Spondonman One of my favourite films from the Indian cinema, the story beautifully adapted and assembled by Bimal Roy and his expert studio. It hasn't got the colour, scope and audio/visual technical panache of the 2002 version, but more importantly to me has better framing, acting, music and above all else, atmosphere.Today's highly paid film critics in all media would probably ignore Devdas and other similar musical films as being populist and therefore unworthy of their high-brow attention. Well, it's their loss! What we have is an extremely well crafted film, complemented with S.D. Burman's scintillating music woven perfectly into the plot. Not that it matters, the first time I watched Devdas in the mid '90's I thought that Vyjayanthimala as the prostitute Chandramukhi bore an uncanny resemblance to Kate Winslet! Dilip Kumar's finest screen moments bar Mughal-E-Azam are here too, and although he didn't have a whole range of emotions to portray his performance was intense and utterly believable. Don't let supposedly erudite Western sneering put you off all Indian or Bollywood films and rub your nose in the baking mud with Pather Panchali - this one is also a world classic.To watch this epic of thwarted and then forbidden love and one man's inner turmoil brought on first by social custom and then the bottle is always ultimately rewarding to me, but be warned - the long journey is poetically, relentlessly and devastatingly depressing.

maple-2 Like "Gone With The Wind" and Wuthering Heights, Devdas is based on a literary classic and is a landmark in cinema. Pre-independence Bengal and Calcutta come alive in this movie but it is not a pretty picture. The story itself verges on bathos, with a young man, Devdas (Kumar), drinking himself to death after his childhood chum and beloved Paro (Sen) marries another (older) wealthy man. That marriage happens only because Devdas' wealthy father and older brother refused to allow him to marry Paro, the middle caste girl next door. The pain is, she loves Devdas too, but cannot act on it.The parallel story has Chandramukhi (Vyjayanthimala), a dancer & call girl from Calcutta, falling in love with Devdas as well while he is drinking away his sorrows. But he is so focused on Paro and so negatively judges Chandramukhi's profession, he cannot notice her. When Devdas finally appreciates Chandramukhi's devotion, for her own safety he dare not take her home.This is a sorrowful classic, but with the overwrought pain, it plays more like "Wuthering Heights" than like "Gone With the Wind".

karakonchar I watched this movie a couple of days ago. No doubt the movie is considered a masterpiece of Indian Cinema. Even though the movie is nearly half a century old, it has the power to captivate the audience. The superb acting by nearly all the actors further enhances its value. Though today's generation may find it's pace somewhat slow.It has more than mere entertainment value. Like "Gone With The Wind", it deals with an era that has gone forever. Pre-independence Bengal and Calcutta come alive in this movie. Its portrayal of life of landed gentry pre-independence Bengal is quite authenticate.In short, A must see for all those who have always wondered why every broken heart self-destructive lover is called a Devdas.

burman This film was just excellent on all counts, be it direction, cinematography, acting or music. A classic produced and directed by Bimal Roy. And what performances ! Motilal, Dilip Kumar, Vyjayanthimala and Suchitra Sen, all excelled. And what a musical score ! Talat Mahmood's "Mitwa, lagi re yeh kaisi" and "Kisko khabar thi, kisko yakeen tha, aise bhi din aayenge" are among his best numbers. So are Lata Mangeshkar's "Jise tu qabool karle", "O' jaane wale, ruk ja koi dam" and "Ab aage teri marzi" are excellent numbers. Two other songs, "Woh na aayenge palat kar, chahe lakh ham bulaayen", sung by Mubarak Begum and "Manzil ki chaah mein" are haunting songs.