Anurag Kashyap has definitely taken Devdas to the next level. The original story by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay was a brilliant one, but it doesnt look acceptable to me at some points in today's time. AK (Anurag Kashyap) has taken the flaws out of the story and what comes out is a refined product ,much more acceptable in the year 2009.
The key points to note here is that the story in Dev D is in a punjabi background unlike the Bengali background in the original Devdas. The lead character played by Abhay Deol is named Devraj Singh Dhillon, so its abbreviated at Dev D, son of the Sugar Baron in Punjab, Paro (Parminder) played by Mahie Gill, is the daughter of his father's manager. I really loved the way Punjab was picturised in the movie. When Dev lands in Chandigarh the movie begins with an awesome song " Dhol Yaara Dhol" showing Paro dancing, the event is Dev's brother's wedding. What follows after this cannot be exactly called love, its more of an infatuation which was triggered by Paro's "photograph" which Dev saw in London. The couple is always finding places to make out :-). Paro on the other hand has been shown as a girl who is madly in love with Dev, the point to note here is that Paro is madly in love with Dev, but Dev doesn't show any such signs.
AK has shown Dev's ego very well here, he always had this massive sized ego, right from his childhood. But the better part in the movie is Paro also has an ego. The scene to watch out for is when Dev insults Paro, she cries, observes her hairs, wipes her tears and decides to move on. I think this scene speaks a thousand words. Another thing that I lied in the movie was the way the characyters are introduced, infact the entire first half is used for the character buildup of Paro, Chanda and Dev. Showing their backgrounds, specially Chanda's character buildup. AK used one of the real life incident (The MMS Scandal) to build Chanda's character.
As soon as the movie starts after the interval, we find Dev in Delhi, and on the path of self destruction. in these sequences AK has done brilliant work with the camera, the scenes where they show Dev high are remarkable, they look so realistic, and Abhay Deol has done a fantastic job in the entire movie, I guess he is the only Deol child who can act! The soundtrack just compliments the movie at all the points, the best part is that the songs are playing in the background and the movie is moving on... this way you don't feel bored. I really loved the look and style of Dev D, I think this blog entry by AK on the look and style is worth a read
My favorite scenes:
1) When Paro cries and decides to move on
2) When Dev returns after his dad's death, he just stands infront of his mother and cries. This is probably the only incident when Dev cries in the entire movie. And believe me the scene is done brilliantly.
3) When Paro visits Dev in his hotel, Dev keeps telling her that he loves her. But she has moved on, and this is the point where you see that Paro also has a self respect and an Ego. The same scene when Paro is walking away, the song starts in the background, she starts crying and then just puts on the sunglasses and walks away from his room.
4) The scene where Dev hugs Chanda and says "Beta its ok"
Some good blogs on Dev D by Anurag Kashyap:
- Dev D look and Style
- Dev D -Genesis
Read other reviews of Dev D here
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