of its release?

Rana



Edited By rana on July 15 2002 at 12:59

Any thing is possible with EROS! U must never see CROOKS like them in ur lifetime again Rana Ji!!

same issues........ the print i saw was a bit dark........ but not as bad that i coudnt appreciate the film's sets etc the sound was not dts but sounded more flat stereo....... i gotta go to the imax theatre on the next screening and check out the movie there.....

I started laughing loudly in my office after reading this. God help us the Desis from EROS, Videosound and YRF.

Close to my house we have Dollar Theater multiplex. I would love to watch Hollywood movies 3 years ego because it is so cheap and Big?. But now I rather watch it in my house even thou it costs me $2 for the bulb cost alone for the 2-hour period of a movie. Bad luck hear again as we can’t have the luxury of watching Bollywood movies the way the director intended us to watch either at the theater or at our home on DVD.




Edited By ganti on July 17 2002 at 09:44

So true, Ganti. Last night, I was watching Dilip Kumar's Devdas and the DVD is from YRF. The story line in the back of the dvd says Vyjayanthimala is Paro :gob: and no mention of Suchitra Sen. Her name is included in small print somewhere towards the bottom. This is supposed to be a Forever Classic DVD from YRF, so why can't they do some research and atleast put the right character names for the right people. Is that too much to ask??????

Hi Mrig,
Either way, I bet you might not able to recognize who is who in the fuzzy image produced by the so-called dvd by YRF. You know the names because you watched the movie before, right? I don’t fault them for that.



Edited By ganti on July 15 2002 at 13:39

Well, I saw the movie in actual 5.1 surround( can't verify DD or DTS). The soundtrack waw extremely livley with a few noticeable moments of the surrounds being used.

now to the picture: one of two scenarios has occured...
1) THey messed up thie print run... EVERYONE has noticed the too dark, in-out of focus problems.
2) THe DP actaully screwed up on a 50 crore movie. Watch the faces when Devdas comes bacl from London and talks with Paro the next day. All around them is the brightness of day, but look at the faces. They are woefully lit. There's a wide shot where Ash is sitting, and SRK is standing, going on about how great London is.. and you can barely make out his face. PRoblems are only exemplified in teh dark scenes/songs... YOu have to use extra light when shooting anamorphic... That's why movies that are dark usually go for Super35(FIght CLub, Harry Potter for example), which require less light, but sacrificing glossiness of the image. There's no way SLB's DEVDAS wasn't going to look glossy, right? They used the same film stock that was used on K3G... very nice and expensive KODAK film....
Man, I can't believe such a mistake could have been made.
The only way to tell now is to watch the DVD... oh wait... we won't even be able to tell then thanks to EROS...

EDIT: judging by the screen grabs arsh got from teh curtain raiser, it looks like indeed they just screwed up the print run... good going to eros all the way, then.



Edited By youullu on July 15 2002 at 13:58

At least you guys got to see it! Our print never showed up so the screenings were postponed til next weekend, dammit.

And I'm moving that weekend. But I'll still show up for DEVDAS.

Rana, is it possible your cinema uses their projector bulbs at less than full current? Sometimes theatres will do that to save on the life of the bulb. Have you seen other films in that theater that looked okay?

I don't know about you guys, but the AMC theater I saw DEVDAS in was an excellent experience. I have no complaints against its print or sound system.