‘Devi’ Reminds Us to Seek Truth in Devotion

You begin with a face sculpted in clay. Slowly, she transforms: someone paints on eyes, the third eye on her forehead, her lips. She gets a golden crown, earrings, and silk clothes. Shapeless earth becomes a fully-formed goddess. Bells ring, smoke envelops her, and chants echo through the hall: Ma Durga has arrived, her devotees at her feet. 

And so opens Satyajit Ray’s Devi (1960), with a single haunting question: what is devotion? Is it the bond between a husband and wife, as Umaprasad (Soumitra Chatterjee) lovingly beseeches his wife Doyamoyee (Sharmila Tagore) to write to him every day he’s away? Is it how Doyamoyee massages her father-in-law’s feet every evening? Or how Khoka, Doyamoyee’s nephew, calls out to her every day, so that she can feed him sweets and tell him a tale?

This festive season, as we visit pandals, dance at garbas, and honor the stories of powerful goddesses, this one film give us some pause — to ask questions as we find beauty in both the human and divine.