DEVDAS (1955)

Eight solid reasons why you should watch this film-

# 1- Nobody can deliver “Kaun Kambakht Bardasht Karne ke liye pita hai…” better than Dilipsaab. Period. Count his this scene or the ultimate devastating climax end of the Devdas, Dilip Kumar gave his sublime impression of acting for many actors to follow. Whether its Big B in ‘Sharabi’ or SRK in ‘Devdas’ all imitated the mannerisms of Dilipsaab to give perfect drunkard dialogue delivery. He brought ‘thehrav’ to the personality of self destructing lover, internalized the existential unbearable angst in the character of ‘Devdas’ and with this he introduced his unique brand image of ‘Tragedy King’. The way he delivered dialogues, with quaint tranquil and serene manners, the way he gazed wistfully at Paro when she visited him is all giving reflection of ‘Masochistic Romanticism’ (a lover who derives strange pleasure from sadness and destroying self).No doubt that he gave his best in this and won Best Actor Filmfare Award for this.

# 2- The film gain its momentum after the first 45 minutes and then it keeps absorbing me even though I watched this drama through the lenses of Sanjay Leela Bhanshali and Anurag Kashyap. Where Bhanshali’s version seems more about canvassing spectacular sets, eye-catching color cinematography and melodious music and Kashyap’s more about depicting experimental modern day doom; this one remains impeccable literary adaptation of Sharatchandra Chattopadhyay’s classic that followed the pathos, guilt, repentance and downfall of protagonist Devdas Mukherjee.

# 3- Believe it or not this is the third “Devdas’ Indian cinema has witnessed in 1955. The first version was made by Naresh Mitra in 1928 and the second one by P C Barua starring singer-actor K L Saigal. We all know about later two versions made by Bhanshali and Kashyap. Not only Indian Directors but audience too is obsessed with ‘Devdas’ films and that’s the reason enough to prove its timelessness.

# 4- Bimal Roy worked as a cameraman in PC Barua’s version of ‘Devdas’ in 1935 and after 20 years he stamped his own impression to this most tragic love story of the century. Apart of all other versions made before or after this one drawn into oblivion after the passage of time and the credit surely goes to Producer- Director Bimal Roy and combination of other artists of his team like dialogue writer Rajender Singh Bedi, Editor Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

# 5- It was debut Hindi film of Bengali actress Suchitra Sen and she left a mark of her own with her nuanced performance as ‘Paro’ with her beauty leaving audience in trance.

# 6- Motilal was an actor of caliber ‘A’; though he was often repeated himself in many of films of that time. He gave new dimenasion to the character of ‘Chuni Babu’ with his ‘shayarana andaz’ and moody happy go lucky gestures.

# 7- Classically trained dancer Vyjyantimala stole the hearts of the audience first time with her acting talent too enacting ‘Chandramukhi’ which paved a way of recognition to become a respected actor in the industry.

# 8- For the readers who fully read the whole review patiently and passionately.

Ratings- 8/10