MOVIE DETAILS:
- Name of the movie - Devdas
- Year of release - 23 May 2002
- Country - India
- Duration - 173 minutes
- The medium used in the movie - Hindi, Bengali, and English
- Writer of the movie - Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. The story of the movie has been taken from the novel written by the mentioned author. The name of the novel is Devdas which was published in 1917 in Bengali and later translated into other languages.
- Producer of the movie - Bharat Shah (industrialist ) 8. Director of the movie - Sanjay Leela Bhansali
- Characters and cast in the movie:
● Shah rukh khan as Devdas Mukherjee
● Aishwarya Rai as Parvati "Paro"
● Madhuri Dixit as Chandramukhi
● Jackie Shroff as Chunnilal
● Kirron Kher as Sumitra Chakraborty
● Smita Jaykar as Kaushalya Mukherjee
● Manoj Joshi as Dwijdas Mukherjee
● Ananya Khare as Kumud Mukherjee
● Milind Gunaji as Kalibabu
● Dina Pathak as Bhuvan's mother
● Vijayendra Ghatge as Bhuvan Choudhry - Production company - Mega Bollywood
THE CENTRAL THEME
Love has been the central theme of the movie, be it platonic or romantic, as the movie starts with a pair of girls and a boy sharing a strong friendship and later on transforms it into a romantic relationship. Philia (friendship) is transformed into eros. Eros is what Plato calls love.
The component of love that the movie tries to depict is a desire to find someone to complete oneself, which was eventually not fulfilled. Plato states that “love is a lack and tension, desire and movement which never ceases nor finds fulfillment.” Hence this is what makes the story stand out, as the desire to have the beloved one remains unfulfilled.
The intense desire of Devdas and Parvati towards that is what creates a plot for the movie. And later on, when Devdas is unable to fulfill that desire his lack ignites the ugly side of his love. This makes him addicted to Alcohol which he claims to drink to overcome his unfulfilled desire to possess his beloved and takes him to the courtesan “Chandramukhi”. Who falls in love with him but whom he is unable to accept as he doesn't find goodness or beauty in her. Despite being pleasant to the eyes, the goodness she lacked was of being noble.
Hence, Chandramukhi makes it a desire for honor or earning respect, a directing aspect of her life.
She was observed being disrespected by Devdas due to her work.He states “ aurat maa hoti hai, behen hoti hai , patni hoti hai ,aur jab wo kuchh nahi hoti toh tawaif hoti hai”
And still, she chooses to pursue him. He only sees women in relation to men, the identity of a woman is just in relation to what she is to others like mother, sister, and wife, and when she can't be categorized in those categories she becomes a prostitute. The biggest patriarchal component of the movie lies in the question; why is it that Parvati is preferred by Devdas and not Chandramukhi? Why is there a dichotomy between the beauties of both women?
The answer is in the understanding of Indian society where bodily aspects like virginity play a huge role in defining the character of the girl and considering her chaste. As Chandramukhi resided in a brothel, where she was constantly in contact with many men and her virginity was definitely in question. On the other hand, Paro, residing in a home only with her mother and other women only, was considered pious.
The identity of an Indian woman revolves around some standards set for her to be considered acceptable, an essence of it is taken from the woman's ideal “Sita”. As Sudhir Kakkar (Feminine identity in India) states that the ideal womanhood incorporated by Sita is one of chastity, purity, gentleness, tenderness, and a singular faithfulness. faithfulness towards her husband, the one man she is devoted to. Here the character of Parvati is used to depict the fidelity of an Indian woman when she was continuously waiting for Devdas to return. Parvati’s mother was very proud of her daughter for waiting for a man for 10 years.
Even she herself proudly claims to read his letters 5 times a day and is obsessed with him.
Whereas in opposition to this Chandramukhi was shown as a strong woman, who could stand for herself, being with many men (though she states not being in love even once except Devdas) wasn't considered acceptable even after she would take care of him. Until she finally changes to a conventionally acceptable woman.
That is when she starts worshiping lord Krishna, becomes devoted towards Devdas, and stops engaging with men. Till then she was called “kadmon ki dhool”, such phrases are heard from herself as well.
Why is it that for a woman, beauty has been put on such a pedestal in deciding her worth?, and here by beauty, I mean the physical or the mortal appearance of a woman.
It is very noticeable in the scene when Devdas meets Parvati after returning, the first conversation they had was about Parvati’s beauty in which she compares herself to Moon. Later in a scene, he puts a black dot on her face as a symbol of her beauty.
. This directly leads to the commodification of the women, one is seen as “never touched before” which is Parvati, and the other one, “been with many men” which is Chandramukhi. Devdas also had a dialogue (to Parvati) ,“ Tumhe koi chhue mujhe acha nahi lagta” . Hence creating a sense of ownership over the body of the female.
