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On This Day

03 May, 2021

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films

Devi (1960)

Satyajit Ray

Release Date1960
GenreDrama
FormatB-W
LanguageBengali
Run Time78 mins
Gauge35mm
Censor RatingU

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Kalikinkar Roy, zemindar of Chandipur, is a man of deep religious convictions and a great devotee of the goddess Kali. He has two sons. The elder, Tarapada, is weak-willed, and anxious not to displease his father lest he be deprived of his inheritance. He has a wife, Harasundari, and a five year old son Khoka.

The younger son Umaprasad, whose newly wedded wife Daya is a great favourite of her father-in-law's, has little in common with his elder brother. He studies in a college in Calcutta, and looks upon his father's religious ostentation as being narrow-minded and old-fashioned. He hopes to get a job in the city and settle with his wife there, in a more enlightened atmosphere. Doya likes the idea but worries about being away from Khoka. The child is devoted to her to a degree that arouses the jealousy of his mother.

One night Kalikinkar has a dream which leads him to believe that Doya is an incarnation of the goddess Kali. He proclaims the vision, and the helpless Doya finds herself installed as a deity. Umaprasad, away in Calcutta, is summoned by Harasundari, and arrives to witness the extraordinary spectacle of a sick peasant child being laid at the feet of Doya in the hope of a miraculous recovery.

Umaprasad seeks out his father, has a serious quarrel with him and threatens to stop the meaningless ritual. But he is unnerved by the news of the sick child having apparently survived through the mercy of the 'saint' Doya.

Umaprasad, however, decides to run away with his wife. The two set out at midnight, but Doya is suddenly seized with a fear of retribution. 'What if I am a saint?' she asks. 'That child survived-'

Giving up in despair, Umaprasad has to go back to the city, leaving Doya to resume her life of a goddess. Her fame spreads and the number of devotees increase. But Doya has no peace of mind, and keeps pining for her husband, and her simple human existence.

At this point, Khoka falls seriously ill. Harasundari, who never believed in Doya's divinity, would have the child treated by a doctor. But her husband relents. The child is brought to Doya, and dies in her lap.

Instigated by his college professor, Umaprasad returns to Chandipur with the firm determination to free his wife from her bondage. But he discovers that he is too late. The shock of Khoka's death has been too much for Doya, and she has lost her mind.

[from the official press booklet]