Last evening, after much deliberation over the titles from my library, I picked up Ray’s classic, ‘Devi’, unaware of the coincidence of it all.
The movie, based on a short story by Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhya, is set in 19th century Bengal and deals with highly prevalent superstition system in India. It begins with Shubho Bijoya and throughout the movie Maa Durga is main protagonist along with a very young and virginal Sharmila Tagore in her first major role; and Ray’s regular Soumitra Sen. Durga, in Hindu mythology is the demon-fighting form of Lord Shiva’s wife. Despite all my temptations, I’m not going to give away the plot as it will spoil the fun of those who haven’t seen this classic yet.
Today morning, I woke up to hear and see the celebrations of Vijay Dashmi across India, on NDTV. I began smiling to myself. Away from the country, I had completely forgotten about today’s significance.
Because I have a bit of Bengali blood in me I’d like to wish all of you in the typical Bengali manner. Shubho Bijoya Dashumi!
ps: thats the poster of the movie
