Devdas (2002)

  I am not as up on Bollywood films as I probably should be.  In fact, I think this is my first legit one, since I don't think Slumdog Millionaire should count.  It's also my first exposure to Aishwarya Rai, who may be one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen.

Devdas (Shahrukh Khan) and Paro (Aishwarya Rai) were neighbors and childhood friends until Dev is sent away to England for ten years.  In that time, Paro kept an oil lamp burning for him to return.  When he gets back, he plans on marrying Paro, which thrills her mother, Sumitra (Kirron Kher).  However, his bitchy sister-in-law (Anaya Khare) wants the family's focus to be on her and begins telling his mother (Smita Jaykar) that the people next door are of so much lower social standing that it would be an insult to let her son marry into it.  Dev's mother humiliates Sumitra in public, causing her to curse their family and vow to marry Paro to someone even wealthier, knowing that it will break Dev's heart.  Sure enough, Devdas runs away to live in a brothel with Chandramukhi (Madhuri Dixit) and becomes an alcoholic.  Meanwhile, Paro learns that her new husband (Vijayendra Ghatge) has only married her to be a foster mother to his three children and manage his estate; he has no intention of actually consummating their marriage because he is still in love with his dead first wife.

There were several things that seemed odd to me, probably because I am largely unfamiliar with Hindu customs.  This is a gorgeous film, regardless, with vibrant color, tons of sparkly costumes, and several huge dance numbers.  Those aspects I like.  The Romeo and Juliet storyline I don't care for, no matter what language it's in.  The only thing of technical note was that the subtitles were missing for a bit during the final act, just before he boards the train.  I'm hoping that was just an error on the DVD I was watching and not a widespread one, but there's a head's-up just in case.