DEVDAS (1955)

Directed by Bimal Roy

Cast: Dilip Kumar, Suchitra Sen, Vyjanthimala

THE FILM

Devdas, the story of a doomed lover and his inability to take vital decisions in his life is a story that India has a long fascination for. The original story was written by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. The story is about two childhood friends Devdas and Paro. Devdas hails from a wealthy Zamindar Brahmin family and Paro, his neighbour is from the merchant class. Since they are childhood friends, they share everything with one another. Devdas becomes very troublesome and is sent away to a boarding school in Calcutta.

Both Devdas and Paro are deeply hurt by this decision. Devdas does not return till he is a young man. This long wait and separation turns the childhood friends into lovers. Paro’s mother sees that her daughter loves Devdas and puts forward a proposal to Devdas’s family. She is however humiliated and the marriage offer is rejected.

In desperation, Paro sneaks to Devdas’s room in the night, believing that he will take her as his wife. Devdas is not firmly able to tell his family that he wants to marry Paro and hence runs back to Calcutta, unable to change his fate. Upon reaching Calcutta, he writes Paro a letter saying that he never loved her and they are just friends (which of course is not true). When he realises the devastation his letter will cause, it is too late to turn back.

Devdas goes back to the village and finds a wounded Paro still holding on to her pride. He discovers that her marriage has been fixed with a wealthy zamindar. Again, unable to do anything, he hits Paro with a stick on her forehead saying that the pain will go but the scar will never heal – that the scar will be his memory.

Paro is married off to a man of her father’s age with children of her age. Devdas seeks solitude and relief from pain. His friend Chunnilal takes him to a brothel where Devdas meets the courtesan Chandramukhi. He chides her, finding her profession repulsive and cheap. She however finds that so different that she begins to love him and gives up her profession for a saintly life.

Devdas starts drinking heavily and Chandramukhi takes care of him. Devdas compares both Paro and Chandramukhi, unsure of whom he loves. When he senses that his end is near, he decides to make one last journey to Paro’s house. When he reaches her house at dawn, almost dead, Paro senses his presence and runs to see the dying man outside, but the gates of her house are cruelly shut upon her, thus forbidding the last reunion of the two lovers.

The funeral of the son of a rich Zamindar from a well known village is attended by only one unknown man.

THE CHARACTERS

One of the strongest points of Roy’s Devdas is the way the director has chosen to portray the characters. There are certain traits, certain ways in which the characters speak and act. This is what makes the characters more real and less fictional.

Devdas as a child is spoilt and naughty, who often causes havoc in school, hides from being spotted by his family (as to not get beaten), and someone who orders his best friend Paro around. Not only is he stubborn, but cowardly (more so when he becomes a young man). His lack of courage to fight for his life is reflected later on in the movie and becomes one of his biggest weaknesses.

The character Devdas is played perfectly by the Tragedy King Dilip Kumar. The moment he steps into Paro’s house after returning from boarding school in Calcutta, one can see the child Devdas as a mature, soft-spoken adult. It is evident that after long years of separation, a more profound relationship between the two friends has formed. Devdas says very little to Paro; “You’ve grown”.

It is not expressed through words, but both the friends love each other, wish to be with one another forever as well. However, it is Devdas’s inability to take the decision of telling his parents that ultimately causes this love to remain unfulfilled. This is where the cowardice of Devdas is revealed. Though he is a likeable character; profound and complex, it is his cowardice that leads him to his ultimate fate. Unable to firmly tell his parents about wanting to marry Paro, he flees to Calcutta without a second thought about Paro. Without wondering how she would react to his act of running away. 


Though she is on his mind, he does not even wait to console her or give her the impression that he is with her always. This leaves Paro heartbroken. The second act of cowardice is when Devdas writes a letter to Paro telling her that their love never existed and that they are just friends. Only after the letter is sent does Devdas realise that his decision was destructive. When he runs back to his village to see Paro, she is heartbroken, but too proud to yield to his words and justifications. In a fit of rage at her pride, he wounds her forehead by slashing a stick, tends to the bleeding wound and says his mark will be there on her forehead. He then leaves, unable to do anything.

The other instance of cowardice is succumbing to alcohol. He grows so depressed at not being able to stop Paro’s marriage that he takes to drinking day and night. He blows off his family inheritance on drink. Not only does that make him weak because he does nothing else apart from grieving his loss but it does not help him. Instead it takes a toll on his heath. He becomes this pitiable self-destructive character that somehow wants to flee from possible redemption.

When Chandramukhi enters his life, takes care of him, listens to him, understands him, stands his tantrums, he is drawn to her as she is to him. He finds in her something that is distantly similar to Paro, though in one part he tells Chandramukhi “you are so similar to Paro, yet so different. She is respectable, and no one respects you.” By the end of the movie, Devdas loves Chandramukhi too, as obvious from his statement. He tells her that he would want her as his wife in the next life.

