Devi (1960 film)

Devi (transl. Goddess) is a 1960 Bengali-language Hindu drama film by director Satyajit Ray, starring debutante Sharmila Tagore and Soumitra Chatterjee. It is based on a short story by Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhyay. The film is based on the worship of women and young girls as incarnations of the goddesses Durga or Kali, which is more prevalent in Nepal as the Kumari tradition.

Plot

An idol of Durga, the prevalent goddess of Bengal, is made and worshipped during the Durga Puja festival.

In 19th-century rural Bengal, Doyamoyee and her husband Umaprasad live with Umaprasad's family. Umaprasad's elder brother Taraprasad, his wife and their young son Khoka (with whom Doyamoyee shares a special bond) also live in this house. Umaprasad and Taraprasad's father, Kalikinkar Choudhuri, is a devotee of the goddess Kali.

Umaprasad leaves for Kolkata (Calcutta) to teach in college and learn English, and Doyamoyee remains behind to take care of her father-in-law. One evening, Kalikinkar has a vivid dream that intermingles the eyes of Kali and that of Doyamoyee. When Kalikinkar awakens, he is convinced that Doyamoyee is an incarnation of Kali. He goes to Doyamoyee and worships at her feet. Following Kalikainker's gesture, Taraprasad also accepts Doyamoyee as an incarnation of the goddess. But Taraprasad's wife believes the entire idea is ridiculous and writes a letter to Umaprasad urging him to return home as soon as possible. Soon Kalikinker starts to worship Doyamoyee officially and changes her room and lifestyle. Many people start to visit her and offer prayers and drink the charanamrito (water with which the goddess's feet were washed). A man brings his terminally ill grandson, and after drinking the charanamrito, the boy wakes up. This coincidence leads other people to believe that she is an incarnation of the goddess. Umaprasad returns home at this point and is horrified by what he sees and yet is unable to counter his father's assertions about Doyamoyee being the Goddess herself due to this recent 'miracle'.

Umaprasad sneaks into Doyamoyee's room and convinces her to leave with him to Calcutta. Once they reach the riverbank from where they were supposed to take a boat, Doyamoyee refuses for she is scared and starts doubting that if she were indeed the Goddess, it might harm Umaprasad if she defies the family's wishes and leaves. Umaprasad returns her to her room and eventually goes away to Calcutta again. Over time Doyamoyee, only seventeen, is stifled by the loneliness that is forced upon her. Khoka also avoids her even though he used to spend most of his time with her before. She is compelled to a life of isolation and myth, far away from a life of reality. This saddens her deeply, but she is unable to escape as she is bound to superstitions and a patriarchal society.

Meanwhile, Khoka has developed a severe fever. The family refuses to go to a doctor, believing that Doyamoyee's charanamrito will heal Khoka. So, they keep the child near Doyamoyee that night. A logical person, Khoka's mother asks Doyamoyee to give up and tell their father-in-law to visit the doctor. But the teenaged Doyamoyee is unable to voice it out and instead decides to keep Khokha with her that night because she misses his company while hoping he recovers miraculously.

The next morning, when Umaprasad returns home to take action against his father's beliefs and to free Doyamoyee from this situation, he finds his father crying at the feet of goddess Kali's idol. He learns the reason that Khoka died was due to lack of proper treatment that morning; the charanamrito didn't work and his superstition cost the child's life. Umaprasad rushes to Doyamoyee's room and finds her in an abnormal condition, as she mumbles that she should go to the water (visarjan), otherwise the family would kill her. Umaprasad is unable to make her see sense, as Khoka's death and her own experiences of being called a goddess become too much for her to bear, breaking her psychologically.

Cast

• Sharmila Tagore - Doyamoyee
• Chhabi Biswas - Kalikinkar Choudhuri
• Soumitra Chatterjee - Umaprasad
• Purnendu Mukherjee - Taraprasad
• Karuna Banerjee - Harasundari
• Arpan Chowdhury - Khoka, child
• Anil Chatterjee - Bhudeb
• Kali Sarkar - Professor Sarkar
• Mohammed Israil - Nibaran
• Khagesh Chakravarti - Kaviraj
• Nagendranath Kabyabyakarantirtha - Priest
• Santa Devi - Sarala

Preservation

The Academy Film Archive preserved Devi in 1996.

Critical reception and legacy

The film received critical acclaim upon its release. On Rotten Tomatoes, Devi holds a score of 100% based on 10 reviews for an average rating of 7.6/10. Directors William Wyler and Elia Kazan have described the film as "poetry on celluloid". The director Francis Ford Coppola considers Devi to be Ray's best work and called it "a cinematic milestone".

The film was adapted into the opera The Goddess by Allen Shearer.

Awards

National Film Awards

• 1960: President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Bengali

Cannes Film Festival

• 1962: Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) - Nominated

Other credits

• Art direction: Bansi Chandragupta
• Sound designer: Durgadas Mitra

References

External links

• Devi at IMDb
• satyajitray.org