Cinema
Devdas
देवदास
Bimal Roy · 1955
Synopsis
Devdas, son of his village's zamindar, grows up beside his neighbour Paro, daughter of a more modest family. Sent to study in Calcutta, he returns as a young man; Paro loves him, but when her grandmother proposes marriage, Devdas's family refuses, and the young man cannot make up his mind. Paro is married to a rich, elderly widower; in Calcutta, his friend Chunnilal takes Devdas to a courtesan, Chandramukhi.
Context
Bimal Roy had been the cinematographer of Pramathesh Barua's Hindi version (1936) and one of the cameramen on the Bengali version: he dedicated his film to Barua and to K. L. Saigal. The screenplay is by Nabendu Ghosh, the dialogue by Rajinder Singh Bedi, the music by S. D. Burman. Suchitra Sen made her debut in Bombay cinema in it and Vyjayanthimala played her first dramatic role in it; awarded the Filmfare for best supporting actress, she refused it, judging her character the equal of Paro's, something no one had done before her.
Who it is for
A film of two and a half hours, in Hindi and in black and white, adapted from the novel by Saratchandra Chattopadhyay.
Prizes and reception
Filmfare Awards for Best Actor for Dilip Kumar and Best Supporting Actor for Motilal; a middling reception in cinemas, it became a classic.
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