The Legacy of Devadas: Behind the Scenes of the Telugu Classic
Devadas, a story written by the renowned Bengali author Sharath, made waves not only in literature but also in the film industry. The movie was released in nearly 12 Indian languages, with the Telugu version garnering the most success. The credit for this goes to Mr. Nageshwara Rao, who played the titular character and immersed himself in the role.
Most of the shooting was done on sets, with a few exceptions like the Palleku podam song and Savitri's palanquin scene, which were shot outdoors. However, after seeing the rushes, the team realized that ANR looked too bright for his gloomy character. So, they resorted to shooting during nights, with 53 night shoots taking place to capture the characters' sadness and hopelessness.
The story of Devadas never had the protagonist proposing his love to Parvathi, and they were unaware of their feelings for each other. But the director Vedantam made some changes to cater to the Telugu audience, including the famous dialogue “siggantha ippude volakaposthe, mari pelli naado” (if I have seen the sky just now, is it already time for the wedding?).
ANR's portrayal of Devadas was so sensational that Dilip Kumar, who played the same character in the Hindi version, admitted that he wouldn't have taken the role if he had seen ANR's performance earlier.
The film's music, composed by C. R. Subburaman and sung by Ghantasala, is still remembered by many. Ghantasala even tried eating ice before recording the boozing songs to bring out some realism. The song "Jagame Maaya" was a standout, with Akkineni's expressions and the trash around him, as well as the white dog and the heart-wrenching cough at the end, leaving a lasting impression.
During the making of the film, Akkineni would shout in the temple for four hours to regain his voice, which he used throughout the film. Devadas was released on June 26, 1953, and went on to become a huge hit, with a run of 420 days and platinum jubilee and centenary celebrations.
