ABHAY DEOL SHINES AS DEV

By Eye TV India Bureau

Critic's I-view

Anurag Kashyap isn't an ordinary director. He is non-traditional and non-conventional. He is rather contemporary. So is his movie titled 'Dev D' like his earlier films, say, 'Black Friday', 'Paanch' and 'No Smoking'. In spite of this, 'D Dev' looks like Bollywood's earlier avatars of Devdas, based on late Sarat Chandra's novel. There a major difference though between K. L Saigal, Dilip Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan and Abhay Deol as Devdas. While the first three movies were faithful to Sarat's legendary character, Anurag Kashyap's deviates from them in many ways.

Anurag's Devdas is just different inasmuch as his Devdas belongs to the present age though his hero also behaves like his earlier avatars in many respects. He also falls in love of childhood sweetheart Paro, then goes astray and moves close to Chandramukhi, after Paro marries with someone else consequent to an altercation between Dev and Paro. And, Paro's husband Bhuvan, is much older to her, and has two children. No sooner Dev loses Paro's love than he suffers from bouts of depression.

Dev falls in the lap of Chanda/Lenny (erstwhile Chandramukhi) who is a victim of society. Her fault is that someone sends her an SMS and she is therefore outcast by the family. Kashyap's movie too has the rich rural backdrop but that of the northern states of Punjab and Delhi. His hero completely disconnects with today's world. That's why he seeks from his childhood friend Paro played by Mahi Gill her nude pictures through e-mail! At the same time, he spurns her cycling to the neighboring fields at dawn with a mattress meticulously rolled up on the carrier for a secret meeting with him.

But he forgets that Paro isn't ready for any emotional exploitation in the name of love. As a result, the two move in different directions. While Paro moves on Dev falls a prey to alcohol and drug. Dev moves to a hotel in Delhi's famous Paharganj, drinks a lot and becomes unconscious and falls in young Chanda's lap This is Kashyap's Chandramukhi played by Kalki Koechlin. Again, this is not Sharat Chandra's character. As elsewhere Dev is son of a rich industrialist, who is sent away to London when he was 12, and returns to his hometown and to Paro (Mahi Gill), his childhood sweetheart.

Chandramukhi who loved Devdas from the core of her heart and had all the sympathy for a true lover of Paro, Anurag's Chanda is a modern girl. In fact, she is Lenny, the schoolgirl who ends up as the sex worker, for no fault of her. She is a dropout from her own family for being featured in a lewd MMS. Anurag has depicted Chanda as a true case of a girl being SMSed by a criminal. But, Chanda isn't a courtesan like Chandramukhi. His Lenny exclaims the feisty escort who attends college by day and plays Florence Nightingale by night and in shorts!

Less said about the relationship between Dev and Chanda is better. Dev stoops too low, but dreams of a second chance. He is found in a small joint in the crowded by-lanes of Paharganj, waiting for nirvana! Once again, there is a drastic deviation from Sarat's story. While Devdas looks towards Chanda in the absence of his first love Paro who leaves Dev alone, Anurag's Chanda is too strong to come close to Devdas for love alone.

While making the movie the director has applied the modern technique in all its aspects. His film is just different from others' Devdas in all aspects. His cinematography is different, editing wobbly and plot narration non-linear. Kashyap's characters are non-conventional and belong to the new stream cinema. His characters belong to the present age.Dev D played by Abhay Deol is a protagonist named Devender Singh Dhillon. He plays natural. So are his other lead players like Mahi and Kalki. Significantly, Abhay Deol in the guise of Dev performs excellently well. The movie's dialogues are very good. Amit Trivedi's music is good. "Emosanal Attyachaar" is already popular, besides "Nayan Tarse" and "Pardesi". Amitabh Bhattacharya's lyrics are equally good and made to Anurag's order. Anurag's story writing lacks consistency.

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