It was the year of Devdas, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s brilliant reworking of the Devdas saga, with Shah Rukh Khan playing the titular role, accompanied by Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the spiritual successor to RGV’s Satya was Ram Gopal Pharma, a dirt-and-grit company that turned the way Bollywood tells a gangster story on its head.
Devdas is not my favorite Shah Rukh Khan film, not by a mile, but I must admit he looked good in that good, clean Bengali outfit of kurta and dhoti, with those wine bottle accessories, strutting over Paro and Chandramukhi, while making everyone, not just himself, absolutely miserable.
The hype around Bhansali’s iteration of Devdas, bankrolled by one of Bollywood’s favorite jewelers and financiers Bharat Shah, tells us to expect everything the director was known for, and more: big stars, lavish sets, even fancier costumes – Aishwarya and Madhuri’s weight in their ‘Dola Re’ dance became a talking point – and of course Shah Rukh Khan in full male victim mode.
Madhuri Dixit, Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai in Devdas. (Quick archive photo)
The film premiered at that year’s Cannes Film Festival, with SLB, Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Walking the famous red carpet. But none of the flash and glamor could hide the fact that the film itself was long and overdone, and nothing the ethereal Aishwarya did would make us forget that facade: It wasn’t just Bengalis who were upset.
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Bhansali has continued ever since, with his insistence on massive sets, and swing-infused songs: his latest web offering Hiramandi is a testament to the fact that Bhansali’s baroque is still alive and kicking.
Saathiya gave us the only other Shaad Ali film (apart from Bunty aur Babli), which worked. An adaptation of Mani Rathnam’s Alai Payuthey, the film has Vivek Oberoi and Rani Mukerji playing a couple struggling to find their romantic compass after marriage: With beautiful songs and performances, this film is almost as good as the original starring R Madhavan and Shalini.
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But this year’s highlight, which also stars Vivek Oberoi alongside Mohanlal, Ajay Devgn and Manisha Koirala, was Ram Gopal Varma’s Company. A spiritual sequel to Sathya, this follow-up is a much more polished film, loosely based on the relationship between real-life gangsters Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan, and has given Oberoi a role he rarely excels at.
Vivek Oberoi and Ajay Devgn are in the company. (Quick archive photo)
a company, Getting us up close and personal with the gang bosses in the same way we were introduced to Satya and His Soldiers, was one of the highest-grossing films of 2002, and cemented RGV’s reputation for doggedly making films, casting real underworld luminaries in characters. Right now, RGV is best known for his provocative posts on
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It was also the year when Vishal Bharadwaj finally made his entry into Bollywood with Makdi: this film would have been called ‘Y/A’ today, with Shabana Azmi as a wicked-fingered witch and Shweta Basu Prasad in a dual role as twin sisters who bravely face the dreaded ‘chudail’. The film, a Grimms’ fairy tale – in which the special effects were highly effective for its time – served as a prequel to Maqbool, a film that cemented Bhardwaj’s reputation as one of the most exciting filmmakers of the time.
(Tags for translation) Shah Rukh Khan
