Devdas ..... (2002)

After his wealthy family prohibits him from marrying the woman he is in love with, Devdas Mukherjee's life spirals further and further out of control as he takes up alcohol and a life of vice to numb the pain.

Director:

Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Writers:

Saratchandra Chatterjee (based on the novel by), Prakash Kapadia (screenplay)

Stars:

Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 44 wins & 7 nominations 

Storyline

The son of Zamindar Narayan Mukherjee, Devdas (Shahrukh Khan) was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He grew up in the lush village of Taj Sonapur, where he spent his childhood, indulged by his lovely playmate Paro (Aishwarya). They grew up sharing a special relationship, in which they existed only to each other. Oblivious of all the differences of status and background, a bond that would never break grew between them. Slowly, it changed to love but it was still unsaid. But the reverie was broken when his family sent Devdas to London for education. Paro's world crashed knowing that her Devdas would be gone and she lit a diya, for it signified the fast coming back of her loved one. Years passed and Devdas returned. Devdas was besotted by her stunning beauty and longed to have her back. But Zamindar Narayan Mukherjee (Vijay Crishna), Devdas' father, met Paro's mother Sumitra's (Kiran Kher) marriage proposal with condescending arrogance...

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
	Shah Rukh Khan	...	Devdas Mukherji
	Madhuri Dixit	...	Chandramukhi
	Aishwarya Rai	...	Parvati ('Paro')
	Jackie Shroff	...	Chunnilal
	Kiron Kher	...	Sumitra
	Smita Jaykar	...	Kaushalya
	Tiku Talsania	...	Dharamdas
	Vijayendra Ghatge	...	Bhuvan Choudhry
	Milind Gunaji	...	Kalibabu
	Ananya Khare	...	Kumud
	Manoj Joshi	...	Dwijdas
	Ava Mukherjee	...	Dev's Badima (as Ava Mukherji)
	Dina Pathak	...	Badima
	Vijay Crishna	...	Narayan Mukherji
	Muni Jha	...	Kaka

Devdas (2002)  "Trivia"

Jackie Shroff's role was offered to Saif Ali Khan and Govinda.

 

The first recent Bollywood film to receive an invitation to Cannes.

 

During filming, an accident with a wind machine decapitated one stage hand and severely hurt another, splattering star actress Aishwarya Rai with blood. She suffered from shock and was cared for by Salman Khan.

 

Devdas was India's official entry in the foreign-language film category of the 2003 Academy Awards, but it did not receive a nomination.

 

Madhuri Dixit was pregnant with her first child halfway through the production of this film.

 

The sequence where Paro's mother Sumitra is made to dance at a social gathering was inspired by a recurring nightmare of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's - his mother's utter humiliation.

 

Despite refusing the first two films of Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Kareena Kapoor screen tested for the role of Paro.

 

The role of Devdas was first offered to Salman Khan, but he declined.

The set of Chandramukhi's kotha was constructed around a lake. Consequently, the water in the lake kept drying up and gallons of water had to be regularly filled in. Moreover, the bridge built across the lake had a tendency to sink at all the wrong times.

Paro's delicate stained-glass house was erected from November to June - safe, non-monsoon months, Bhansali reckoned. During those months, there were four unprecedented rain showers, which caused the colors in the stained glass to fade, and they had to be retouched regularly. Moreover, trolleys were used over the floors of the house, which led to a lot of chipping.

Normally, two or three generators would have been used for this film, but this production used 42. This caused the marriages in Mumbai a lot of panic, since all the generators were used for the sets. The film also used 2,500 lights, 700 light men and an infinite number of junior artistes. By the time Zamindar Bhuvan's haveli had to be designed, Bhansali's budget was eaten up.

Ismail Darbar and Sanjay Leela Bhansali spent two-and-a-half years to compose the music. Each song, being complicated in their structure, had to be mixed eight to nine times, but the recording took only ten days.

In the song "Kahe Chedd Mohe," the outfit worn by Madhuri Dixit weighed 30 kilograms. She had lots of problems with the dance choreography, but she eventually completed it.

Kathak master Birju Maharaj choreographed "Kaahe Chedd Mohe" especially for Madhuri Dixit.

The song "Dola Re Dola" took a week to write because Sanjay Leela Bhansali thought that it had to be perfect because he was uniting two of Bollywood's biggest stars (Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai).

Aishwarya Rai calls this her favorite film in which she has acted.

During the "Dola re Dola" dance, Aishwarya Rai's ears started to bleed due to the heavy earrings she was wearing, but continued with the dance, not telling anyone until after the shoot.

[via:imdb]