Devdas is being remade again — this time, in Pakistan, by producer Nadeem Sha and veteran Pakistani director, Iqbal Kashmiri. Music is by Vajahat Atrye and is arranged by Uttam Singh.

The songs for the film will be sung by Indian singers, including Asha Bhosle, Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal, Kavita Krishnamurthy and Alka Yagnik. The film will star Nadeem as Devdas and Reema as Chandramukhi. The role of Paro is yet to be finalized.

Says Sonu, who was about to start Riyaaz for the song recording when we called him; “Uttamji asked me to sing a song”.

Adapted from Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s book and inspired by Bimal Roy’s Dilip Kumar earlier role as ‘Devdas’, the movie is a classic slice of a bygone era.

The film is the tragic love story of Devdas (Shahrukh Khan), Paro (Aishwarya Rai) and Chandramukhi (Madhuri Dixit). All three bold characters who loved intensely and fiercely but whose love remained unfulfilled.

Devdas and Paro are childhood sweethearts who are separated for ten years when Devdas is sent to England to study by his strict disciplinarian father, and the film begins as his family eagerly celebrates his return from his enforced exile. But to his family’s disappointment, ten years of absence has only intensified Paro and Devdas’ love…

The show got bigger this year. Not only did the organizers fly out to Dubai, giving the local entertainment industry much-needed international exposure, they also collaborated with a television network, ensuring a much wider audience than our local channels could ever pull off.

Indian talent, comprising professional dancers, stage designers and technical assistants, was flown in to fill the gaps, but this year’s Lux Style Awards could easily have been better executed than last year’s programme had the picture not been overexposed to the glitter and gaudiness of Bollywood. The India-based Sony TV channel, as director and producer of the show, was perhaps given too much freedom to project it as it wanted, right from the poster at the front desk down to the silver and gold tinsel on stage.

After winning the Filmfare award for best actor (Devdas), Shahrukh made a late night fleeting appearance at the post party only to dash off to the airport to catch a flight to London. Accompanied by close friends like Karan Johar, Aditya Chopra, Jai Mehta. On arriving in the city, he attended the 54th BAFTA awards in London and on Monday afternoon was admitted to a hospital, where at 4pm (Indian standard time) he underwent his much delayed back operation. He is now recuperating at the hospital. We wish him good health.

One rumour that’s doing the rounds is that Shahrukh is facing a back problem and he’ll be heading for London soon for surgery. The actor’s last film as leading man was ‘Devdas’ which won him rave reviews and has already landed him a couple of awards. In fact, industry sources say the actor will sweep the awards this year for the Sanjay Bansali film. His leading lady Aishwarya Rai too has received rave reviews for her role in the film. We’re sure SRK’s fans are just waiting for the actor to get back on screen. Well, if we know SRK, that won’t take long!

[ TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

MUMBAI: Devdas, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Rs 50-crore magnum opus about the unrequited love of an alcoholic may not have won an Oscar nomination, but it swept the 48th Manikchand Filmfare awards 2002 ceremony on Friday night.

It won 11 awards, including best film, director (Sanjay Leela Bhansali), actor (Shah Rukh Khan), actress (Aishwarya Rai) and best actress in a supporting role (Madhuri Dixit).

“Everyone asked me why I put in so much money into the story of a loser, but it turned out to be a winner,” said Bhansali.