Create account Log in

Devdas 14 languages

Article Talk Read Edit View history Tools

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Bengali novel. For other uses, see Devdas (disambiguation).

Devdas (Bengali: দেবদাস, transliterated as Debdās) is a Bengali

Devdas
romance novel written by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. The
story pivots a tragic triangle linking Devdas, an archetypal lover
in viraha (separation); Paro, his forbidden childhood love; and
Chandramukhi, a reformed courtesan (tawaif).[1] Devdas has
been adapted on screen 20 times for film and 5 times for single
song.

The character of Parvati was based on a real life second wife of

zamindar Bhuvan Mohan Chowdhury,[2] It was said that the
writer had even visited that village.[3] According to sources, the
original village was called Hatipota.[3]

Plot [ edit ] Devdas – front cover

Author Sarat Chandra
Devdas is a young man from a wealthy Bengali family in India in
Chattopadhyay
the early 1900s. Parvati (Paro) is a young woman from a middle-
Country India
class Bengali Brahmin family. The two families live in a village
Language Bengali
called Taalshonapur in Bengal, and Devdas and Parvati are
Genre Novel
childhood friends.
Publisher GCS
Devdas goes away for a couple of years to live and study in Publication 30 June 1917
Calcutta (now Kolkata). During vacations, he returns to his date

village. Suddenly, both realise that their easy comfort in each Media type Print (hardback and
paperback)
other's innocent comradeship has changed to something deeper.
Devdas sees that Parvati is no longer the small girl he knew.
Parvati looks forward to their childhood love blossoming into a happy lifelong journey in marriage. According to
prevailing social custom, Parvati's parents would have to approach Devdas's parents and propose marriage of
Parvati to Devdas as Parvati longs for.

Parvati's mother approaches Devdas's mother, Harimati, with a marriage proposal. Although Devdas's mother
loves Parvati very much, she isn't so keen on forming an alliance with the family next door. Besides, Parvati's
family has a long-standing tradition of accepting dowry from the groom's family for marriage rather than
sending dowry with the bride. The alternative family tradition of Parvati's family influences Devdas's mother's
decision not to consider Parvati as Devdas' bride, especially as Parvati belongs to a trading (becha-kena
chottoghor) lower family. The "trading" label is applied in context of the marriage custom followed by Parvati's
family. Devdas's father, Narayan Mukherjee, who also loves Parvati, does not want Devdas to get married so
early in life and isn't keen on the alliance. Parvati's father, Nilkantha Chakravarti, feeling insulted at the
rejection, finds an even richer husband for Parvati.

When Parvati learns of her planned marriage, she stealthily meets Devdas at night, desperately believing that
he will accept her hand in marriage. Devdas has never previously considered Parvati as his would-be wife.
Surprised by Parvati's boldly visiting him alone at night, he also feels pained for her. Making up his mind, he
tells his father he wants to marry Parvati. Devdas's father disagrees.

In a confused state, Devdas flees to Calcutta. From there, he writes a letter to Parvati, saying that they should
simply continue only as friends. Within days, however, he realises that he should have been bolder. He goes
back to his village and tells Parvati that he is ready to do anything needed to save their love.

By now, Parvati's marriage plans are in an advanced stage. She refuses to go back to Devdas and chides him
for his cowardice and vacillation. She, however, requests Devdas to come and see her before he dies. He
vows to do so.

Devdas goes back to Calcutta and Parvati is married off to the widower, Bhuvan Choudhuri, who has three
children. An elderly gentleman and zamindar of Hatipota he had found his house and home so empty and
lustreless after his wife's death, that he decided to marry again. After marrying Parvati, he spent most of his
day in Pujas and looking after the zamindari.

In Calcutta, Devdas's carousing friend, Chunni Lal, introduces him to a tawaif (courtesan) named
Chandramukhi. Devdas takes to heavy drinking at the courtesan's place; she falls in love with him, and looks
after him. His health deteriorates through excessive drinking and despair – a drawn-out form of suicide. In his
mind, he frequently compares Parvati and Chandramukhi. Strangely he feels betrayed by Parvati, though it
was she who had loved him first, and confessed her love for him. Chandramukhi knows and tells him how
things had really happened. This makes Devdas, when sober, hate and loathe her very presence. He drinks
more and more to forget his plight. Chandramukhi sees it all happen, suffering silently. She senses the real
man behind the fallen, aimless Devdas he has become, and can't help but love him.

