During an interview on the YouTube channel Wiping Out The Norm, Neeta Lulla recounted how Sanjay Leela Bhansali made a last-minute change to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s saree for the final scene in Devdas.The evening before the shoot, Sanjay requested a 15-meter long silk saree, explaining that he envisioned Aishwarya running down the stairs with her pallu on fire and needed two identical sarees in case one was damaged during filming.
Upon hearing Sanjay’s vision, Neeta immediately inquired if she could leave to source the saree. She explained that this all took place at a studio in Goregaon, and without mobiles, they relied on pagers. Sanjay called Aishwarya and Kirron Kher in front of her to see if they had two identical puja sarees, while Neeta repeatedly asked if she could leave. When it became clear that no one had the sarees, and it was already 10:30 PM, Sanjay asked if the shoot could be postponed to the next day. Neeta agreed and promptly left the studio to find the sarees.
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Neeta shared that after much persuasion, a cloth vendor agreed to open his shop at midnight for her to pick up the saree material. She explained that the vendor arrived around 12:30 AM to open the shop, allowing her to obtain the fabric. Meanwhile, her embroidery team had already started stitching the borders. They completed the sarees by 6 AM, and Neeta arrived on set by 9:30 AM, just in time for the shoot to begin.
Devdas was Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s third film, and it featured in the Out of Competition section at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. At the time, it was the most expensive Indian film ever made, with a budget of Rs 500 million. The film was highly acclaimed by audiences in India and became a major commercial success, emerging as the highest-grossing Indian film of the year.
