Devdas won't Die this time!

For those purists who were appalled by the idea of Paro and Chandramukhi coming together in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's interpretation of the classic , Sudhir Mishra's version of the epic which he starts shooting on October 20, promises to deliver a jolting blow.

In Mishra's revisionist version of the re-located classic the doomed hero not only gets Chandramukhi, he also lives, arguing that life without Paro is as good as death.

But Devdas without his death?!

The film's producer Pritish Nandy seems pretty prepared to take on the purists. "Classics mutate with time. They change so many colours. I had decided to do our own version of Devdas after I had seen Sanjay Leela Bhansali's version.

As a Bengali I couldn't connect with his lavish operatic mood. Saratchandra's version of the tale was all about austerity, holding back rather than unleashing a torrent of emotions."

The kingpin of Pritish Nandy Communication seems undaunted by the criticism that's awaiting him. "Fear of falling has never stopped me from climbing higher. Our Devdas goes back to its literary roots, though it's set in contemporary times."

Sawariya's inside Information

Contrary to reports about Monty Sharma being under pressure to deliver the right background music for Sawariya the podgy versatile composer has actually started work on the non-vocal aspect of the film's epic music.

Says a source very close to the project, "Where's the question of Monty being pressurized by the director to scrap and re-do the background music when in fact Monty began composing Sawariya 's background score only on Wednesday morning?"

Prior to that Sanjay and Monty spent more than one year finalizing the tunes, vocalists and arrangements for all the songs.

Says the source, "Though the music of Bhansali's films has always been a predominant motif, never has so much stress been put on putting across the drama and emotions of the script through the songs. There are love songs, mujras, a qawwalli…it's Sanjay Leela Bhansali's most ambitious score ever."

No wonder the most eagerly-awaited music soundtrack of 2007 is undoubtedly Sawariya.

Now it can be told. Sawariya has a total of 11 songs by singers as varied as Alka Yagnik, Kunal Ganjawala and Richa Sharma. Not all the songs will feature in the film.

Coming back to the background score, Monty Sharma has already proved his passion and prowess in the non-vocal arena with his background scores for Sanjay Bhansali's Devdas and Black.

"Monty is expected to take at least the next two months to compose the background music. That's how long it took him to do the score for Black," adds the source.

The music on the Sony /BMG label was released this week,while the film's release date remains unchanged at November 9. A separate album of Sawariya's background score is expected to be released after the film's release.