Call it insolence or self confidence but the undisputed badshaah of Mumbai, Shahrukh Khan is not going to accept criticism for his widely acclaimed film Devdas in which he essays the eponymous role.
Refuting charges of not immersing himself in Sarat Chandra Chatterjee`s protagonist to create his Devdas, he says, "The best actors in the world - Balraj Sahni, Uttam Kumar, Dilip Kumar, Naseeruddin Shah, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert de Niro, Nana Patekar - are all stylized actors and if the earlier version of the Sarat babu`s novel worked it was because of Dilip saab."
As for his own interpretation he strongly believes that most of the appealing scenes in the film worked because "I worked in them." He also brushes off any panning of the film by reviewers in his characteristic manner, "In this country critics cannot differentiate between characterization and performance. Devdas had no moral standards - he`s like the smile of Mona Lisa."Now who can counter the claims of the first actor of the country?
