On the Top

With his opulent magnum opus Devdas making it to the Time Magazine’s “10 Greatest Movies of the Millennium” list,filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali has joined the likes of Hollywood veterans like James Cameron and Baz Luhrmann. Surpassing the Oscar-winning French film The Artist,Bhansali’s adaptation of the 1917 Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay novel stood on the number 8 slot on the coveted list.

Time’s Rochard Corliss,in a statement issued to the press,described the film as a visually intoxicating musical with grandeur the old Hollywood moguls would have loved. “Devdas is played with such commitment that the tritest plot twists seem worth believing. But the fervid emotion is what makes the thing sing,” said Corliss.

As for Bhansali,the news couldn’t have come at a better time. “Devdas completes ten years and it’s a very proud and happy moment for me. For a mainstream Hindi film like Devdas to gain such cinematic recognition and be part of such an illustrious list,is an honor not just for me but for the Indian industry at large,” he said.

Before this,Devdas received a BAFTA nomination for Best Foreign Language Film,ranked number 74 in Empire magazine’s “The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema” and was also India’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. On home turf the film went on to win five National Awards and ten Filmfare Awards including the Best Film.