Remember Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's climax scene in Devdas? Neeta Lulla spills details on epic last-minute fix

While Sanjay Leela Bhansali has directed many movies, Devdas remains the ultimate fan favourite. The climax of the movie where Paro (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) runs towards Dev (Shah Rukh Khan) who is dying outside her home, left the audience in tears. The styling of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for Devdas was iconic. Till date, women want to recreate that look for functions or festivals. Neeta Lulla told Pinkvilla that the sarees used in the film were around 12 – 14 metres long. However, she had to put in special efforts for the climax saree where she had to cut two or three sarees to make that outfit.

The scene starts with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan aka Paro’s step-son telling her that a man is dying outside their mansion. She guesses it is Dev and rushes to see him. Her husband (Vijayendra Ghatge) does not allow the same, and wants the doors to be closed. As she runs through the stairs, the saree catches fire. The scene is etched in the mind of every viewer, and is one of the most memorable sequences.

Neeta Lulla told Pinkvilla that Sanjay Leela Bhansali asked for a red and white Bengali Pooja saree for the climax. They had kept a saree ready.

The night before the shoot at Filmistan, we were in Aishwarya’s van, looking at the outfit around 7 pm after pack-up. At that moment, Sanjay said his idea was to have the saree’s pallu catch fire and felt it wouldn’t be long enough.

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It seems Neeta Lulla went the extra mile to make SLB’s vision come true. She got in touch with one of her vendors and made him open his shop at 11 pm. Simultaneously, her team began to work on the borders. She finally said, “By 8.30 am the next day, we had two 13-metre saris ready on set.”