Film

Devata

Name: Devata
Genre: Drama, Family
Released: 1978
Cast: Sanjeev Kumar, Shabana Azmi, Rakesh Roshan, Sarika

Family drama

Devata is a 1978 Indian drama about family obligation, sacrifice, and the cost of devotion. Sanjeev Kumar anchors a multigenerational story with the weight of classical restraint. It's intimate and unhurried—a film that trusts silence as much as dialogue, asking what we owe to those we love and what remains when duty is paid.

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Pakeezah1972

A landmark of Hindi cinema with Meena Kumari's luminous performance. Lush cinematography and a tragic love story that haunted Indian audiences. Essential viewing for understanding the melodrama tradition Devata sits within.

But Nearly three hours long, and the pacing is deliberately slow by modern standards. Some plot threads resolve through convention rather than character.

Hera Pheri1976

Vinod Khanna and Shabana Azmi (your Devata co-star) in a taut thriller about deception within family. Darker and more propulsive than Devata while keeping the same emotional seriousness.

But The plot twists sometimes strain credibility. It wants to be a genre film and a character study simultaneously.

Khandaan1942

Ashok Kumar in a foundational family drama that established many of the conventions Devata revisits. Watching it illuminates how Devata both honors and questions its inheritance.

But Very much a product of its era. The gender dynamics will feel rigid, and the film moves with the deliberation of wartime cinema.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Devata

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

In the Mood for Love2000

Both films treat emotional constraint as the central drama. The plot is what people cannot do; the film is what they feel instead.

Wong Kar-wai's meditation on love, longing, and the spaces between people. Like Devata, it's about what cannot be said and how much meaning lives in gesture, silence, and color. Two people in separate rooms, together.

But Radically different aesthetic—this is visual and hypnotic where Devata is grounded and verbal. Hyperstylized in ways that read as cold to some viewers.

Chitchor1976

Rajesh Khanna and Babita in a touching romantic drama about marriage and rediscovering love. Lighter than Devata but with the same interest in relationships that survive hardship.

But The resolution relies on some fairly neat solutions to complex problems. Emotionally sincere but narratively tidy.

Secrets & Lies1996

Both examine how duty and love tangle, how we betray people we care for, and whether sacrifice ever truly heals the wound.

Mike Leigh's masterpiece about family, revelation, and what we owe to people we've hurt. A contemporary film but one that moves with the same moral seriousness as Devata, refusing easy forgiveness or judgment.

But British working-class setting means zero aesthetic overlap. It's visibly handheld and chaotic where Devata is composed. Long and sometimes uncomfortable to watch.

The Leopard1963

Sanjeev Kumar's performance has the same quality as Lancaster here: a man watching his world and his duty within it become obsolete. Both films say yes to this loss rather than fighting it.

Visconti's elegy for a dying social order, built entirely from the weight of Burt Lancaster carrying history in his body. A film about what must be given up and the grace of knowing when to bow out.

But Italian, 1963, three hours. The pacing is aristocratic—it expects you to sit with the inevitable. Some will find it mannered and dated.