Devi (1960)

দেবী / The Goddess
Feature Film | Religious Drama | India | Bengali | 1h33m
Dir: Satyajit Ray | Scr: Satyajit Ray | Story: Prabhat Kumar Mukherjee | Ph: Subrata Mitra | Prod: Satyajit Ray | Mus: Ali Akbar Khan | Ed: Dulal Dutta | PD: Bansi Chandragupta | Snd: Durgadas Mitra | Cast: Chhabi Biswas, Soumitra Chatterjee, Sharmila Tagore, Purnendu Mukherjee, Karuna Bannerjee, Arpan Chowdhury, Anil Chatterjee, Kali Sarkar, Mohammed Israil, Khagesh Chakravarti, Nagendranath Kabyabyakarantirtha, Shanta Devi

A materially wealthy but physically ailing old man dreams (and subsequently comes to believe) that his beautiful, caring 17-year-old daughter-in-law is the incarnation of the Hindu Goddess Kali, and quickly, with his lofty position in the local community, begins to convince others of it also. However, his son (her husband), who is most set to lose out by her deification, is not so quick to accept this unusual turn of events, and sets about attempting to convince her to embrace her humanity and run away with him instead, in this powerful 19th century-set religious drama. Driven by the ethereally beautiful Tagore’s mesmeric central performance, Ray’s film proves an intriguing, sensuous delight.