SaratChandra Chattopadhyay's classical romantic hero, Devdas, was a drunken escapist, a doomed lover, a Bengali protagonist who reflected his failure in coming to terms with his own emotional scruples & that of others, but he can hardly be called a rebel. However, Anurag Kashyap has given Devdas a new spin. Dev, the hero, is still the loser in love, but it is his angst that burns the screen. It is the rebellious director himself who has taken ample liberties with the story and the characters, using his imagination & creativity to infuse life in each of the characters in a modern setting, and using crisp & witty dialogues, real-life situations lifted straight from the newspapers, mind-boggling cinenatography, stylized editing, catchy musical score, psychedelic surrealism, and wonderfully amoral sexuality as powerful tools. It is a trailblazer of a movie; unsettling, provoking, unconventional, and thoroughly irreverent. Abhay Deol, as the titular protagonist, has put in a power-packed performance, and so have the apparent fresh faces - Mahi Gill (as Parminder/Paro), Kalki Koechlin (Lenny/Chanda) & Dibyendu Bhattacharya (Chunni).
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We have had several films made based on Sharat Chandra Chatterjee's novel Devdas, which the novelist had himself later debunked, as it had its share of imbalances. PC Barua, K L Saigal, Akkineni Nageshwara Rao, Dilip Kumar, Krishna, Soumitra Chatterjee, and Shah Rukh Khan - all have played the tragic hero, in the filmed versions in the many languages, and have won acclaim in their times. But Abhay Deol, in this film is truly a revelation! He hardly hams or overacts. Nor is he as muted and underplayed as he otherwise is. His is a balanced performance. Mahie Gill has the intoxicating eyes that can make a guy kick the bottle, and she too has played Paro with elan. Kalki does an impressively fine job too, especially for a newcomer. Whereas the wacky portrayal of the pimp called Chunni by Dibyendu has had no parallels in any of the earlier films that had been doggedly faithful to the novel.
'Dev. D' is genuinely a revolutionary execution from Anurag Kashyap. He has blown my mind off completely, I have to say that after last night's experience of watching the film at a nearby single-screen theater!!!!!
The audience there was hardly the multiplex mix of urban elite and college-goers, yet people just loved the irreverent black humor. Anurag surely has shown the way for a post-modern retelling of a classic, in his own style, using his own interpretation, and sensualizing the narration in such a raw manner. 'Dev. D' is pure magic; sheer ecstasy (pun intended)!
The reason 'Dev. D' succeeds as a film, in spite of the undesirable digressions and the long duration, is that the film reflects the trials and tribulations of lovers today. Love itself has now gone through a conceptual sea-change. Our relations are fragile, or may be we have become more fragile as persons. Hence, the self-destructive sexual mores of our times is also a metaphor of hopelessness, despair and depravity. 'Dev. D' paints not a rosy picture, as it is the contemporaneity of the script that prevents the screenplay to do so, yet there is more hope in the eyes of the wayward Chanda, aka Lenny, as she is perhaps cursed to be more giving, more sensitised, and more rooted in love.
i need to see this movie. it sounds sooo interesting.
hi buddy~
haven't seen the movie but i do want to, but i must tell you the experience would be great to see Dev in pscycadelic niche....
hey,
this movie is amazing.
awesome!!!
never knew abhay deol had such potential in him.
DEV. D rockkkkkkkkkkkks!
This film was radically different from the movies being produced at the time, and hence it can be said that it changed the way films were being made and the kind of films being made in India, all because of the pioneering efforts of the makers.
One of the best films in recent times, this film shows if remakes are indeed to be made, they are to be made in style, just as Mr Kashyap has chosen to do; it's re-interpretation, re-telling, and revamping!
I love watching the movie again and again! Dhaansoo film, really!
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