The tragic saga of a spineless lover Devdas has attracted filmmakers across generations,and continues to do so even today. However,Bimal Roys 1955 classic with its subtle dialogues,fluid direction and sublime cast of Dilip Kumar,Vyjayantimala and Suchitra Sen,is widely considered the most important and significant adaptation of the classic in Hindi cinema. Small wonder then that the films dialogues will now be immortalised in a book called The Dialogue of Devdas presented by Nasreen Munni Kabir. It is only apt that the book will be launched by Shah Rukh Khan,who also played Devdas in Sanjay Leela Bhansalis 2002 adaptation of the classic. The launch will take place at Mehboob Studios,Bandra,on Wednesday evening. The book,priced at Rs 695,will feature the films complete dialogues by Rajinder Singh Bedi,based on a screenplay by Nabendu Ghosh and lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi. It is available in a three-language format: Hindi,Urdu and English. The book will also have comments from Roys family. The tragic love triangle linking the lovelorn Devdas,his forbidden childhood love Paro and the reformed prostitute Chandramukhi was first told in the 1917 Bengali novella by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. It was then first filmed by PC Barua in 1936,followed by Roy and Bhansali,and most recently,Anurag Kashyap adapted it as Dev.D.
