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Devi (1960 film)
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Wikipedia article
'Devi' (English: The Goddess) is a 1960 Bengali drama film by director Satyajit Ray, starring Sharmila Tagore and Soumitra Chatterjee. It is based on a short story by Provatkumar Mukhopadhyay. The title means "Goddess".
Plot
In 19th-century rural Bengal, Doyamoyee (Sharmila Tagore) and her husband Umaprasad (Soumitra Chatterjee) 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 devoted follower 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 the 'devi' Kali and the face of Doyamoyee. When Kalikinkar awakens, he is convinced that Doyamoyee is an avatar of Kali. He goes to Doyamoyee and worships at her feet. Following Kalikainker's gesture, Taraprasad also accepts Doyamoyee as 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 lifestyles etc. Many people start to visit her and offer prayers and drink 'charanamrito' (water with which the devi's foot has been washed). Then a man comes with his terminally ill grandson, and after drinking this '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 escape 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 elopes. Umaprasad returns her to her room and eventually goes away to Calcutta again. Over time Doyamoyee, only seventeen, is stifled with the loneliness that is forced upon her. Khoka (their nephew) 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, they believing that Doyamoyee's 'charanamrito' will heal Khoka. So, they keep the child near Doyamoyee that night. But being a logical person, Khoka's mother asks Doyamoyee to give up and to tell their father-in-law to visit the doctor. But as a young girl of seventeen, 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 to home to take action against his father's beliefs and to free Doyamoyee from this situation, he finds his father is crying at the Goddess Kali's feet. The reason is at that morning, Khoka has died due to lack of proper treatment; the Charanamrito didn't work and the belief 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 - god and goddess statues are drowned in water after the worship is completed), 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 - Dayamoyee
* 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 an 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
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