Devi (1960) – Satyajit Ray’s Bold Exploration of Faith and Blind Devotion
.jpg)
Overview
Satyajit Ray made a very bold movie with Devi (1960). In a country steeped in religious fervour and suffocating blind faith, Ray dares to question generally accepted norms — not loudly, not provocatively, but with quiet, devastating clarity. What makes Devi unsettling is that Ray does not attack belief itself; instead, he exposes how belief, once weaponised by authority and tradition, can destroy lives. The film is less an argument and more a slow, unavoidable reckoning.
Themes of Faith and Conflict
Essentially, Devi is about the collision of faiths — where one person’s belief becomes another’s undoing. Ray shows how faith is never neutral; it always operates within relationships, hierarchies, and power structures. What one character considers divine truth becomes, for another, a sentence of lifelong suffering. The brilliance lies in Ray’s refusal to simplify: faith sanctifies, consoles, empowers — and yet, in the same breath, it imprisons and annihilates.
Players of the Faith Game
1. Kalikinkar Roy
The patriarch of the family, Kalikinkar Roy (You'll remember Chhabi Biswas from Jalsaghar, Parash Pathar), is deeply devoted to Goddess Kali. When he dreams of the Devi and envisions Dayamayi as her incarnation, he does not question it — doubt has no place in his worldview. His belief is absolute, immovable, and therefore dangerous. What Ray exposes through Kalikinkar is the terrifying authority of conviction when it answers only to itself.
2. Umaprasad Roy
Umaprasad (Soumitra Chatterjee) represents rationality, education, and a faith rooted in human relationships rather than ritual. He is not faithless — his faith lies in love, companionship, and reason. Yet Ray makes his tragedy painfully clear: logic is powerless when belief is socially sanctioned. His helplessness is perhaps the film’s most haunting emotional register. Mr. Chatterjee acting versatility comes through, as it did in Apur Sansar and Abhijan among countless others.
3. Taraprasad Roy
Taraprasad (Purnendu Mukherjee) has no belief system of his own. He obeys, submits, and slowly disintegrates. His alcoholism is not mere weakness but a quiet protest against a life dictated by authority. Ray treats him with sympathy, showing how inherited faith can suffocate those who never chose it.
4. Harasundari
Beautifully portrayed by Karuna Banerjee (Remember her from the Apu Trilogy? Pather Panchali, Aparajito, Apur Sansar) Harasundari is the film’s moral anchor. Her realism, maternal instinct, and quiet resistance form the last fragile barrier against madness. Her faith is not metaphysical but deeply human — placed in her child and the promise of continuity. When that hope is destroyed, Ray signals the final collapse of reason within the household.
5. Dayamayi
Dayamayi, played by a young Sharmila Tagore, is the emotional epicentre of Devi. She does not seek divinity — it is imposed upon her. As her identity is erased and replaced with reverence, Ray captures the psychological violence of worship. By the time tragedy strikes, Dayamayi is hollowed out completely. Faith has consumed the believer.
Conclusion
Devi is not merely a film about religion; it is about the terrifying ease with which faith turns into fear. Ray offers no answers, only an unflinching mirror. The question he poses — whether belief liberates or destroys — remains as urgent today as it was in 1960.
Comments