Sanjay Leela Bhasali’s directed Devdas has everything that the first adaptation of the novel had. The film is based on Sarat Chnadra CHattopadhya’s novel set on a bengali family and brings out issues like caste divide.
The film is set in early 1900, where Kaushalya who belongs to upper class hears that her younger son, Devdas(Shah Rukh Khan) is returning home after leaving the home for 10 years for schooling in England, as she overjoyed to hear this. Her neighbour’s daughter , Paro aka Parvati(Aishwarya Rai) is also waiting for Devdas, her childhood friend. Later, their friendship blossoms into love but Paro is rejected due to her caste. As she belongs to a lower caste. Paro gets married somewhere else and Devdas turns into an alcoholic. He meets Chandramukhi(Madhuri Dixit), who is a prostitute and she too falls in love with him. Devdas couldn’t stop loving Paro and ended up dying in front of her house.
This was the first adaptation in color and was produced with a big budget. It was critically acclaimed among western and Indian film critics, and is considered by many critics to be one of the greatest films ever made. The film was also nominated for the BAFTA Award for the Best Foreign Language Film. It was also India’s submission to the Academy Award for Best fpreogn Language film. In 2002, it was screened at Cannes Film Festival and also got the Devdas section in 2014 International Film Festival of India and celebrated the Dance in Indian cinema.
