Speaking about his directorial 'Devdas', Sanjay Leela Bhansali said, "My actors didn't understand why we're telling this story. They said, 'Oh, it's romanticising alcoholism.'" "I said, 'This is the story of a man who loved'," he added. Recently, Shah Rukh Khan expressed reservations about playing the role, saying he doesn't like characters that demean women.