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Devdas, which marked the blossoming of Indian cinema and revolutionised filmmaking, continues to inspire even after decades, writes
Pran Nevile
Recently, I saw Saigal’s Devdas on the TV that virtually transported me to 1935 — three quarters of a century ago when I had first seen it at Lahore as a schoolboy. An all-time classic Devdas, the first superhit after the advent of the talkies was the rage of that period. Its unprecedented box-office success immortalised the producer, New Theatres, Calcutta, of B.N. Sircar, director P.C. Barua and singer-superstar Kundan Lal Saigal. I have vivid memories of the packed cinema hall at Lahore and the thunderous clapping that followed Saigal’s haunting number "Balam aye baso more man mein". In tune with the customary practice, some onlookers even exhibited their applause by throwing coins on the stage. An epoch-making landmark, Devdas marked the blossoming of Indian cinema and almost revolutionised the filmmaking by bringing films closer to life. Based on Sarat Chandra Chatterjee’s novel, Devdas was first filmed in the silent period by Naresh Mitra in 1928. P.C. Barua, a creative genius of his days, raised the level of his film to a solemn tragedy. He introduced a new style of acting, natural and unaffected, a departure from the current theatrical mode and adopted a simple easy-to-follow dialogue. Barua played the title role in the Bengali version and K. L. Saigal in the Hindi one and both of them became cult figures. Devdas is the story of a son of a feudal landlord, who has an abiding love for his childhood playmate Parbati, daughter of his neighbour of lower caste. To prevent their growing attachment, Devdas is sent to Calcutta for university education and Parbati is married off to an aged widower. Following this, Devdas finds refuge in drink to drown his sorrow and in the company of a singing girl Chandramukhi. But Devdas’ condition worsens. On hearing about his plight, Parbati comes to plead with him to stop drinking. Devdas promises Parbati that he would come to see her before he dies. With his shattered state of health, he embarks upon a journey to keep his promise. He travels all night to get to Parbati’s village only to die in front of her home. Devdas can be viewed as a film of social protest against the evil customs of class and caste-ridden society. There was some criticism of its highlighting the fatalistic path of dejection, drink and death. But people just adored the hero, Devdas. The Devdas syndrome became synonymous with unrequited love. Barua’s Hamlet-like personality and his premature death like his Hindi version hero K.L. Saigal through alcoholism made him an icon of cinematic genius. Just before his death, he is reported to have said, "Devdas was in me even before I was born, I created it every moment of my life much before I put it on the screen, it was no more than a mirage, a play of light and shade and sadder still it ceased to exist after two hours. Now it’s just a myth". Compared with the Bengali version, the Hindi Devdas was a superhit. The dialogue and lyrics were written by Kidar Sharma, who infused its romantic tragic plot with a revolutionary naturalness of tone. The greatest asset of the film was the golden voice of Saigal. He was the first artiste to sing in a relaxed, naturalistic and intimate style and his songs were essentially dialogue in the musical form. Ever since then over the decades, Indian media has used the word ‘immortal’ for Barua, Saigal and Devdas. The film continues to be a reference point for Hindi melodrama and figures in the teaching of cinematography to students at the Indian Film Institute, Poona. In 1936, the New Theatres produced the Tamil version of the film, which was equally successful with Saigal singing two songs in Tamil. Later, two versions appeared in Telugu, the first by Vendantam Raghavaiah in 1953 and the second by Vijaynirmala in 1974. Two decades after Barua’s masterpiece, his distinguished cameraman Bimal Roy came out with his remake of Devdas in Hindi (1955) starring Dilip Kumar with Suchitra Sen and Vijayantimala as Parbati and Chandramukhi respectively. The ghost of Devdas has appeared in many Hindi films like Mela, Babul Pyasa, Kaagaz Ke Phool etc. After more than 50 years came yet again a new incarnation of Devdas in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus. This Rs 50-crore extravaganza, one of the costliest Indian films, with its stunning sets, lavish d`E9cor and glittering costumes, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya and Madhuri is for the upcoming young generation. Fortunately for Bhansali, another version of Devdas planned by writer-director Gulzar in the 1970s with Dharmendra, Hema Malini and Sharmila Tagore did not materialise. Though any comparison with the original Devdas is not relevant any more, anyway, there is a class of senior citizens who dismiss the new Devdas as too dazzling.
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