Devdas vs. Dev D.- Old vs. New

Sydney Blach
Movie Review; DEVDAS
Bollywood; TR 3:30-4:45
February 8, 2010

Devdas vs. Dev D.

Devdas is a timeless tale focusing on a “woe-is-me” central character, Devdas, and the story of his tragic love affair with his child-hood lover Paro. The classic story based on a popular novel by Saratchandra Chattopadhyay has been manipulated multiple times throughout the years. Its beginnings take root in 1917 with the success of the novel, soon after in 1935, New Theaters produced the screenplay version of Devdas directed by P.C. Barua. The story was once again re-worked and once again in the version Produced and Directed by Bimal Roy released in 1955. This version will be the basis of this review. The story was also re-told in 2002 directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and finally in 2009 in a film called Dev D. written and directed by Anurag Kashyap; of which this review will compare to the 1955 version by Roy. Each film follows the same plot line, yet seeing as there is a tremendous difference in their generation the main problems, trials, and actions are dealt with in a fairly shockingly different manner.
Overall each version is an epic story of young-love following two childhood sweet-hearts forbidden to marry due to fluctuating circumstances. In the 1955 version what stands between the young couple is the controversial caste system that rules the country. Devdas’ family are rich landlords placing them high-up in caste, whereas Paro is of a low caste servant family. On the contrary in Dev D. what separates the couple is not the disproval by family, in fact Dev’s dad even exclaims at one point in the movie how perfect he esteems Paro to be for his son. Instead, it is Dev’s own revelry and a silly misunderstanding on Dev’s part that keeps the couple from committing to one another. This notion is also observable in the 1955 version, for example when Devdas himself explains to his companion “She chose the path of matrimony and I chose the path of destruction.” This difference between the two central characters is explicitly presented in the earlier version as Paro goes on to get married as a result of the rejection by Devdas. Rather than settling down, in both films Devdas/Dev have a sexual based relationship with a woman named Chaudramukhi/Chanda who in the 1955 version is portrayed as a “prostitute-like” woman trained in classical singing and dancing, and in the 2009 version is a full on prostitute.
Another notion that is portrayed similarly yet different in each of the versions is the theme of Paro being a non-traditional/modern central female character. By modern I mean that in each instance Paro behaves in a manner when it comes to her relations with Dev/Devdas that in traditional Indian standards of female code of conduct, would be frowned upon. In the 1955 version Paro is rendered as an innocent, young, naïve girl who is hopelessly in love with a forbidden lover. At one point she exclaims that she would ask Devdas to marry her, and then proceeds to enter his bedroom in the middle of the night. This notion is almost reminiscent of Shurpanakha in the Ramayana when the audience sees Shurpanakha lusting after Rama and confessesing her love to him. The purpose of this portion of the epic story is to set up a contrast between an ideal Indian woman- Sita and a repulsive woman- Shurpanakha in order to teach the audience the proper behavior expected from a woman. The traditional woman is the one that waits for a man to approach her, which is not what Paro does either. Once again this concept is more overt in Dev D. For rather than simply not having the patience to wait for her lover to approach her, Paro is shown engaging in explicit sexual encounters with Dev in all sorts of different exclusive locations around the small town.
The central theme of the film and of both versions of the film seems to revolve around the concept of forbidden love and what the denying of that love does to the emotional psyche of Dev/Devdas. In the 1955 version Devdas’ father sends him away to Calcutta to end all relations with Paro causing the rest of the film to follow his downhill slope to an alcoholic and meaningless life of a relentless lust for Paro. The same notion is dealt with in Dev D. but rather than just covering his emotions with alcohol he resorts to hard drugs, vodka, and a partying lifestyle. Paro seems to in a sense move on in both cases while Dev/Devdas is left battling an internal struggle and self destruction.