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Devdas – a Hero or a Loser? - Sunanda Vashisht Sunanda Vashisht was born in the beautiful valley of Kashmir, India when Kashmir was known for its unparalleled natural beauty and not as a cauldron of fear and terror. She did most of her schooling in Delhi and dabbled with several professions before moving to U.S last year. she is currently pursuing higher studies here. she likes to introduce herself as an explorer because she wants to spend all her time in this world exploring unknown. Writing for her is a cathartic experience. She can't remember when she began writing first but she does know that writing has always helped her to be at peace with herself and with the world around her.

It is unlikely that the recent Devdas euphoria hasn’t gripped you. The hype that was created around the so called swan song of Sanjay Leela Bhansali had people thronging to the cinema halls to watch yet another re-make of Sarat Chandra’s greatest novel of its time. Devdas is considered to be the ultimate story of unrequited love and sacrifice. ‘Devdas Syndrome’ has been oft written about and talked about in popular and intellectual circles.

Having watched Saigal’s and Dilip Kumar’s ode to Devdas, I was very eager to watch SRK and Bhansali’s version of the novel. The first reaction that came to my mind when I watched Devdas was that it was way too loud. Right from the first frame itself Sanjay Leela Bhansali has set the tone for his magnum opus. What was to follow was even more loud scenes, garrish sets, out of place opulence and lack of subtlety. I had heard that Bhansali had taken liberties with the original novel. That was fine as long as the liberties enhanced the original story line. Beneath the glimmer and glitter of opulent havelis and costumes the story of Devdas lay buried and as the movie progressed it was hard to retrieve the pathos and tragedy of Devdas. Here we were not worried about tangled relationships and romantic dilemmas, no probing into ultimate helplessness of a man who is unable to honour his love in the wake of societal restrictions or love in its unrequited form which is perhaps the most subtle form of emotion. All that got lost in the glitzy dance sequences and costume drama. The film no doubt looks like a beautiful painting and has been shot extremely painstakingly yet has lost its soul somewhere. Bhansali tries so hard to make the film cosmetically beautiful that he lost touch with real Devdas.I came out of the cinema hall wanting to see Bimal Roy’s Devdas all over again, and that is where I give Bhansali his credit. He has brought back the memories of Dilip Kumar’s Devdas.

However reviewing the film is not my intention for this column. I was wondering that despite Bhansali’s treatment Devdas is a hit. Why does this story have such an universal appeal with the masses even almost a century after the novel was written. The film is a hit inspite of Bhansali because Devdas an eternal romantic is identified by most young people in today’s generation as well. No matter what we say about generation x having no time to wait and watch or no time to waste their time or life for love. I don’t think that is absolutely true. The youth today may have different priorities or their expression of their emotions might be different yet they all love and a lot of times even today their love is sacrificed at the altar of religion, caste and money. That is why Devdas is popular today because this generation too recognizes that ultimate expression of emotion is love. The conflict within generations or the dilemma of the man who is misunderstood by everyone is universal and most people identify with that even today.

Can Devdas an ultimate loser be the hero of today’s generation, the answer is Yes. Devdas is a saga of man who conquers everything by losing all, who might be a weak man but his weakness has appealed generations because there is a weak side to most macho men too. There are times when we are helpless in front of people we love and that is what makes Devdas special. The facts that he is so much like us. The fact that Devdas is so ordinary, the fact that Devdas feels like us, loses like us and is human like us.

This is where Bhansali failed. He failed to create a story of an ordinary and every man. All that unreal opulence and vulgar display of wealth made a caricature out of Devdas. But Devdas the character and story will always appeal to people inspite of Bhansali and his spectacle.

Till we connect again...

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