The most iconic film of director Sanjay Leela Bhansali completed its 20 years on Tuesday this week. It starred an ensemble cast of some big Bollywood stars with Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Madhuri Dixit Nene in the lead. The film today on our firing list is ‘Devdas’.
Chattopadhyay whitewashed Devdas
If you have watched Devdas, you would know that the character played by Shah Rukh Khan is a failure in life, in love, and within his family. He is a bad son, a worse lover and probably the worst human being. Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay, the author of the story, has cleverly “whitewashed” the protagonist, which is quite evident in the scenes where he gives his share of the inheritance to his mother before leaving his home. What he should have done out of love and duty to his mother, he does only because he has stepped into a world where his family and other things have become meaningless for him.
He was a bad lover too. While the lovers take it as pride when referred as Devdas, I do believe that no-one deserves a lover like Devdas. He couldn’t even fight for the dignity of his love interests. He couldn’t even stand by her when she needed him the most. Even after Aishwarya was married to another guy, he started visiting a brothel to entertain himself.
Devdas wasn’t a hero
As far as I understood, the two women in Devdas’s life were stronger, more confident, and more powerful than Devdas. He was a coward who didn’t even know how to make a choice, while on the other hand, the women lived their life on their own terms.The women made their choices and stood by their decision. Moreover, they had the courage to fight their battles of life.
And then there was Devdas, who resorted to alcohol to lessen the pain. Of course, he was so passionate when it came to love, but somehow ended up becoming a victim and that too, when he had a choice to fight. He was an egoistic person whose ego gets hurt by his father’s rejection and Paro’s marriage to a kind zamindar. Such was the cowardice of the so-called hero Devdas was that he ended up making alcohol his companion, in life and in death.
When have you watched a hero giving up and not fighting for the right thing, that too, when there’s a choice? How can a man who is educated, and belongs to a good family, can resort to visiting brothel only because of a failed love? Why did Devdas choose to die like a coward rather than being a hero and didn’t fight for his love when it was needed the most?
Devdas couldn’t even make a choice when he was asked to choose between his family and lover. Instead of standing up front to fight the prevailing situation, he finds it easier to run away.
Glorification of prostitution
It is often witnessed that sex workers in Bollywood are shown as the face of women’s power. The phenomenon is the same. They are projected as the ones who control their life themselves and live on their own terms. They are the ones who have a heart of pure gold and need a man for her rescue!
Devdas was no different. “Tawaifon ki taqdeer mein shauhar nahin hote.” This dialogue of the movie often projects the sex workers as the ‘ablanaari’ who wants to get rid of her condition and needs a man to rescue her.
Read more: Frustrated Reviews: A very late but a very accurate analysis of misandrist movie “DilDhadakne Do”
In Devdas, Madhuri Dixit, who is playing ‘ablanaari’, is subjected to insults, considered impure, and doesn’t deserve respect.
Interestingly, despite such a portrayal of the hero, protagonist, men and women, the film even now is considered a superhit. Devdas is a great example of how a lover and a son should not be, but the film has beautifully whitewashed the protagonist.
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