India's most expensive film had 3 superstars, 2 crew members died, producer was arrested, still became highest-grosser

The 2002 period romantic drama Devdas featured three superstars Shah Rukh Khan as a young man Devdas from a wealthy Bengali family, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as his childhood love Paro, and Madhuri Dixit as a courtesan named Chandramukhi. It is the third Bollywood remake of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's 1917 Bengali novel of the same name. While the first Devdas adaptation was released in 1936 and starred KL Saigal, Jamuna Barua, and Rajkumari, the second one hit theatres in 1955 and featured Dilip Kumar, Suchitra Sen, and Vyjayanthimala.

The Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial was made with a massive budget of Rs 50 crore, which made Devdas the most expensive Indian film ever made at that time. Devdas began production in November 1999. During its making, the film was delayed several times due to different reasons. First, the producer Bharat Shah was arrested by the Mumbai police when it was alleged that he had taken money from the underworld to finance the film. Then, its huge set got burnt set thrice, and in two seprate accidents, two crew members also died on the sets. Finally, after more than two and a half years, Devdas was premiere at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival on May 23, and had its worldwide release on July 12.

Devdas, which also starred Jackie Shroff, Kirron Kher, Smita Jaykar, Manoj Joshi, and Vijayendra Ghatge in supporting roles, received rave reviews from the audiences and critics for its brilliant direction, powerful performances, stunning cinematography, mesmerising music, and amazing choregraphy. It went on to become a massive blockbuster earning Rs 168 crore at the global box office, and became the highest-grossing Indian film of the year.

Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Madhuri Dixit-starrer also won five National Film Awards for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment, Best Female Playback Singer to Shreya Ghoshal for Bairi Piya, Best Production Design to Nitin Chandrakant Desai, Best Costume Deign to Neeta Lulla, Abu Jani, Sandeep Khosla, Reza Shariffi, and Best Choreography to Saroj Khan for Dola Re Dola. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial was also sent to the Oscars as India's official entry for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, but failed to be nominated among the final five. 

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