social status, Paro's father, Nilkant (Shivraj) then finds an even richer husband for Paro. When Paro learns of her planned marriage, she risks her honor to meet Devdas at night, desperately believing that Devdas will quickly accept her hand in marriage. Devdas meekly seeks his parents' permission to marry Paro, but Devdas' family was against him. In a weak-minded state, Devdas then flees to Calcutta, and from there, he writes a letter to Paro, saying that they were only friends and there was no love between them. But soon realizing his mistake, he goes back to the village and tells Paro that he is ready to do anything needed to save their love. By now, Paro's marriage plans are in an advanced stage, and she declines to go back to Devdas and chides him for his cowardice and vacillation. Parvati's marriage is finalized with a wealthy zamindar and widower (Moni Chatterjee) with children older than his young second wife-to-be. In Calcutta, Devdas' carousing friend, Chunni Babu (Motilal), introduces him to a courtesan named Chandramukhi (Vyjayanthimala). Devdas takes to heavy drinking at Chandramukhi's place, but the courtesan falls in love with him and looks after him. His health deteriorates because of a combination of excessive drinking and despair of life — a drawn-out form of suicide. Within him, he frequently compares Paro and Chandramukhi, remaining ambivalent as to whom he really loves. Sensing his fast-approaching death, Devdas returns to meet Paro to fulfill a vow that he would see her before he dies. He dies at her doorstep on a dark, cold night. On hearing of the death of Devdas, Paro runs towards the door, disregarding "purdah", but her family members prevent her from stepping out of the door. The movie powerfully depicts the prevailing social customs in Bengal in the early 1900s, which are largely responsible for preventing the happy ending of a genuine love story. Cast Dilip Kumar as Devdas Suchitra Sen as Parvati "Paro" Vyjayanthimala as Chandramukhi Motilal as Chunnilal Nazir Hussain as Dharamdas Murad as Zamindar Narayan Pratima Devi as Harimati Shivraj as Neelkanth Iftekhar as Dwijdas Kanhaiyalal as teacher Sarita Devi as Paro's grandmother Moni Chatterjee as Bhuvan Choudhury Nana Palsikar as Street Singer Dulari as Street Singer Parveen Paul as Devdas' sister-in-law Pran as Chandramukhi's Patron Johnny Walker as Chandramukhi's Patron Naaz as Young Parvati Production Dilip Kumar was Bimal Roy's first choice for the