Sanjay Leela Bhansali Thought Of raj kapoor While Making Devdas, Says 'Dwelt More On Sensuality Rather Than Erotic...'

Making period pieces since 'Devdas', Sanjay Leela Bhansali is known for his larger-than-life sets, characters, stories, and emotions displayed on the screen.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali has become the most-talked-about director in town after his recently released Netflix series 'Heeramandi'. Making period pieces since 'Devdas', the veteran filmmaker is known for his larger-than-life sets, characters, stories, and emotions displayed on the screen. Recently, an old clip of Bhansali's interaction with actor and host simi garewal went viral. 

Devdas a Raj Kapoor film genre

In the clip, we see simi garewal compliment Sanjay Leela Bhansali on the then-released 'Devdas' starring Shah Rukh Khan and aishwarya Rai Bachchan. During the conversation, Bhansali said that he felt his film 'Devdas' looked more like a raj kapoor film.

"Devdas is more in the genre of what raj kapoor Saab did. This film, every minute, I thought about how raj kapoor would have made the film. How would he tackle a scene? What are the kinds of colors, what kind of sets does he make, andhow does he shoot songs? I even told Mrs. raj kapoor, who I met at Cannes, and said that I thought of raj kapoor every minute of the film when I made it."

When Garewal interrupted to say that she had seen all of Raj Kapoor’s films and ‘Devdas’ was a signature Bhansali film, the latter said, "You have to take it ahead of the inspiration..." Simi Garewal then reassured Bhansali why 'Devdas' was different from Raj Kapoor's film. "There is no erotic element whatsoever in your film. It's very romantic," she said to which Bhansali replied, "Yeah, I have rather dwelt on the sensuality rather than the erotic."

Bhansali also spoke about the portrayal of women in his film and said, "The way I saw women in this film, they reminded me of images of Durga. 

Bhansali in his equation with aishwarya Rai

The ‘Hum dil De Chuke Sanam’ director also spoke about his relationship with aishwarya Rai as her director. Calling her a very 'intelligent woman', who is ‘strong-headed’, Bhansali shared that she and the filmmaker were on the same page more after a series of flops that the two had to data-face in their career.

About Devdas

'Devdas' is a period romantic drama directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan, aishwarya Rai, and madhuri dixit in the lead alongside Jackie Shroff, Kirron Kher, Smita Jaykar, and Vijayendra Ghatge in supporting roles. Adapted from the 1917 novel of the same name by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, 'Devdas' was a big blockbuster. The film was featured in the Out of Competiton section at the 2002 Cannes Film festival on May 23, 2002.

As the most expensive film of the time, the film received mixed reviews at Cannes but did well at the box office and became the highest-grossing indian film of the year.