Knowing death approaches him fast, Devdas goes to Hatipota to meet Parvati to fulfill his vow. He dies at her
doorstep on a dark, cold night. On hearing of his death, Parvati runs towards the door, but her family members
prevent her from stepping out of the house.

The novella powerfully depicts the customs of society that prevailed in Bengal in the early 1900s, which largely
prevented a happy ending to a true and tender love story.

Film, TV, and theatrical adaptations [ edit ]

The novel has been made into films in many South Asian languages
languages, including Bengali, Hindustani, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Urdu,
Assamese and Malayalam.[4][5][6] It is the most filmed non-epic story
in India.

Notable film versions of the novella include:

2:11:30

Kundal Lal Saigal and Jamuna in

Devdas, Barua's 1936 Hindustani
version
 Cast
Year Title Language Director Notes
Devdas Parvati Chandramukhi

Naresh Niharbala/Miss
1928 Devdas Silent film Phani Burma Tarakbala
Mitra Parul

Jamuna
1935 Devdas Bengali P. C. Barua P.C. Barua Chandrabati Devi
Barua

Jamuna
1936 Devdas Hindustani P. C. Barua K.L. Saigal Rajkumari
Barua

1937 Devdas Assamese P. C. Barua Phani Sarma Zubeida Mohini

Akkineni
Vedantam
Devadasu Telugu Nageswara Savitri Lalitha
Raghavayya
Rao
1953
Akkineni
Vedantam
Devadas Tamil Nageswara Savitri Lalitha
Raghavayya
Rao

Suchitra
1955 Devdas Hindi Bimal Roy Dilip Kumar Vyjayanthimala
Sen

Khawaja Shamim Pakistani

1965 Devdas Urdu Habib Taalish Nayyar Sultana
Sarfaraz Ara film

Vijaya Ghattamaneni Vijaya

1974 Devadasu Telugu Jayanthi
Nirmala Krishna Nirmala

Muqaddar loosely
Prakash Amitabh
1978 Ka Hindustani Raakhee Rekha inspired by
Mehra Bachchan
Sikandar Devdas

Soumitra Sumitra Supriya also known

1979 Devdas Bengali Dilip Roy
Chatterjee Mukherjee Choudhury as Debdas

remake of
Prema S. P. Chitti Krishnam
1980 Telugu Sujatha Jayasudha Muqaddar
Tarangalu Babu Raju
Ka Sikandar

remake of
Amara Sivaji
1981 Tamil Amirtham Madhavi Sripriya Muqaddar
Kaaviyam Ganesan
Ka Sikandar

Chashi Kabori Bangladeshi

1982 Devdas Bengali Bulbul Ahmed Anwara
Nazrul Islam Sarwar film
Crossbelt Venu
1989 Devadas Malayalam Parvathy Ramya Krishnan
Mani Nagavally

Shakti Prasenjit
Devdas Bengali Arpita Pal Indrani Halder
Samanta Chatterjee
2002 Sanjay
Shah Rukh Aishwarya
Devdas Hindi Leela Madhuri Dixit
Khan Rai
Bhansali
 Cast
Year Title Language Director Notes
Devdas Parvati Chandramukhi

Parambrata Monami
2004 Devdas Bengali Sreelekha Mitra
Chatterjee Ghosh

modern-day
Anurag
2009 Dev.D Hindi Abhay Deol Mahi Gill Kalki Koechlin take on
Kashyap
Devdas

Iqbal Nadeem Zara Pakistani

2010 Devdas Urdu Meera
Kasmiri Shah Sheikh film

Chashi Apu Bangladeshi

2013 Devdas Bengali Shakib Khan Moushumi
Nazrul Islam Biswas film
modern-day
take on
Shubh Devdas
2017 Devi Bengali Rik Basu Paoli Dam Shataf Figar
Mukherjee genderbent
versions of
characters

