Devdas' Calcutta now in Mumbai, price tag Rs 11 crore
RAJEEV MASAND

Mumbai, November 1: Calcutta in Mumbai? Well, at least a slice of Calcutta of the 30s that wove itself into noted literary works like Devdas is being recreated amidst the lush greenscape in Mumbai's Film City, where Sanjay Leela Bhansali's's ambitious film by the same name is being made.

Shooting at the two sprawling havelis that chronicle Devdas' life will begin next Monday. And when the clapper board sounds, the set will go down in Bollywood history as the most lavish and expensive one to ever be constructed.

Art director Nitin Desai and his 100-men team slogeed for three months to construct the set that will be as talked about as the film itself. The Bollywood grapevine has it that Bhansali will blow up close to Rs 11 crore on the set, but financier Bharat Shah is cagey about the sums involved. ``It is undoubtedly the most expensive set to be created for a Hindi movie. But I can't give you an exact figure because a lot of work is yet to be completed and I don't have a final cost,'' he says. However, he discloses that ``the amount has already crossed Rs five crore.''

The final bill for the whole film, it is learnt, could be in the region of Rs 25 crore, which means that roughly one-third of the amount is being spent on the set itself. Shah Rukh Khan plays the title role of Devdas while Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit will recreate the women in his life, Paro and Chandramukhi.

The haveli sets are meant to depict the homes of Devdas and Paro. A third set, to be used in the film as a kotha, is being constructed as well.

The film, based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic, has already been immortalised on film twice in the past. While K.L. Saigal played the part of the brooding romantic in the first cinematic adaptation of the book, Dilip Kumar brought it to life in Bimal Roy's version.

Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.