[Reader-list] Devdas

[Zainab Bawa]

Dear Readers on the List,
Recently, I watched Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas. It definitely has modern 
touches to it. What is interesting is the potrayal of Devdas's character, 
which to my mind represents today's youth perfectly. Here are some of my 
personal reflections after watching Devdas. Sharing them with you.
Regards,
Zainab

Devdas – Some Personal Reflections

The recently released Devdas, has been a much-talked about film.  This 
50-crore flick is one of Bollywood’s most expensively made films.  The film 
became controversial with many accidents taking place on the sets during its 
making.  The costumes and the sets are extravagant, but even ‘extravagant’ 
is a poor word considering that Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai have adorned 
costumes weighing forty to fifty kilograms and costing in the region of 
rupees 15 lakh per outfit.  The exquisitely detailed sets of Devdas, which 
were noticeable the moment you entered film city in Mumbai, have also been 
created at great expense.

Devdas is the saga of a man who fails in love.  He is unable to marry his 
beloved Paro.  Consequently, he takes to alcohol to punish himself for his 
inability to consummate his love for Paro into marriage.  After Paro gets 
married to a rich zamindar, Devdas begins to make the rounds of the 
ill-famed prostitution bazaar in pre-independent Calcutta.  Here, a 
beautiful danseuse Chandramukhi falls in love with him and in the process, 
she quits dancing and devotes herself to Devdas.  In the end, Devdas dies a 
sad death due to alcoholism and Paro is unable to be with him when he 
breathes his last.

Devdas, as played by Shah Rukh Khan in this Sanjay Leela Bhansali film, is 
very much a reflection of today’s youth.  As I reflect on the character of 
Devdas in this film, I realize that Devdas’s passive-aggressiveness is very 
much a trait of the youth in today’s society.

Devdas had a disturbed relationship with his father since childhood.  As a 
child, his father would often beat him up for not attending class and 
prancing around the village with Paro.  To this, Devdas would rebel silently 
and build up anger within him.  Subsequently, we find that throughout the 
film, Devdas has an angry temperament and in his fits of anger, he ends up 
making rash decisions.  This characterization is quite different from the 
previous characterizations of Devdas, where Devdas is shown to be a soft and 
gentle person.  I find that this trait of Devdas, as portrayed by Bhansali, 
will resonate with the sentiments of several youngsters whose anger has 
become displaced.

In today’s society, we still find that fathers and sons having uneasy 
relationships.  Most of us are unable to resolve our childhood emotional 
baggages and we continue to carry them with us as we grow.  Resultantly, we 
transfer them onto our children who are the easiest victims.  In our 
society, we view it as taboo to confront difficult relationships and resolve 
them with love and affection.  The mere display of affection between a 
father and son is viewed as awkward and ‘not so normal’.  The pressures on a 
man allow him no space and he is unable to craft strong bonds with other 
men.

In Bhansali’s film, Devdas is sent off to London so that he is away from 
Paro and is able to focus on his studies and become a successful lawyer.  
For Devdas, this is a huge trauma and he feels abandoned by his father and 
his family.  However, he bears this silently.  Perhaps, as a ten-year-old, 
he wouldn’t have any other choice.

When Devdas comes back from London, he wants to marry Paro.  But his family 
is against this match because they are a rich zamindari family while Paro 
hails from a lower caste family.  Devdas is unable to flout the rules set by 
his family and consequently, we find that Paro gets married to a rich 
zamindar, who has children almost her age.

We all know that our parents like to decide for us and have their say when 
it comes to our careers and marriage.  We resent their choices and decisions 
for us and like Devdas, we also rebel silently, from within.  But how many 
of us have the courage to question openly and gain the freedom to make our 
own choices and decisions.  Like Devdas, we too build up anger within 
ourselves but how would this anger help?  We talk about freedom and 
independence in our society, but where will this freedom and independence 
come from when we are still chained in our minds, when we do not have the 
freedom to decide for ourselves?

For me, the highest and most basic form of freedom is the freedom to choose 
and decide for oneself, being aware of and responsible for the consequences 
of our choices and decisions.

One of the popular newspapers in our city posed the question, “Can Devdas be 
a hero for today’s youth?”  I feel that Devdas perfectly represents today’s 
youth who are weak and are unable to flout the establishment.  Today’s youth 
are angst-ridden youngsters hungry for revolution.  But they feel incapable 
of carrying out the revolution themselves because they are used to status 
quo.  (Of course, status-quo represents comfort and who wants to walk out of 
comfort?!?!)  Instead, they focus hard on enjoying themselves (just like 
Devdas who wanted to drown his miseries in alcohol).  But how successful are 
we in trying to run away from our real problems?

Devdas was a victim – a victim of his own anger, a victim who kept punishing 
himself and a victim who portrayed himself as helpless.  We can continue to 
be Devdas‘es’ and wallow in self-pity.  Like Devdas, we can choose to be 
angry with ourselves and with the larger society.  But if we do not want to 
be Devdas, what is the way out?

You would think that I am asking you to rebel outright and go against all 
that is.  No!  I am asking you to become aware of your weaknesses and take 
to find the courage to act inspite of the weaknesses.  Weaknesses instill a 
sense of fear within us.  True courage is to act inspite of the fear.

If we are to establish independent and free societies, the first step is to 
change ourselves.  We can continue to be indifferent to our personal 
conditions and to the problems in society.  But please know that a society 
which is indifferent to its own deteriorating situation is one day 
victimized by its own apathy.

So, what choice do you want to make?

- Zainab Bawa


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