Devdas

Athira Gopal K | FC 6
Transformed the concept of film as amusement
into cinema of social concern and celluloid
literary.
Devdas is a 1935 Bengali film directed by
Pramathesh Barua and based on the
novel of the same name by Sharat
Chandra Chattopadhyay. Devdas is
played by Barua, Parvati (Paro) is played
by Jamuna Barua, and Chandrabati Devi
plays Chandramukhi.

This was the first of three language

versions of the narrative written by Barua,
the other two being in Hindi and
Assamese. In 1936, the Bengali movie
was dubbed into Tamil and released.
The classic novel Devdas by Sharat Chandra Chatterjee is about two lovers,
Debdas and Parbati, who are unable to union as mortals due to the society's
class system. When Sharat Chandra Chaterjee penned Devdas in 1901, he was
assumed to be in his teens. However, it was first published in 1917. The
feudalistic culture that reigned is critically critiqued in this classic masterpiece.
The novel Devdas has been adapted into seven different languages. Devdas
appears to have been well received by every generation and every shifting trend.

In a fire that decimated New Theatre's studios decades ago, all Indian prints of
this Bengali version were destroyed. The Bangladesh Film Archives owns the
only copy of the film currently in existence.
The film's characters are not heroes and villains but ordinary people conditioned by
a rigid and crumbling social system. Even the lead character Devdas has no
heroic dimensions to his character. What we see are his weaknesses, his
narcissism, his humanity as he is torn by driving passion and inner conflict.

The film is a complete departure from the then prevalent theatricality in acting,
treatment and dialogue. Barua initiates a style of acting that is natural and
unaffected. His method is to underplay, to convey emotion through the slightest
tremor of the voice and use significant pauses in between the dialogue to maximum
effect. This naturalness of tone spills over to the dialogue as well. Rather than
dialogue in a florid style as was prevalent then, Barua who had been exposed to
European naturalistic trends ensures the dialogue in the film is what one speaks
in real life.
Became a reference
point in the romantic
genre
Such commercial and critical accolades were bestowed upon an Indian film.

In Devdas, there are multiple scenes that introduce a new editing technique,
the jump-cut, to heighten tension. The edit fades in to show a tray of floral gifts
dropping from Parvati's hands far away in her matrimonial home while Devdas
vomits blood on his travels. As soon as Devdas shouts out to Paro on the
train, the film cuts to reveal the doors and windows in Parvati's room bursting
open as Parvati screams in her sleep, in the middle of a nightmare.
Devdas was the first film to represent the social ramifications of a man of so-
called high birth moving away from his feudal, upper-class roots in rural Bengal
to the colonial city of Calcutta during the pre-World War II years. It tried to
explore the inner pain of this man, torn between the pull he feels towards his
village roots and his wish to run away to the city to escape the tragic reality of a
lost love.
Thank you