Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s romantic saga Devdas and its characters Devdas, Chandramukhi and Parvati, or Paro as she is fondly called by the character of Devdas, has been a Bollywood favourite since the 1930s.

The story has inspired many film-makers over the decades and every version of Devdas has been a hit at the box office.

Director Sudhir Mishra released the trailer of his upcoming film Daas Dev on Valentine’s Day, which he says has been inspired by Devdas. 

Devdas’ silver screen saga started in 1936 with singer-actor K.L. Saigal portraying the iconic role. The film was directed by Pramathesh Barua and Jamuna Barua essayed the role of Paro. Rajkumari played Chandramukhi. The film, which was also made in Bengali and Assamese, went on to become a huge hit at the box office.
 

Later, director Bimal Roy came up with his own interpretation of Devdas in 1955 with Dilip Kumar in the lead. Suchitra Sen played Paro and Vyjayanthimala, Chandramukhi. 

The music of the film was a sensation in the 50s and Dilip Kumar went on to become the most revered hero of Hindi cinema.

In 2002, Sanjay Leela Bhansali made his version — a magnum opus in the director’s signature style. Shah Rukh Khan went on to play the role in his own inimitable style while Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit added glamour as Paro and Chandramukhi respectively. One thing remained constant for all the three versions — music of all the films were hits.

In 2009, writer-director Anurag Kashyap released his modern take of Devdas with his film Dev D, a romantic black comedy set in Punjab and Delhi. The lead protagonists were essayed by Abhay Deol, Mahie Gill and Kalki Koechlin. Unlike the other versions, Kashyap’s Devdas does not die in the end and decides to start life anew. The director had admitted that his film was a bridge between the original novel and Bhansali’s Devdas. The film went on to garner a lot of awards as well as critical acclaim.

Sudhir Mishra has said his Daas Dev is not an adaptation of Sarat Chandra’s novel but purely an inspiration. 

“I would like to say sorry to Sarat babu for my take on Devdas. I would like to tell everyone that if you are expecting Sarat babu’s Devdas, please don’t watch this film. It’s only an inspiration. However the performance, the cinematography and music is great.” 
 

The director revealed that his protagonist is not addicted to alcohol but to power. How he changes or does not change is what the story is about. “In the original, Devdas has a family; becomes a victim; is addicted; and is shown as a helpless victim. You will not get to see any of the grandeur or glimpse of the old Devdas. Devdas has the legacy of so many years and it has three main characters. But when I started writing the script, somewhere Shakespeare took over my mind and politics came into it. In my film, Paro comes out of her ‘kotha’ in the second half and joins politics. Chandni or Chandramukhi is known to everyone but no one knows where she has come from or what is her purpose. My Devdas is a reverse journey,” he said. 

Sudhir’s Devdas is Rahul Bhatt, Paro is Richa Chadha and Chakramukhi is Aditi Rao Hydari.