Devdas

Story:

Devdas is a 2002 Indian Hindi-language period romantic drama film directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and produced by Bharat Shah under his banner, Mega Bollywood. It stars Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit in lead roles, with Jackie Shroff, Kirron Kher, Smita Jaykar, and Vijayendra Ghatge in supporting roles. Based on the 1917 novel of the same name by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, the film narrates the story of Devdas Mukherjee (Khan), a wealthy law graduate who returns from London to marry his childhood friend, Parvati “Paro” (Rai). However, the rejection of their marriage by his own family sparks his descent into alcoholism, ultimately leading to his emotional deterioration and him seeking refuge with the golden-hearted courtesan Chandramukhi (Dixit).

PLOT

In the 1900s, Kausalya Mukherjee is happy to receive a letter about her son Devdas’s arrival from London after his stay there for ten years for law school. Kausalya informs her neighbour and close friend Sumitra, whose daughter Parvati “Paro” was a close childhood friend of Devdas. When Devdas was sent to London, Paro was advised to light a lamp to bring about his return and never permitted it to extinguish. Devdas arrives and his and Paro’s friendship transforms into deep love; Kausalya disapproves, owing to Paro’s maternal lineage of nautch girls and nautanki performers, which she considers inappropriate for a Zamindari family like hers. Kumud, Devdas’s manipulative sister-in-law, fuels her mother-in-law’s thoughts.

During Kumud’s baby shower, Sumitra publicly puts forth a proposal for Paro-Devdas’s wedding but Kausalya discards the proposal with patronizing arrogance, remarks that Sumitra belongs to a lower-class family and hurls accusations at the mother-daughter duo. Sumitra vows to find a wealthier alliance for Paro. Paro later sneaks into Devdas’ mansion to meet him but Narayan Mukherjee, Devdas’s father, spots them and humiliates her and Sumitra. Devdas angrily leaves home but fails to muster courage to oppose his parents. He writes to Paro, requesting her to forget him and falsely states that love never existed between them. Broken, Paro agrees to marry an aristocrat: Bhuvan Choudhry, a forty-year-old widower with three grown-up children. Devdas’s friend Chunnilal gets him to visit a brothel, where Devdas chances upon a generous courtesan named Chandramukhi, who falls in love with him. Devdas realizes his mistake, visits Paro on her wedding day, and persistently requests her to marry him but she reprimands him for abandoning her.

Paro marries Bhuvan and departs to her in-laws’ where Bhuvan confesses that their marriage was required to fulfill the position of Lady of the Estate and that his love is only for his late wife. Devdas walks towards anguish and alcoholism, permanently moving into Chandramukhi’s brothel. Paro performs her duties to her husband’s household sincerely, but is unable to forget Devdas. Narayan, on his deathbed, seeks apology from Paro and yearns to see Devdas, who arrives at his funeral and passes out. Devdas begins to stay with his family while Kumud steals the vault’s keys; Devdas demands her to return them but Kumud accuses him of thievery, causing Kausalya to disown him.

Paro visits Chandramukhi and holds her responsible for Devdas’s addiction to alcohol but discovers that Chandramukhi loves Devdas. She invites her to Durga Puja at her in-laws’ manor and introduces Chandramukhi as her friend, concealing her profession to avoid disputes. Nevertheless, Bhuvan’s son-in-law Kalibabu intends to avenge an earlier encounter with Chandramukhi that had gone wrong. He exposes her and humiliates her publicly. Chandramukhi takes a stand for herself, slaps Kalibabu and states that the visit of people like him to her brothel makes it successful. Kalibabu discloses to Bhuvan and his mother about Paro’s previous affair with Devdas. Paro is forbidden from stepping out of the manor by Bhuvan.

Devdas falls ill and journeys on a train, where he stumbles upon Chunnilal, who urges him to drink. A severely ill Devdas, wanting to stand by a promise he made to Paro that he would visit her before his death, travels to Paro’s in-laws’ village. Devdas is dropped in front of Bhuvan’s manor; Paro runs to meet him but Bhuvan opposes this, ordering all the doors of the manor to be closed and Paro to be restrained. The manor’s gates close just before Paro can reach Devdas. Devdas only sees a blurred image of Paro running toward him. Paro sobs while Devdas whispers her name and dies, prompting the lamp to flicker out.