Devdas (Hindi: देवदास) is a 2002 Bollywood novel adapted film based on the 1917 Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay novella Devdas. This is the third Hindi version and the first colour film version of the story in Hindi. The film is directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and stars Shahrukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit, and Aishwarya Rai in the leading roles.

At the time of its release, Devdas was the most expensive Bollywood film ever produced, with a reported budget of Rs 50 crores. The film was released in six alternative language versions: English, French, German, Mandarin, Thai, and Punjabi.

Shahrukh Khan's performance as the rebellious alcoholic Devdas is often considered one of his best performances, and won him a Filmfare Award. The song "Dola Re Dola" became a hit with its unique dance duet between Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit.

The film won five National Awards, ten Filmfare Awards including Best Film, and received a BAFTA nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It was also India's entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. It was ranked #74 in Empire magazines "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010.Time Magazine named Devdas as the best movie of 2002 among all the movies released around the world in 2002.

Devdas (Bengali: দেবদাস, Debdash; Hindi: देवदास, Devdās) (also called Debdas) (1917) is a Bengali Romance novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. Essentially, it is a retelling of the Krishna, Radha, and Meera myths, the relationships between its three protagonists - Devdas, Parvati, and Chandramukhi - paralleling the Hindu deities'.

Devdas is a young man from a wealthy Bengali Brahmin family in India in the early 1900s. Paro (Parvati) is a young woman from a middle class Bengali family belonging to the “merchant” caste. The two families lived in a village in Bengal, and Devdas and Paro were childhood friends.

Devdas goes away for thirteen years to live and study in a boarding school in the city of Calcutta (now Kolkata). When, after finishing school, he returns to his village, Paro looks forward to their childhood love blossoming into their lifelong journey together in marriage. Of course, according to the prevailing social custom, Paro's parents would have to approach Devdas' parents and propose marriage of Paro to Devdas as Paro longed for.

Aishwarya Rai, known also as Aishwarya Rai Bachchan after her marriage (Tulu pronunciation [əjɕʋərjaː rəj]; born 1 November 1973) is an Indian film actress. She worked as a model before starting her acting career, and ultimately won the Miss World pageant in 1994. Rai has featured in films in various languages including Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, and Bengali.

Often cited by the media as the "most beautiful woman in the world", Rai made her acting debut with Mani Ratnam's Tamil film Iruvar (1997), and had her first commercial success in Jeans (1998). She found success in Bollywood with Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) and Devdas (2002) and eventually won two Filmfare Awards in the Best Actress category.

After a series of unsuccessful films during 2003–2005, she appeared in the blockbuster action thriller Dhoom 2 (2006) and subsequently featured in such films as Guru (2007), Jodhaa Akbar (2008), and Enthiran (2010). She gained critical acclaim for her performances in offbeat, independent films such as Chokher Bali (2003), Raincoat (2004), and Provoked (2007). Rai has thus established herself as one of the leading contemporary actresses of Indian cinema.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali is an Indian film director. He is an alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India. Bhansali has adopted the middle name "Leela" as a tribute to his mother, Leela Bhansali. His mother tongue is Gujarati.

Bhansali began his career as an assistant to Vidhu Vinod Chopra and was involved in the making of Parinda, 1942: A Love Story and Kareeb. However, both had a fall out when Bhansali refused to direct Kareeb and made his directorial debut with Khamoshi: The Musical, the commercially unsuccessful but critically acclaimed narration of a daughter's struggle to communicate with her deaf mute parents. His second film was a triangular love story, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, which established his individualistic stamp for visual splendour and creating auras of celebration and festivity. The film was a great success and won numerous awards. His next film Devdas was Bhansali's ode to the well known novel of the same name. Upon its theatrical release in India, the film surfaced as the highest grossing movie. It also won major Bollywood awards and was Indian submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The musical received a significant reception at Cannes, where it premiered. Then came Black, which Time Magazine (Europe) selected as fifth of the 10 Best Movies of the Year 2005 from across the globe. Black broke a record at the 2006 Filmfare Awards, winning eleven awards. After having four successes, Bhansali experienced his first major flop in Saawariya, which was met with sharp criticisms and simultaneously poor collections at the box office.

Ravi Kishan Shukla (born July 17, 1971), popularly known as Ravi Kishan, is an Indian film actor, voice actor and television personality, who works in Hindi cinema and Bhojpuri cinema. In 2006, he participated in Bigg Boss, the Indian version of Big Brother.

Ravi Kishan was born in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh.

In June 2008 he was awarded the Most Popular Actor award at ETV Bhojpuri Cinema Samman 2008 function.

Popular reality shows like Big Boss and more recently Ek Se badhkar Ek have brought him to the front line of top Indian television actors. In 2008, he started co-hosting the celebrity dance-based reality show Bathroom Singer, Ek se badhkar ek - Jalwe sitaron ke on Zee. Ravi Kishan also hosted a Reality show, Raaz Pichhle Janam Ka, on ndtv Imagine for two seasons. Ravi Kishan has worked with legendary directors like Shyam Benegal and Mani Rathnam in the year 2010. A film starring Ravi Kishan, Jala Debh Duniya Tohra Pyar Mein, produced by American film company PUN Films, was shown in the India Pavilion at the [Cannes Film Festival] 2010.