Shah Rukh Khan makes big statement about 'Devdas' at Locarno

Devdas was a feather in Shah Rukh Khan's much-celebrated cap, and now he says he has acquired the rights to the 2002 film.

It comes as the megastar was feted at the Locarno Film Festival for a lifetime achievement award.

“We as a production company bought the rights of this film back, and I’m very, very proud that it belongs to our company now,” he told the cheering fans after taking back the rights from its director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

During the screening, the Bollywood star also recalled the pushback he and the filmmaker received after they agreed to remake the classical hit.

"By the time, I think Mr. Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the director, wanted to make this film, I think everybody in the country felt it’s a bit dated,” he continued.

“It was a more liberalized India, and people were looking more at popcorn entertainment, more college musical kind of films."

The movie was one of many adaptations of the novel of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay in 1917; as Khan explained, his favourite was Dilip Kumar's one in 1995.

“I saw it with my parents because they were big fans of Mr. Dilip Kumar, and the one who was supposed to be the most marvelous of them all.”