在这部二十世纪剧情片中,社会改革类型的影片，通过人性问题的描述，探讨社会变迁的问题。 一个孟买的街头小贩，在获取一笔财富之后，摇身一变，成为一个剥削他人的雇主，一心一意想融入英国殖民者的社会。（《电影的故事》p81）
This social film attacks Bombay's industrial parvenu class, initiating the realist-reformist melodrama as a genre. It tells of the street hawker Devdas, who goes to the city to make his fortune but, once successful, becomes an exploitative cotton mill owner and a callous snob knighted by the British. There is a violent factory worker's revolt. His wife, the kindly Hirabai, is made to suffer and his daughter Rukmini is dishonored.
