Devdas (, transliterated as Dēbôdās) is a Bengali romance novel written by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. The story pivots a tragic triangle linking Devdas, an archetypal lover in viraha (separation); Paro, his forbidden childhood love; and Chandramukhi, a reformed courtesan (tawaif). Devdas has been adapted on screen 20 times for film and 5 times for single song.

The character of Parvati was based on a real life second wife of zamindar Bhuvan Mohan Chowdhury. It was said that the writer had even visited that village. According to sources, the original village was called Hatipota. It is the most filmed non-epic story in India.

Notable film versions of the novella include:

{| class="wikitable sortable"

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! rowspan=2|Year !! rowspan=2|Title !! rowspan=2|Language !! rowspan=2 class="unsortable"|Director !! colspan=3 class="unsortable" | Cast !! rowspan=2 class="unsortable"|Notes

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! Devdas !! Parvati!! Chandramukhi

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| 1928 || Devdas || Silent film || Naresh Mitra || Phani Burma || Tarakbala || Niharbala/Miss Parul ||

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| 1935 || Devdas || Bengali || rowspan=3|P. C. Barua || P.C. Barua || Jamuna Barua || Chandrabati Devi ||

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| 1936 || Devdas || Hindustani || K.L. Saigal || Jamuna Barua || Rajkumari ||

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| 1937 || Devdas || Assamese || Phani Sarma || Zubeida || Mohini ||

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| rowspan=2|1953 || Devadasu || Telugu || rowspan=2|Vedantam Raghavayya || rowspan=2|Akkineni Nageswara Rao || rowspan=2|Savitri || rowspan=2|Lalitha ||

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| Devadas || Tamil

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| rowspan=2|1955 || Devdas || Hindi || Bimal Roy || Dilip Kumar || Suchitra Sen || Vyjayanthimala ||

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| Selamat Tinggal, Kekasihku || Malay || L. Krishnan || S. Roomai Noor || Chang Lai Lai || Molly Lim || Singaporean film also known as Good Bye My Lover.

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| 1965 || Devdas || Urdu || Khawaja Sarfaraz || Habib Taalish || Shamim Ara || Nayyar Sultana || Pakistani film

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| 1974 || Devadasu || Telugu || Vijaya Nirmala || Ghattamaneni Krishna || Vijaya Nirmala || Jayanthi ||

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| 1978 || Muqaddar Ka Sikandar || Hindustani || Prakash Mehra || Amitabh Bachchan || Raakhee || Rekha || loosely inspired by Devdas

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| 1979 || Devdas || Bengali || Dilip Roy || Soumitra Chatterjee || Sumitra Mukherjee || Supriya Choudhury || also known as Debdas

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| 1980 || Prema Tarangalu || Telugu || S. P. Chitti Babu || Krishnam Raju || Sujatha || Jayasudha || rowspan="2" | Remake of Muqaddar Ka Sikandar

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| 1981 || Amara Kaaviyam || Tamil || Amirtham || Sivaji Ganesan || Madhavi || Sripriya

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| 1982 || Devdas || Bengali || Chashi Nazrul Islam || Bulbul Ahmed || Kabori Sarwar || Anwara || Bangladeshi film

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| 1989 || Devadas || Malayalam || Crossbelt Mani || Venu Nagavally || Parvathy || Ramya Krishnan ||

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| rowspan=2|2002 || Devdas || Bengali || Shakti Samanta || Prasenjit Chatterjee || Arpita Pal || Indrani Halder ||

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|Devdas || Hindi || Sanjay Leela Bhansali || Shah Rukh Khan || Aishwarya Rai || Madhuri Dixit ||

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| 2004 || Devdas || Bengali || || Parambrata Chatterjee || Monami Ghosh || Sreelekha Mitra ||

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| 2009 || Dev.D|| Hindi || Anurag Kashyap || Abhay Deol || Mahie Gill || Kalki Koechlin || Modern-Day Adaptation

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| 2010 || Devdas || Urdu || Iqbal Kasmiri || Nadeem Shah || Zara Sheikh || Meera || Pakistani film

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| 2011 || Hamaar Devdas || Bhojpuri || Kiran Kant Verma || Ravi Kishan || Akshara Singh || Monalisha ||

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| 2013 || Devdas || rowspan=2|Bengali || Chashi Nazrul Islam || Shakib Khan || Apu Biswas || Moushumi || Bangladeshi film

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| 2017 || Devi || Rik Basu || Paoli Dam || Shubh Mukherjee || Shataf Figar || Modern-Day Adaptation

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| 2017–2021 || Dev DD || rowspan=2|Hindi || Ken Ghosh || Asheema Vardaan|| Akhil Kapoor || Sanjay Suri ||2 season web series<br>Modern-Day Adaptation

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| 2018 || Daas Dev || Sudhir Mishra || Rahul Bhatt || Richa Chadda || Aditi Rao Hydari || Modern-Day Adaptation

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| 2019 || Nayaka Ra Na Devdas || Odia || Mrutyunjaya Sahoo || Asit Patra || Bhoomika Dash || Anu Choudhary ||

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|2024

|Abdullahpur Ka Devdas

|Urdu

|Anjum Shahzad

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  • In Guru Dutt's critically acclaimed film Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), a sub plot involves Dutt directing a film titled Devdas with Waheeda Rehman playing Paro.
  • In Haath Ki Safai (1974), a song in the movie is about the play Devdas with Randhir Kapoor as Devdas and Hema Malini as Chandramukhi.
  • In the Tamil remake of the song, Kamal Haasan plays Devdas and Sripriya plays Chandramukhi.
  • A sequel of the 1953 Telugu version of Devdasu was released in year 1978, titled Devadasu Malli Puttadu.
  • In the 2006 Kannada blockbuster Mungaru Male, a rabbit who is protagonist's pet is named after Devdas.
  • In the 2012 Hindi film Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum, a dream sequence has Tusshar Kapoor as Devdas, Neha Sharma as Paro and Sarah Jane Dias as Chandramukhi.
  • Daas Dev is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language political romantic drama film directed by Sudhir Mishra, who also co-wrote the screenplay along with Jaydeep Sarkar and Shubhra Chatterji. The film is a contemporary reinterpretation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic novel Devdas, transposed into the volatile world of modern Indian politics. Produced by Sanjjeev Kumar, Gaurav Sharma, and Manohar P. Kanungo under the banners Storm Motion Pictures and Saptarishi Cinevision Production, the film stars Rahul Bhat in the titular role, alongside Richa Chadda and Aditi Rao Hydari in pivotal roles. The film's cinematography is handled by Sachin K. Krishn, while editing is done by Archit Damodar Rastogi. Its music features contributions from Vipin Patwa, Arko Pravo Mukherjee, Sandesh Shandilya, Anupama Raag, and Shamir Tandon, blending contemporary sounds with emotional undertones. Daas Dev was theatrically released on 27 April 2018 and distributed by Shringar Films. With a runtime of 140 minutes, the film explores themes of ambition, power, love, self-destruction, and moral decay, reimagining Devdas not as a tragic lover alone, but as a deeply flawed political heir trapped by his own excesses.
  • Song "Paro" (2022) by Aditya Rikhari, a viral breakout hit that utilizes the thematic essence of Devdas, modernizing the archetype for a contemporary audience.

See also

  • Bengal Renaissance
  • Mujra dance
  • Parinita/Parineeta (1914)

References

Further reading

  • Penguin India book review
  • Devdas in Bengali Text