Moreover, Parvati being more valued wasn't shown working or earning for the family, rather her mother expects her to get married to a rich man, if not the desired one then even richer
Why did both the women Chandramukhi and Parvati chase Devdas in the whole movie? Both the women were humiliated by Devdas in many ways and Parvati was even physically assaulted in many instances like when he threw a necklace on her head leaving a mark, pulling her hair, and twisting her arm. Still, both of them choose to pursue him. Was it because he was educated? or wealthy or belongs to the upper caste?
Coming back to the breaking of Devdas, before Parvati separated herself as a part of his self, an aspect of self which was a lover. While the relationship was being transformed.
Within the continuum of this transformation, there have been many dichotomies. Even philosophy claims dichotomy to be unequal. In a dichotomy, there is always one that is comparatively insignificant. The first one is within the platonic love and romantic love. Both the families accepted the pair when they were platonically involved but fretted when turned into a beautiful form of romantic love. Devdas' mother saw it as a threat when Devdas preferred Paro to meet first after his return and not his mother. A form of jealousy was observed. Such scenarios are usually observed in Indian families even with a married couple, the wife (when the pair is new ) of the boy personifies a threat to the unity of the family. some questions are posted at this like would the occurrence of a wife cause the husband to neglect his duty as a son?
A dialogue was noted in the film when Devdas preferred to meet Paro first after returning to India ( 15:00) “chhoti maa aap toh kehti thi ki Devdas ko sabse pehle aap dekhengi , par ab toh paro ki nazar lagi hai uss par” and a similar dialogue and emotions towards the pair were observed when Paro came to meet Devdas at his house (28:00).
Further, there is a dichotomy between the differences in the families of the lovers. The dichotomy has been in the form of a wealthy upper-caste Brahmin family to a poor lower-caste Brahmin family. Both families have different traditions and why is the tradition or culture of one valued more than the other one?
Devdas’ family being the dominant family enjoyed the privilege of putting a hierarchy on what should be considered mainstream. As it is noted that Parvati’s community is supposed to take money when getting their daughter married and giving her hand to the groom. This custom was denoted as “selling their daughters” and Parvati’s mother was humiliated in the name for having such a “not so pious” culture according to Devdas’ mother.
Later there is a dichotomy between the childhood and life experiences that Devdas got and those shared by Paro. The context in which the story was written was before India got its independence, in 1947, which makes it obvious that English education was given more importance ( the Woods despatch). Devdas being a boy from a higher class was sent to London to complete his education while Paro stayed home, preparing herself for the duties of wife and daughter-in-law. There is an undeniable dichotomy between both of them, Parvati was made to stay at home and prepare for her responsibilities as a wife, daughter or we can say thakurain aka lady of the estate. Later due to the lack of financial independence she had to make a compromise and marry a rich family rather than choosing love.
Devdav was sent to London to complete his studies and had further responsibilities of maintaining the status and wealth of the family. He had all the resources to be independent.
Can we say that lack creates desire? Is it their lack which made them choose the particular path they chose?
Parvati’s family was humiliated due to their lower status and class. Hence as a result Parvati’s mother promised to get her married in a richer family. The unwanted responsibilities were handed to her and she surrendered herself without protesting about any of the inconveniences.” At a very young age, she has to take up the responsibility of a stepmother.
Many sexist dialogues were also noted like “aayi toh thi tujhe dua dene, tere ghar chand sa beta ho, par ab toh yahi dua nikalti hai, tere ghar bhi beti ho.” showing the son to be considered superior to the daughter.
Devdas’ father owns a sense of seniority in the household. The family has a hierarchical family structure, where the seniors are responsible for taking decisions for the subordinates. “The ordering principle of the hierarchical system is age and elders have more formal authority than younger persons.
Devdas’ father held a powerful position in the family, as being the head of the family. It is noticeable that Devdas’ grandmother was actually the senior member of the family but had no say in the decision-making compared to the power his father held. As the elder son is the future head of the family and owns not only moral authority and rituals prominence but also economic responsibility for the survival of the family” (Sudhir Kakkar, Inner world, chapter 4, families and children)
The decision of Devdas’ career and partner was taken by his father only.
The film is also a depiction of many abstract ideas like the diya (oil lamp) depicted their love, which was extinguished as Devdas lost his material body. The moment he loses his body, none of his family members was present with him as he was set off from the position of being a son, nor was Parvati able to meet him. The last scene showed how the mobility of a married woman is controlled by the dominant male or her husband, as the daughter-in-law of a respected upper-class family wasn't supposed to be meeting any other man.
In conclusion, I would say that the movie does contain a beautiful and glorified depiction of love. With that, it also contains a depiction of the condition of women pre-independence. Many aspects have been opened in the movie, though it has a skeptical lens towards what it is like to actually be lower caste and class. With enough of it, quite a range of emotions and varied human history is showcased.