Devdas

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For other uses, see Devdas (disambiguation).

Devdas
Author	Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
Country	India
Language	Bengali
Genre(s)	Novella
Publisher	GCS
Publication date	30 June, 1917
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN	NA

Devdas (Bengali: দেবদাস, Debdash; Hindi: देवदास, Devdās) (also called Debdas) (1917) is a Bengali novella by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay.

1 Plot summary
2 Film, TV, and theatrical adaptations
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Plot summary

Devdas is a young man from a wealthy Bengali Brahmin family in India in the early 1900s. Paro (Parvati) is a young woman from a middle class Bengali family belonging to the “merchant” caste. The two families lived in a village in Bengal, and Devdas and Paro were childhood chums.

Devdas goes away for thirteen years to live and study in a boarding school in the city of Calcutta (now Kolkata). When, after finishing school, he returns to his village, Paro looks forward to their childhood love blossoming into their lifelong journey together in marriage. Of course, according to the prevailing social custom, Paro's parents would have to approach Devdas' parents and propose marriage of Paro to Devdas as Paro longed for.

When Paro's mother makes the proposal to Devdas' mother, the latter insults her, plainly saying that the marriage is not possible in view of her own higher caste and financial status. To demonstrate her own social status, Paro's mother then finds an even richer husband for Paro.

When Paro learns of her planned marriage, she stealthily meets Devdas at night, desperately believing that Devdas will quickly accept her hand in marriage. Devdas meekly seeks his parents' permission to marry Paro, but Devdas' father agrees with his wife.

In a weak-minded state, Devdas then flees to Calcutta, and from there, he writes a letter to Paro, saying that they were only friends. Within days, however, he realizes that he should have been bolder. He goes back to his village and tells Paro that he is ready to do anything needed to save their love.

By now, Paro's marriage plans are in an advanced stage, and she declines going back to Devdas and chides him for his cowardice and vacillation. She makes, however, one request to Devdas that he would return to her before he dies. Devdas vows to do so.

Devdas goes back to Calcutta and Paro is married off to the betrothed widower with children, who is still in love with his previous wife and is therefore not interested in an amatory relationship with Paro.

In Calcutta, Devdas' carousing friend, Chunnilal, introduces him to a courtesan named Chandramukhi. Devdas takes to heavy drinking at Chandramukhi's place, but the courtesan falls in love with him, and looks after him. His health deteriorates because of a combination of excessive drinking and despair of life -- a drawn-out form of suicide. Within him, he frequently compares Paro and Chandramukhi, remaining ambivalent as to whom he really loves.

Sensing his fast-approaching death, Devdas returns to meet Paro to fulfill his vow. He dies at her doorstep on a dark, cold night. On hearing of the death of Devdas, Paro runs towards the door, disregarding "purdah", but her family members prevent her from stepping out of the door.

The novella powerfully depicts the prevailing societal customs in Bengal in the early 1900s, which are largely responsible for preventing the happy ending of a genuine love story.

[edit] Film, TV, and theatrical adaptations

The novella has been made into a film in many Indian languages, including Bengali, Hindi, Telugu and Tamil ^[1].

Notable film versions of the novella include:

Devdas (1928 film), directed by Naresh Mitra, starring Phani Burma as Devdas, Tarakbala as Paro, and Niharbala/Miss Parul as Chandramukhi.
Devdas (1935 film), directed by P.C. Barua, starring himself as Devdas, Jamuna as Paro, and Chandrabati Devi as Chandramukhi.
Devdas (1936 film), directed by P.C. Barua, starring K.L. Saigal as Devdas, Jamuna as Paro, and Rajkumari as Chandramukhi.
Devdas (1937 film) (in Assamese), directed by P.C. Baruah, starring Phani Sarma as Devdas, Zubeida as Paro, and Mohini as Chandramukhi.
Devdas (1953 film) (also known as "Devadasu") (in Tamil and Telugu), directed by Vedantam Raghavaiah, starring Akkineni Nageswara Rao as Devdas, and Savitri as Paro.
Devdas (1955 film), directed by Bimal Roy, starring Dilip Kumar as Devdas, Suchitra Sen as Paro, and Vyjayantimala as Chandramukhi.
Devdas (1979 film) (also known as "Debdas"), directed by Dilip Roy, starring Soumitra Chatterjee as Devdas, Sumitra Mukherjee as Paro, and Supriya Choudhury as Chandramukhi.
Devdas (2002 Bengali film), directed by Shakti Samanta, starring Prasenjit Chatterjee as Devdas, Arpita Pal as Paro, and Indrani Halder as Chandramukhi.
Devdas (2002 film), directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, starring Shahrukh Khan as Devdas, Aishwarya Rai as Paro, and Madhuri Dixit as Chandramukhi.