''Devdas'' is a 1937 Assamese film based on the Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay novella, '' Devdas''. Directed by

Pramathesh Barua Pramathesh Chandra Barua (24 October 1903 – 29 November 1951) was an Indian actor, director, and screenwriter of Indian films in the pre-independence era, born in Gauripur, Assam, Gauripur, Dhubri district, Dhubri, Assam. Early life Barua w ...

, it stars Phani Sarma as Devdas,

Mohini Mohini (Sanskrit: मोहिनी, ') is the Hindu goddess of enchantment. She is the only female avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. She is portrayed as a ''femme fatale'', an enchantress, who maddens lovers and demons, sometimes leading them ...

as Chandramukhi, and

Zubeida Zubeida Begum Dhanrajgir (1911 – 21 September 1988) was an Indian actress. Early in her career, she starred in a number of silent films, which were followed by a breakthrough in the first Indian talkie ''Alam Ara'' (1931). Her other notable ...

as Paro. The songs were playbacked by

Shamshad Begum Shamshad Begum (Urdu: شمشاد بیگم, IAST: ''Śamśād Bēgam''; 14 April 1919 – 23 April 2013) was an Indian singer who was one of the first playback singers in the Hindi film industry. Notable for her distinctive voice and range, sh ...

and Bhupen Hazarika. This was Barua's last of three language versions, the first being in Bengali and the second in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

Plot summary

The childhood friendship of Devdas (Phani Sarma) (who is from a wealthy family) and Paro (Zubeida) (whose family is not as well off) blossoms into love as they grow up. Devdas' father does not approve of the relationship due to differences in their families' status in the village and of their castes. (Devdas is of the Brahmin caste and Paro of the Merchant caste.) Devdas realizes he cannot live without Paro and seeks her out, but she has already been married off to an older man with children. Devdas falls into despair and drinks to excess; then he meets a courtesan, Chandramukhi (Mohini), who falls in love with him and looks after him. During his alcohol-instilled dreams, he frequently dreams of Paro and Chandramukhi. The two women replace each other in his dreams, so it is left unclear, if, in the end, Devdas overcomes his love for Paro and finds some peace by falling in love with Chandramukhi. Devdas returns to meet Paro, but dies at her doorstep before seeing her.

Cast

* Phani Sarma as Devdas (Debdax) *

as Paro *

Chandramukhi ''Chandramukhi'' () is a 2005 Indian Tamil-language psychological comedy horror film written and directed by P. Vasu. It is a remake of Vasu's Kannada film '' Apthamitra'' (2004) which itself was based on the Malayalam film '' Manichitrathaz ...

References

1937 films Films directed by Pramathesh Barua Devdas films Films set in Kolkata 1930s Assamese-language films Films about courtesans in India Films based on Indian novels {{Assamese-film-stub

Plot summary

Cast

See also

References