If you think you’re going to watch Devdas, a play that you may have envisioned in your mind, after reading Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s epic romance novel Devdas, you couldn’t be more wrong.
What Ashvin D. Gidwani’s theatrical adaptation of Devdas—which took around a year-and-a-half to be put together—does is shatter all illusions at the beginning itself, as the scene opens with a happy chillum (pot)-smoking Chandramukhi (Manjari Fadnis) reminiscing about her beloved Devdas (Gaurav Chopra) while Chunni Lal (Sanjeev Tyagi) joins her. What is noteworthy is that the duo recall Devdas in a fond manner instead of the expected somber, grief-stricken way.
From the very first scene, one thing is evident, that the director, Saif Hyder Hassan, has gone out of his way, completely skirting the Bollywood route, to ensure that his version of Devdas is as different as possible. He deserves to be applauded for that effort because what is doled out in scene after scene is truly quite the unexpected. Of course, for a large part, the story remains the same but what this version of the play does is, take plenty of artistic liberties while experimenting with modern techniques. For instance, there is a liberal sprinkling of Urdu, thereby moving as far away as possible from Sarat Chandra’s ‘Bengali romance’, and even the end is very different from what the Sarat Chandra’s novel depicts—a ‘delightful aberration’—if you will, considering most in the audience come to watch the play for this immortal love story’s end.
Gidvani’s Devdas must be watched for its magnificent sets, designed by none other than the very talented art director, Omung Kumar, the pulsating music and the novel manner in which his artistes move amid the audience during the play. Whether it is the splendorous set with beautiful chandeliers where Chunni Lal brings Devdas to meet Chandramukhi or seeing the artistes glide through the rows of audience bearing mashaals (torches) or Paro’s (Sukhanda Khandkeka’s) palanquin, or the spectacular post break-up scene between Devdas and Paro, which is bound to move many to tears, or the colourful lighting changes after every scene, everything is a stream of steady surprises which the audience cannot possibly envision beforehand. While some of the dancing were a bit vulgar for my tastes, there were also some soulful dancing choreographed beautifully, like when the dancers dance in gorgeous white costumes depicting Devdas’ inner tumult.
Gaurav Chopra’s talent shines through pleasingly, especially in the last scene, where he battles his inner demons, which deserves special mention. Both Sukhanda Khandkeka and Manjari Fadnis, too, do justice to their roles.
Gidwani’s Devdas is designed to do 200 shows, both in India and abroad, in four different languages. “I feel that our culture is very rich and Devdas is one of the oldest books, which is our classic, our culture, and I’m very proud of our culture. This is a 100 per cent Indian production, a Make in India product, which can be exported and travel the world. [It’s all about] our work, our culture and show[ing] the world what we’re capable of doing,” he says.
