SCREEN TEST: For the lead stars Khan (top), Dixit (middle) and Rai, Devdas meant night shifts for seven gruelling months

Madness is a prerequisite to great art. Think K. Asif slaving eight years over Mughal-e-Azam or Ramesh Sippy waiting hours for the sky to be appropriately overcast in the massacre sequence in Sholay. The insane, all-consuming passion that drives ordinary men to do extraordinary things is in short supply in Bollywood. But director Sanjay Leela Bhansali is changing that.

On May 23, Bhansali's Devdas will premiere in an out-of-competition section at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. For the film industry, Devdas is a massive gamble. This year is set to make history as Bollywood's worst year ever-according to Trade Guide's Taran Adarsh, of the 120 films released this year, 119 have lost money. Even box-office staples-filmstars-have been unable to prop a movie beyond the first two shows. Hrithik Roshan's latest Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage didn't even open to full houses in many places. Film Information's Komal Nahta estimates that in April alone losses touched Rs 20 crore. So Devdas' success is critical. While Rs 45 crore has already been spent, the total budget is expected to cross Rs 50 crore, making Devdas the most expensive Hindi film ever.

For Bhansali, it's been his biggest challenge: 260 shooting shifts over two-and-a-half years, the death of two crew members in accidents, 16 months of jail for producer Bharat Shah, and even a stint of borrowing from close friends to keep the project afloat. Sometimes, Bhansali would wait for hours outside Shah's hospital room to request him to pay the bills. In fact, there were days when even stars waited for technicians who refused to work till they were paid.
In his darkest hours, the 38-year-old director would find respite in a temple or a church. "It was very easy to abandon the project," he says now, "but with every crisis, I emerged stronger."

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The Many Avatars Since 1928, Devdas has been remade eight times FLASHBACK: Saigal (above) in the 1935 Devdas; Dilip Kumar in the 1955 version Devdas has fascinated filmmakers for decades. This year, Shakti Samanta's less flashy Bengali version is likely to beat Bhansali's to the theatres. Starring Prasenjit, Tapas Paul and Indrani Halder, it was shot in old zamindari houses in and around Kolkata in 45 days. Devdas was first made in 1928 by director Naresh C. Mitra. In 1935, P.C. Barua made a bilingual which was an enormous success. Barua played the protagonist in the Bengali version while K.L. Saigal was Devdas in the Hindi movie. Twenty years later, Bimal Roy, who was the cameraman for both of Barua's versions, remade the classic with tragedy king Dilip Kumar. The story has become a reference point for filmmakers. In Guru Dutt's Pyaasa (1957), Waheeda Rahman played the golden-hearted prostitute, while in 1978, Rekha reprised the role in Muqaddar ka Sikandar. "There's a certain universality about Devdas," explains Gopa Dutta, principal of Lady Brabourne College, Kolkata. "Even today, when someone is frustrated in his quest for love or money, he may set out to self-destruct."

After all, Devdas, the story of a narcissistic, tempestuous lover who embarks on a spiral of self-destruction after his beloved, Paro, is married off to an older man, is no ordinary tale. It demanded and got sacrifices. Seven months of night shifts took a toll on the crew, especially given what Aishwarya Rai, playing Paro in Devdas, calls Bhansali's "perfect perfectionism". But it inspired them too. Rai recounts how in the last scene she had to stand on one leg with a pot on her head and another in her hand. "I was also holding a heavy lantern that was getting warmer by the second and a thorn in my other foot was causing me acute pain. The shot took longer than usual, but I was willing to do anything for Sanjay." Madhuri Dixit, who plays the courtesan Chandramukhi, echoes the sentiment: "Imagine doing Kathak in a ghaghra weighing 30 kg! Even when I stopped dancing, my ghaghra wouldn't stop swirling. It was almost impossible to do the shot."

Then there was Bhansali's famous temper to contend with. Music director Ismail Durbar, who refused 32 offers in the 30 months it took to make Devdas, says he and Bhansali fought like cats and dogs. In February this year, after yet another tiff with Bhansali, Durbar walked out for the fifth time. This time Bhansali didn't call him back, which means the background score for the film has been done by neophyte music director Monty. However, Durbar and Bhansali have made up since.

TOUGH TASKMASTER: The demanding perfectionism of Bhansali (left) meant the stars had to rehearse the scenes extensively. Even so there were several retakes.

So you can understand Bhansali, zombie-like from lack of sleep, when he says, "It's been one hell of a roller coaster journey." The same bone-weary exhaustion was visible in Rai and Shah Rukh Khan-who plays protagonist Devdas-on the last day of shooting at Mumbai's Film City. On April 29, Bhansali was working against the clock to complete the print for Cannes. Khan, in a cream dhoti-kurta, and Rai, in a blue sari, sat on a tree branch in front of an artificial waterfall. At 5 a.m., pack-up was finally announced. The hum of the generator fell silent. Bhansali told the stars to leave, but they didn't. They could hardly believe Devdas was over.

DREAM HOME: Chandramukhi's kotha was built on the banks of an artificial lake

Sets Rs 20 crore were reportedly spent on six sets. 700 lightmen worked with the help of 42 generators to supply 30 lakh watts of power. As many as 2,500 lights were used on sets that were not dismantled for nearly nine months. 1.22 lakh pieces of stained glass were used to make Paro's room in a haveli that cost Rs 3 crore. Chandramukhi's kotha alone cost Rs 12 crore. A multi-dimensional set surrounded by a temple city, it was inspired by the Dilwara Temples in Rajasthan.

Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali An FTII graduate, he assisted Vidhu Vinod Chopra in Parinda and 1942-A Love Story. Though his first film Khamoshi-The Musical was a flop, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam did well in metros. A loner famous for his tempestuous nature, Bhansali was fixated on reinterpreting Sarat Chandra Chatterjee's classic and decided the only way to top the earlier avatars of Devdas was to go grand. Bhansali's famous temper led to his music director walking out after several tiffs. They have made up since.

Devdas is a gamble for the lead stars too. If the film doesn't work, it will be a serious setback for them. Rai, who proved herself as an actress with Bhansali's Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (hddcs), hasn't had a recent hit to put her in the No. 1 slot, the only other serious contender for which is Kareena Kapoor. Khan wants very much to be recognised as a "serious star". Unlike Aamir who has been accepted both as an earthy villager in Lagaan and a cocky city boy in Dil Chahta Hai, Khan has not been able to stretch his romantic hero straitjacket beyond Raj or Rahul in designer romances.

Bhansali himself is not only burdened by the expectations of his stars but by Devdas' history as well. The 1917 Bengali novel by Sarat Chandra Chatterjee has been filmed eight times-twice in Hindi and six times in regional versions (see box). It has, as Nasreen Munni Kabir writes in her book Bollywood: The Indian Cinema Story, given cinema its most enduring themes and characters: the love triangle, a man unable to fight the system and a prostitute with a heart of gold. The last Hindi Devdas was made by legendary director Bimal Roy and starred colossus Dilip Kumar. How does
one top that combination?