2 season
web series
modern-day
2017– Asheema Akhil take on
Dev DD Hindi Ken Ghosh Sanjay Suri
2021 Vardaan Kapoor Devdas
genderbent
versions of
characters
modern-day
Sudhir Richa
2018 Daas Dev Hindi Rahul Bhatt Aditi Rao Hydari take on
Mishra Chadda
Devdas

Nayaka
Mrutyunjaya Bhoomika
2019 Ra Na Odia Asit Patra Anu Choudhary
Sahoo Dash
Devdas

In Guru Dutt's critically acclaimed film Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), a sub plot involves Dutt directing a film
titled Devdas with Waheeda Rehman playing Paro.
In Haath Ki Safai (1974), a song in the movie is about the play Devdas with Randhir Kapoor as Devdas
and Hema Malini as Chandramukhi.[7]
In the Tamil remake of the song, Kamal Haasan plays Devdas and Sripriya plays Chandramukhi.
A sequel of the 1953 Telugu version of Devdasu was released in year 1978, titled Devadasu Malli Puttadu.
In the 2012 Hindi film Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum, a dream sequence has Tusshar Kapoor as Devdas,
Neha Sharma as Paro and Sarah Jane Dias as Chandramukhi.

See also [ edit ]

 Bengal Renaissance
Novels portal
Mujra dance
Parinita/Parineeta (1914)

References [ edit ]

1. ^ "The DEVDAS Phenomenon" . The University of Iowa. Retrieved 2018-12-24.

2. ^ Sen, Sukumar (1353 Bengali Year). Bangla Sahityer Itihas বাঙ্গালা সাহিত্যের ইতিহাস [History of Bengali Literature].
V:3. Calcutta: Modern Book Agency. p. 552.
3. ^ a b "শতবর্ষেদেবদাস" . Prothom Alo (in Bengali). Retrieved 2018-12-23.
4. ^ Sharma, Sanjukta (June 7, 2008). "Multiple Takes: Devdas's journey in Indian cinema – from the silent era of the
1920s to the opulent Hindi blockbuster of 2002" . Livemint. Retrieved 2009-02-22.
5. ^ "The Hindu : The immortal lover" . Archived from the original on 2010-08-09. Retrieved 2006-08-15.
6. ^ Devdas phenomenon Archived January 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
7. ^ Peene Walon Ko Peene Ka Bahana Chahiye – Haath Ki Safai 1974 1080p HD

Further reading [ edit ]

Manzar, Benazir; Aravind, Aju (January 2018). "Devdas to Dev.D : Transformation in the Cinematic World of
Devdas" . In Dominic, K. V. (ed.). International Journal on Multicultural Literature (IJML). Vol. 8. Modern
History Press. pp. 70–76. ISBN 978-1-61599-382-6. ISSN 2231-6248 .

External links [ edit ]

Penguin India book review Bengali Wikisource has

The Hindu (newspaper) essay on the novel [usurped] original text related to this
article:
Devdas in Bengali Text দেবদাস

v·t·e Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's Devdas [hide]

Characters Devdas · Paro · Chandramukhi

Devdas (1928 silent film) · Devdas (1935 Bengali) · Devdas (1936 Hindi) · Devdas (1937
Assamese) · Devadasu (1953 Telugu / Tamil) · Devdas (1955 Hindi) · Devdas (1965 Urdu) ·
Films Devadasu (1974 Telugu) · Devdas (1979 Bengali) · Devdas (1982 Bengali) · Devadas (1989
Malayalam) · Devdas (2002 Bengali) · Devdas (2002 Hindi) · Devdas (2010 Urdu) · Devdas
(2013 Bengali)

Related adaptations Dev.D · Daas Dev · Dev DD

Categories: Works by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay 1917 novels Bengali-language literature

Love stories Novels set in West Bengal Indian novels adapted into films Fictional Bengali people
Indian Bengali-language novels Novels about Indian prostitution

This page was last edited on 5 May 2024, at 11:29 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0; additional terms may apply. By using this site,
you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a
non-profit organization.

Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Contact Wikipedia Code of Conduct Developers Statistics
Cookie statement Mobile view