Bimal Roy's 'Devdas', a love story ahead of its time

The name Devdas is today a part of the common vocabulary used to describe someone miserable and drunk because they are in love. A great disservice to the love story of Devdas Mukherji, Parvati and Chandramukhi.

Devdas is a man so torn between the two great loves of his life that the question of choice destroys him. Was Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, the author of the book Devdas,  questioning monogamy expected from adults in our society? Was he simply writing about a man who was unable to love? Either way, this book was way ahead of its times.

The story is simple enough. Parvati (Paro) and Devdas are inseparable childhood friends. Deva is sent off to Kolkata to study and when he comes back he discovers that Paro has grown into a beautiful woman. Growing up in the village Paro has had nothing more to do than think of Devdas, and it is but natural she should be shy when he really shows up.

Suchitra Sen as Paro is so beautiful, so perfect—the ultimate village belle—even the audiences fall in love with her. If we weren’t so mesmerised by the beautiful shot of Suchitra Sen lighting the oil lamp in the room we would realise that Devdas still remembers her as his childhood pal. By the time he learns to look at her as a woman, Paro’s grandmother has asked his parents for marriage between the childhood friends and been rejected. Outraged, Paro’s father fixes her marriage with a rich widower of a higher social standing.

While Paro is aware of the prevailing social norms (Devdas’s parents belong to the upper caste and though Paro’s parents are brahmins too, they are not that high up on the social ladder), she realises Devdas isn't. That’s why she gathers courage, breaks conventions to meet him late at night at his home and declares her love for him.

A clueless Devdas can only make remarks like, ‘Why are you out so late in the night?’, ‘If people were to know you came here, people would talk badly about you.’

Saratchandra, Bimal Roy, the beautiful Suchitra Sen and indeed the events in the story are all pushing Devdas into saying, ‘I love you too!’ Devdas, played brilliantly by Dilip Kumar, seems to be overwhelmed at being pushed towards domesticity. To hide his confusion, he avoids answering Paro’s ‘Mujhe apne kadmon mein jagah de do, mere devtaa!’ and says he will walk her home. She’s upset at this evasion and goes home to agree to the match her father has arranged for her. Devdas is now curious about his rise in status from ‘Deva’ the friend to ‘Devta’ the god.

Bimal Roy’s master touch is evident when you see Deva, unable to sleep, writing to Paro to explain his confusion, ‘I never really looked at you in that way…’  and the alarm clock rings! He is going to regret sending that letter, we know. When Paro climbs into the palanquin that takes her away to her new life as a wife to an older man, Devdas descends into the world of inequity led by Chuni Babu. Bimal Roy knew how to sway his audience.

Chuni Babu shows him a world of alcohol and the gorgeous Vyjayantimala as Chandramukhi who sings, ‘Aage Teri Marzi’. Devdas chooses to forget his past and drowns his sorrows in alcohol. But he cannot get Paro out of his mind. Things get complicated when Chandramukhi falls in love him but she is made of sterner stuff. She not only takes on a very alcoholic Deva and helps him regain his health, but gives up her profession as a nautch girl in order to show Devdas how much she loves him.

Devdas finds himself stuck between the girl in his head and the caregiver in front of him. He does what anyone would have in a situation: he runs away to find himself. The train journey is the metaphor of his restlessness. Of course, his demons come back to haunt him.

Meanwhile, Paro lives like a nun in her home, performing her duties but pining away for Devdas. It is a tragedy at many levels when Paro attempts to reach out to Devdas.

Devdas appeals to us all because we like the idea of pining away for our first loves, the idea that men and women love so deeply that they die for it. But no one ever mentions that not being able to fall in love with someone who loves you deeply (and Paro and Chandramukhi being just two types of loves) is also a deep folly and tragedy and the song Paro and Devdas sing as kids begins to mean so much more: ‘O albele panchhi tera door thikana hai, Chhodi jo daal ek bar wahan kab laut ke aana hai.’

Zee Classic's Bimal Roy Festival will be presented by Boman Irani. During the series, viewers will get a chance to catch exclusive snippets from a documentary on Bimal Roy, courtesy of his son Joy Roy. This will include rare and interesting interviews of Dharmendra, Vyjayanthimala, Gulzar and Ashutosh Gowariker amongst others reminiscing their days with Bimal Roy.

Devdas, the second film of the series, airs this Saturday on Zee Classic at 8 pm.