Devi is a 1960 film by Bengal

Bengal

Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...

i director Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature...

, starring Soumitra Chatterjee

Soumitra Chatterjee

Soumitra Chatterjee or Soumitra Chattopadhyay is an iconic Bengali actor from India, known among other things for his frequent collaborations with the great Bengali film director Satyajit Ray and his constant comparison with the Bengali screen idol Uttam Kumar.-Background:Soumitra graduated from...

 and Sharmila Tagore

Sharmila Tagore

Sharmila Tagore is an Indian film actress. She has won National Film Awards and Filmfare Awards for her performances.She has led the Indian Film Censor Board from October 2004 till March 2011...

. It is based on a short story by Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhya. The title means "Goddess".

Plot synopsis

In 1860 rural Bengal

Bengal

Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...

, Doyamoyee (Sharmila Tagore

Sharmila Tagore

Sharmila Tagore is an Indian film actress. She has won National Film Awards and Filmfare Awards for her performances.She has led the Indian Film Censor Board from October 2004 till March 2011...

) and her husband Umaprasad (Soumitra Chatterjee

Soumitra Chatterjee

Soumitra Chatterjee or Soumitra Chattopadhyay is an iconic Bengali actor from India, known among other things for his frequent collaborations with the great Bengali film director Satyajit Ray and his constant comparison with the Bengali screen idol Uttam Kumar.-Background:Soumitra graduated from...

) live with Umaprasad's family. His father, Kalikinkar Roy, is a devoted follower of the goddess Kali

Kali

' , also known as ' , is the Hindu goddess associated with power, shakti. The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death, Shiva. Kali means "the black one". Since Shiva is called Kāla - the eternal time, Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" . Hence, Kāli is...

. Since Umaprasad is away at school, Doyamoyee takes care of her father-in-law.

One evening, Kalikinkar has a dream that Doyamoyee is an Avatar

Avatar

In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....

 of Kali and must be worshipped as such. Soon other people too come to believe that she is an incarnation of the goddess. After hearing the news, Umprasad returns home but is unable to remedy the situation as Doyamoyee herself begins to believe that she is an avatar, a belief which soon turns to tragedy.

Cast

• Chhabi Biswas
  Chhabi Biswas
  Chhabi Biswas was a much revered Bengali character actor, primarily known for his performances in Tapan Sinha's Kabuliwala and Satyajit Ray's films Jalshaghar , Devi and Kanchenjungha .He is the best remembered for his numerous roles as the quintessential aristocratic patriarch, was himself the...
  
   - Kalikinkar Roy
• Soumitra Chatterjee
  Soumitra Chatterjee
  Soumitra Chatterjee or Soumitra Chattopadhyay is an iconic Bengali actor from India, known among other things for his frequent collaborations with the great Bengali film director Satyajit Ray and his constant comparison with the Bengali screen idol Uttam Kumar.-Background:Soumitra graduated from...
  
   - Umaprasad
• Sharmila Tagore
  Sharmila Tagore
  Sharmila Tagore is an Indian film actress. She has won National Film Awards and Filmfare Awards for her performances.She has led the Indian Film Censor Board from October 2004 till March 2011...
  
   - Doyamoyee
• Purnendu Mukherjee - Taraprasad
• Karuna Bannerjee - Harasundari
• Arpan Chowdhury - Khoka, child
• Anil Chatterjee
  Anil Chatterjee
  Anil Chatterjee was a Bengali actor in the Bengali cinema during the early fifties through to the late eighties and was mostly remembered as a character actor. He acted in about 45 movies, both as a character actor and in leading roles with the limited opportunities he received during his time...
  
   - Bhudeb
• Kali Sarkar - Professor Sarkar
• Mohammed Israil - Nibaran
• Khagesh Chakravarti - Kaviraj
• Nagendranath Kabyabyakarantirtha - Priest
• Santa Devi - Sarala

Awards

The film won the President's Gold Medal in New Delhi in 1961 and was nominated for the Palme d'Or

Palme d'Or

The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...

 (Golden Palm) at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival

1962 Cannes Film Festival

-Jury:*Tetsuro Furukaki *Henry Deutschmeister *Sophie Desmarets *Jean Dutourd *Mel Ferrer *Romain Gary *Jerzy Kawalerowicz *Ernst Krüger...

.