When Aishwarya Rai Talked About 'Reliving The Experience Time And Again' During Devdas Screening At Cannes

New Delhi: Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan rose to immense popularity after her remarkable performance as Parvati fondly called Paro in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Devdas.' The film marked the second collaboration of Aishwarya and Bhansali after 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam' and turned out to be a blockbuster, going on to become the highest grossing film of the year in 2002. 'Devdas' stars Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit in lead roles along with a stellar supporting cast including Jackie Shroff and Kirron Kher, among others.

'Devdas' was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002 in the 'Out Of Competition' section, marking the debut of Aishwarya and Shah Rukh along with the director Sanjay Leela Bhansali at the prestigious film festival. Ever since then, Aishwarya has been a regular at the film festival, representing India on the international stage.

When Aishwarya Rai talked fondly about Devdas at Cannes

As Cannes 2024 began on May 14, a clip of Aishwarya Rai is doing the rounds on the internet, where she can be seen talking fondly about 'Devdas' during the film festival on its 15th anniversary, a few years ago.

In the clip, Aishwarya says, "Devdas doesn't seem like such a long time ago and each time I come back here to Cannes, I get asked about the experience and I relive it time and time again. It will forever be a very very special memory. But probably the best part of it was to see how well it was embraced here and it just opened up international interest to my eyes."

She further added, "I am sure it must have always been there but from that day onwards, I actually experienced incredible interest in our cinema and people felt transported into this wonderful world of storytelling with all the emotions in it and music and the dance. I just feel very privileged to be a part of a movie by a brilliant filmmaker like Sanjay Leela Bhansali with a great team of co-actors and to have had the honour of sharing this with the audience."

Check out the clip here:

 

 

 

 

 

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About Devdas

Based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's 1917 novel, the film tells the story of Devdas Mukherjee, a wealthy law graduate who comes back from London to marry his childhood friend Parvati "Paro". However, his family's disapproval of their marriage leads him to alcoholism, and he seeks solace with the kind-hearted courtesan Chandramukhi.

Director Bhansali decided to adapt the novel into a film after reading it again. The project was announced in November 1999. It was the most expensive Indian film made up to that point, with a budget of ₹500 million.

Devdas was a huge commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing Indian film of the year, earning around ₹1.68 billion worldwide. It won several awards, including 5 at the 50th National Film Awards and 11 at the 48th Filmfare Awards. It was also nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language.

Aishwarya Rai at Cannes 2024

Aishwarya Rai is a veteran at the Cannes Film Festival ever since her debut in 2002. The actress has been representing the international brand Loreal Paris at the film festival, every year. The actress is all set to attend the film festival this year as well and wow the audience with her presence on the Red Carpet.

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