NEW DELHI: Superstar Shah Rukh Khan says he thought he was too cool to play “a loser and an alcoholic” like Devdas but filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali insisted that he would make the film only if the actor agreed.
“‘I will not make this film if not with you because your eyes are like Devdas’,” Shah Rukh said recalling Bhansali’s words during a Q&A session at the 77th edition of the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland where he became the first Indian film personality to be honoured with the Pardo alla Carriera award-Locarno Tourism.
“Devdas”, one of the most popular stories in Indian literature and cinema, is adapted from Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s 1917 novel. Its previous iterations in Hindi cinema featured stalwarts like K L Saigal in a 1936 movie and Dilip Kumar in a 1955 film.