Bimal Roy and Sanjay Leela Bhansali over romanticised and suffocated the flaws of their respective Devdas. But Anurag Kashyap gets the objectivity right brilliantly in Dev D. Dev’s love for Paro is borne out of lust (a natural progression for any amorous relationship) and his spinelessness is so inebriated with self-love-cum-self-justification that you end up pitying and liking him all at the same time. In other words Kashyap (after a disastrous No Smoking) makes a pathbreaking comeback to direction with a film that stuns you with its narrative style.
Dev (Abhay Deol) is a spoilt rich son who comes back to his village from London after his childhood sweetheart Paro (Mahie Gill) whips up his fantassy with her topless picture via internet messenger. No, the gaana-vaana doesn’t follow in sarson-ke-khet. Instead Dev’s treated to Emosonal Attyachar as Paro marries a middle aged man owing to a couple of small ’sexual’ misunderstandings with Dev.
Meanwhile, parralel to this story, Lenny (Kalki) loses her father as he is unable to cope up with the raging controversy in her school due to an MMS where she is having sex with a boy. The Indo-French girl lands up in a brothel in Delhi that serves firangi girls to loaded-with-blonde-fantassy desi men. She willingly becomes Chandramukhi (short form... Chanda) after taking a fancy to Madhuri Dixit in Bhansali’s Devdas that she has often seen-n-liked on TV. A distraught drunkard, drug abuser Dev lands up in her lap and they find comfort in each other’s company.
There are ingenious references to the infamous DPS MMS scandal and Sanjeev Nanda BMW hit-n-run case. Also, Shahrukh Khan’s Devdas poster outside a secret pub stands out as a smart prop. Various gadgets and wigs for role-playing in Chanda’s harem are a novel idea. Delhi streets of Paharganj near railway station have been exploited beautifully. Art Direction in general, is Spot On.
Where Dev D scores maximum points is the dexterity in chalking out the boundaries and parameters of characterisation. And the entire starcast scores brownie points by sticking to the context of their roles and dishing out memorable performances collectively. Abhay Deol has always been a fine actor. But now he will be regarded as one of the finest actors we have in the country today. He looks the part. The drugged eyes, haggard, sozzled appearance, creepy beggar like craving for escape-from-reality and that child-like tragic flaw of being convinced of negative opinions of devious people...Abhay Deol was meant to be Devdas.
Punjabi actress Mahie Gill delivers a first rate performance. She is comfortable posing topless for a man whom she wishes to marry; get on top of him to sexually satisfy him; wash his clothes unabashedly post her own marriage (with someone else) and love in a sensible mature manner despite retaining a child-like innocence. Kalki Koechlin is a rare beauty who acts exceedingly well. Usage of Hindi curse words by her gives it a hard-feel emphasising upon her life’s terrible experiences.
As mentioned earlier, the narrative style of Dev D is one of its highlights. The manner in which story moves from Point C to Point D and then rewinds to take you forward from Point A to Point C reminds you of Quentin Tarrantino’s genius work Pulp Fiction. As an Indian viewer you know the basic premise of Devdas’s story so it becomes imperative that How-that-story-is-told because that’s how your craving for something ’Different’ gets satisfied. Although the climax is a bit of a let down and hurried. Don’t worry, I won’t reveal it to you guys to spoil the fun.
Music by Amit Trivedi is brilliant and so is the background score. Emosonal Attyachar, Dil Mein Jaage, Nayan Tarse, Paayalia and Pardesi are outstanding tracks. Trivedi is the future of Indian Film Music. Rajeev Ravi’s camerawork captures the city and village moods in diametrically different ways. Aarti Bajaj’s Editing is a revelation and gives the film an international sheen. The second half is a bit lengthy and could have been trimmed though there are no complaints with the editing chops.
Finally, director Anurag Kashyap proves that Black Friday was no fluke. Yes he makes deliberate efforts to make a film that’s more commercially acceptable. No harm in that. To his credit he takes up a reference point as a story idea, fleshes it out, stays true to the context of the story and its characters and his genius takes over hence forth without going overboard. Yes, he goofs up with the ending of the film (by playing to the gallery) but then maybe making hatke-films aren’t easy (especially when you have a momumental flop called No Smoking which was a commercial disaster). But still, after watching Dev D one wants much more of Kashyap the story teller. A unique story teller. Go watch Dev D and bask in the glory of a film that satiates your desire for classic cinema.