Book excerpt: A re-appreciation of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s version of ‘Devdas’

From Bhansali’s adaptation of Devdas’ story – a process of extraction, elaboration, exaggeration, and ultimately exploration – we can understand the impulse of his cinema. Watching the film alongside its previous adaptations, seeing the spaces of emphasis, of retreating, of fabulation – not only in the performances which are pitched a few thousand storeys higher, but also the circumstances – you can recognize what it is that Bhansali finds exciting and cinematic, and why it is that he was drawn to this story.

In Bimal Roy’s version, Devdas walks into Chandramukhi’s kotha the moment Paro walks into her marriage palanquin as parallel lunges of the respective bodies; Devdas is elsewhere. But Bhansali keeps Devdas close by, making his shoulder one of the many on which Paro’s palanquin rests, giving their farewell this bleeding polish.

To see how Bhansali adapts Devdas is to see what it is about the story that attracted him to it. Bimal Roy’s film is fairly straightforward. Devdas’ mother rejects Paro’s proposal entirely off-screen; this rejection is perfunctorily mentioned in a conversation between Devdas’ parents. But when Bhansali hears about this exchange, he recognizes the potential for not just drama, but drama as expressed through musical howls and dramatic distortion – his...

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