Devdas is throughout portrayed as a man who is very good and admirable from inside, but is unable to take a decision in life. He also wallows in self-pity, somehow forgetting that the women who love him are actually in more difficult situations than he is. Devdas cannot save his love for Paro, he cannot save his own life. He is torn between two women who truly love him, he belongs nowhere after leaving home. He causes great agony to both Paro and Chandramukhi.

Roy has highlighted all these traits by making Devdas’s character speak very little, only when he is meant to. Also, the character is not very expressive in terms of speaking. He does not express much in words (as he did in the case of telling his parents about Paro. That continues here too). He keeps to himself, finds solace in drinking. A lot of what we think we know about Devdas’s emotions comes from Dilip Kumar’s poignant expressions.

Paro is played by the Bengali actress Suchitra Sen. From childhood, Paro is seen as a very good friend of Devdas. She listens to him, she tries to save him when he gets into trouble, and she endures his stubbornness. She even endures it when he beats her. She is so close to him that they are almost inseparable. However, the worst happens to their friendship when Devdas is sent away. She awaits his return though and this separation only causes her heart to grow fonder.

When Devdas returns, she is a beautiful girl and she waits for him almost like Sita waiting for Ram to come and deliver her from her loneliness. Though she is gentle and kind, and does not say much, it is evident that she is stronger than Devdas emotionally.

When the proposal from Paro’s mother is rejected by Devdas’s mother, Paro puts her respectability at stake (according to Indian custom at that time) by sneaking into Devdas’s room at night. She tells him that she does this only so that he can accept her as his wife. She spends the night there, sleeping on his lap, calling him her ‘Devta’. However, nothing good happens of this. Devdas is unable to fight for Paro and runs away to Calcutta. After putting her respect at stake for the man she loves and now watching him immediately racing off to find himself refuge and forgetting her behind, leaves her heartbroken.

Paro unwillingly gives her consent for a loveless marriage to an old man. She still loves Devdas. She receives his letter saying “there was no love between us.” She is not only more heartbroken, but she realises he will not be able to act for the sustenance of their love.

Paro is then married off, and she does not love the man she marries and she is much younger than him, she fulfils the role of a wife. She takes care of him, his children. She gets his children married off, and because her husband lives very simply, she renounces wearing jewellery and fashionable clothing. She gives to the poor and her husband’s village loves her.

She still loves Devdas though. She hears about his drinking habits and comes to meet him in his room during his father’s funeral (much later into the movie when she is already married). Remembering that she is married, but still completely knowledgeable about the fact that she loves him, she maintains distance this time. She tells him to give up drinking. He says he cannot. He then tells her to elope with him, which at that time would have been blasphemous. As a married woman, she would be ashamed of such a thing and that is exactly what she expresses. He realises then that she cannot change what he is doing.

The inseparable bond between Paro and Devdas becomes more evident towards then end when Devdas is making his way to Paro’s house before dying. Paro does not know this, but when Devdas calls her name, miles away from her home, she senses something and immediately moves to the balcony, thinking someone called her.

When Devdas lies dying outside her gates, Paro is unaware, but she feels suffocated from inside. When she discovers this, she defies all customs and traditions of a 'married woman'. She forgets that she is not supposed to run outside like that to see a 'stranger' (paraya); someone who is not her husband. She is strong and determined to the very end.

TECHNIQUES

Bimal Roy is known for his cinematography. Indeed it was he who did the cinematography in Barua’s 1935 version of Devdas. That film was appreciated for its parallel cutting and cinematography. Therefore, when talking about the cinematography in this film, there is deep symbolism associated with how the camera moves. Here are some examples.

We do not see Devdas grow up from a boy into a man, but Paro's growth from a girl to a woman is shown using a shot of the young Paro filling water in a pot from the village pond. A lotus that is yet to bloom appears on the frame and after a dissolve, it is shown to have turned into a beautiful and fully bloomed flower. We then see that Paro has 'bloomed' into a beautiful woman now. The passage of time is reflected in a shot that depicts a very regular daily activity, such as filling water, which remains the same from childhood to adulthood.

A technique that also reflects the passing of time, but brings a connection between the past and present is particularly evident in one scene. As children, Devdas throws a stone at Paro’s roof so she can come out. The camera moves slowly from Devdas, to the roof of her house and it slowly follows Paro when she comes down the stairs. This shot replicates itself exactly when Paro and Devdas are adults. It shows that despite the passing of time, the connection and understanding between the two is still the same. Nothing has changed in their affections, in the way the regard each other, and in the way they expect the other to react.

