Devi (1960)

A young woman is deemed a goddess when her father-in-law, a rich feudal land-lord, has a dream envisioning her as an avatar of Kali.

Director:

Satyajit Ray

Writers:

Prabhat Kumar Mukherjee (story) (as Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhyay), Satyajit Ray (screenplay)

Stars:

Sharmila Tagore, Soumitra Chatterjee, Chhabi Biswas

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Sharmila Tagore	...	Doyamoyee
Soumitra Chatterjee	...	Umaprasad (as Soumitra Chattopadhyay)
Chhabi Biswas	...	Kalikinkar Roy
Karuna Bannerjee	...	Harasundari (as Karuna Bandyopadhyay)
Purnendu Mukherjee	...	Taraprasad (as Purnendu Mukhopadhyay)
Arpan Chowdhury	...	Khoka, child (as Shriman Arpan Chowdhury)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Anil Bag
Khagesh Chakravarti	...	Kaviraj
Anil Chatterjee	...	Bhudeb (as Anil Chattopadhyay)
Arabinda Kumar Chowdhury
Shanta Devi	...	Sarala
Mohammed Israil	...	Nibaran
Nagendranath Kabyabyakarantirtha	...	Priest
Bholanath Koyal	...	(as Bholanath Kayal)
Anil Mitra

Storyline

'Devi' focuses on a young woman who is deemed a goddess when her father-in-law, a rich feudal land-lord, has a dream envisioning her as an avatar of Kali.

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Plot Keywords:

reference to kali the hindu deity | goddess | dream | incarnation | belief | 

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Taglines:

His First Film Since The Great "Apu Trilogy"

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Genres:

Drama

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Did You Know?

Quotes

Kalikinkar Roy: [while Doyamoyee strokes his feet] Five years ago, when I couldn't walk without a cane, Uma's mother passed away. You weren't here at that time. Do you know what I decided at that time, dear? I wasn't happy with our family. So I thought, "I'll give Taraprasad all responsibility for our land and leave." But that didn't happen. Because then you came along and lit up our home. And I decided to stay. At this old age, I've found a dear one once again. Of course, it ws all through the grace of the ...

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Connections

Featured in The Story of Film: An Odyssey: The Arrival of Multiplexes and Asian Mainstream (2011)

User Reviews

Excellent masterpiece by the Master himself

Excellent film. Captures the essence of religious superstition verses spirituality. Shot in glorious black and white the film is essentially about a 17 year old bride ( played by Sharmila Tagore)whose atheist husband goes away for further studies leaving her with his family in a rural town in Bengal. Her devout father-in-law, who is an ardent worshipper of the goddess Kali, has a vision that his daughter-in-law is actually an incarnation of the goddess. The devoted daughter-in-law, initially, plays along for the fear of hurting his feelings but as the movie progresses she gets caught up in the ritualistic practices and starts to believe that she is actually the goddesses incarnate. I have actually seen things like that happen and I think Ray captured the mass hysteria of an entire town very well. The struggle between the son who is a spiritual man but is not superstious and his father is well portrayed. Over all an excellent film, not on par with the Apu trilogy however.

Details

Country:

India

Language:

Bengali

Release Date:

19 February 1960 (India)

Also Known As:

The Goddess

Box Office

Gross USA:

$93,215

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1