In the poignant song Mitwa laagi re ye kaisi anbujh aag, the camera mourns in the same way that Devdas does. He is shown sitting near the same pond where Paro gets water. As he sits, his back facing the camera, the clouds are mirrored in the still water. This is almost as though the water is a reflection of Devdas’s feelings. He is unable to express himself. Though his heart is clear like the still water, the clouds of doubt and indecisiveness still rule over him. There is a brooding presence of rainclouds and unhappiness in his life. Even in the song what he basically says is: “Beloved, what kind of unending fire is this?”

Roy makes use of a lot of symbolic comparisons. When Devdas is almost at the end of his life and is travelling on a train, Chunnibabu makes an entrance and forces Devdas to have another drink to celebrate their chance meeting after so long. Devdas, who at this point is suffering from tuberculosis, does not reveal his condition but does not resist completely. Once the alcohol goes down his throat, a comparison shot shows coal being shoved into the train engine, almost like fire is being shoved into Devdas's already suffering body.

SOCIETY AND DEVDAS

The time and era in which the film is set is of monumental importance to the film itself. It takes place in the early years of the 20th century. India was still populated by close-knit families and villages. Villages in turn were like big families and what happened inside the village was known to everyone. This setting explains a lot of events in the film. Devdas goes away from the village to study and he is seen as one of the first to do that - and he is therefore revered. Paro's family and Devdas's family are also very well acquainted but Devdas's family refuses a proposal from Paro's family. This definitely worsens relations between the two neighbours.

Also when Paro's growth from a small girl to a young woman is shown, she is doing the chores that a woman was expected to do - which is collecting water from a pond. However, Devdas is shown as a smart young man riding a carriage and arriving in style. This does not mean that Sarat Chandra's women are ever weak and docile. Paro may be bound by societal pressures but she is in no way submissive or feeble.

When Devdas returns, a young man, he does not immediately go and embrace Paro (as childhood friends would do). Instead he keeps his distance, as was required for a man or even woman to do. Paro also hides behind a candle shyly. Devdas is the first one to speak, as tradition ascertains.

As Paro and Devdas meet more often after he returns from Calcutta, Paro reveals her love for Devdas by sneaking into his bedroom at night. When she does this, the seriousness of the situation is well depicted. She steals in, unseen, because it would have been sacrilege for an unmarried man and woman to be in a room together at that time in the night. This action of hers is very brave and proves that she is ready to defy society for love.

And then Devdas runs away and with it comes another societal pressure - Paro's marriage. Without waiting for her consent or even giving her a few more years, Paro is married off to a much older Zamindar. This is a societal pressure she cannot escape. This is what causes Devdas to start drinking heavily and drinking is shunned by society. So a societal pressure causes Devdas to do something that is shunned by society.

Devdas also meets Chandramukhi, a courtesan, who is again another person shunned by society. As Devdas falls 'low' and does what society forbids him to do, Paro tries to uphold her duty in society by leading a married life that she is forced to have, but she plays her part dutifully. Chandramukhi leaves her 'disreputable' profession and moves to being a more societally acceptable woman. She discards all her courtesan clothes and jewellery and starts wearing simple saris and performs pujas.

Where Devdas starts moving out of society by being an alcoholic, the two women in his life move toward how society wants them to be. However, this does not mean that they blindly do what society wants them to do. One reason they stick to the societal pressures in the worlds they live in is because of their love for Devdas. Paro leads an unhappy married life so that she can see Devdas happy. Chandramukhi turns to a more societally acceptable position so that Devdas may love her and because she sees that her love for Devdas can lead her nowhere else. As the two strong women lead rather empty lives for the sake of the man they love, Devdas moves to self-destruction.

In the end, Paro discards her societal bondage by running to see a 'paraya' man. Her marriage is unable to change the fact that she is irrevocably in love with her childhood sweetheart. However, fate does not let them meet, even for the last time.

India has had a long fascination for the story of Devdas. So far there have been some 9 official versions of the film in different languages and three have been the most well known; P.C. Barua’s 1935 version, Bimal Roy’s 1955 version and most recently Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 2002 version.

Roy’s version may not be a complete visual treat like Bhansali’s version as it lacks colour and glamour, but it is by no means inferior in terms of cinematography and symbolism. 


It stars Dilip Kumar, Suchitra Sen, Vyjayanthimala and Motilal; very famous actors of yesteryear. Though it was a very well crafted movie, it did not fare very well at the box office. However it was critically acclaimed and won a couple of Filmfare Awards for its performances. The impact of the movie was also so profound on Dilip Kumar that he got into depression for a while and his doctor strictly ordered him not to do any more serious films for some time.

Devdas remains, to this date, a very popular love story on par with Heer-Ranjha and Laila-Majnu and newer and alternate versions never seem to stop. Dev-D was the most recent example of how this age-old tale was revived in its new avatar. It is evident that this story just continues to be fascinating for people of all generations and of all ages. After all, doomed love seems like a good story to tell.