Dev D

Dev D

Movie Analysis

5/5

Devdas is probably the most dullest and dispirited character in the world of Indian cinema. Inspired from a Bengali literary portrait, he is the epitome of self destruction, despair and forlorn love. He is more like a protagonist than a hero. Anurag Kashyap's ‘Dev D’ is a movie art form created from the template of the former mentioned. ‘Dev D’ derives all the three acts from the old movie, which was played by Dilip Kumar and in the new version by Shahrukh khan, which were both not of my tastes.

Generally it is a given rule that a failed lover's sympathy has a short expiry date. Devdas for me loses that sympathy very quickly. Granted he has a very hard dishing out from fate but that is life and when he refuses to carry on that stroke of bad luck, you stop being empathetic. And when he behaves like a philosophic poet in his fully sozzled condition, it becomes a tough job for us to consider him as a role model. Heroes are role models. Aren't they? His poetic verses are a trait of his showing off of his failure and misfortune. So, there you have it. Anurag Kashyap deviates from this character by making a completely opposite Devdas in his dev D.

Dev, a spoilt son of a wealthy Punjabi family, completes his studies in Australia and comes back to his home. But he is struck by his childhood friend, Paro (Parminder). She is also the daughter of the family's friend and faithful lower order member. She is that feisty, fiery yet beautiful Punjabi kuddi, any munda could ask for. Their childhood crush and infatuation is slowly morphing into love for each other. They spar and draw close with each naughty episode they have in between them. But when her friend and the servant of Dev's household besmirches her name before dev, he gets torn between his love and trust in her. In a fist of agitated emotions, he humiliates her where it matters the most. But before he knows the truth and makes an attempt to resurrect their old friendship, she is married to a wealthy widower. The slow impact of the truth consumes him with agony and forlornness and when he gets the whole brutal force of his loss, he moves down to the seedier parts of Delhi and becomes a steady imbiber to forget her. 

Kashyap doesn't show Dev hurtling through the alleys crying his heart out regarding his lady love and his plight. What matters to him is a place peaceful for him to sit and drink and indulge in drugs. He decides to forget her by these vices. His haggard and silent face shows his frustration inside. Dev is that spoilt rich tyke getting everything he wants and is pampered by his mother's love. Even his father though speaks tough spoils him behind his back. We see how even on his death bed, he gives whatever rich car his son desires. He gives a small sermon as to why his tastes are misplaced when he has the best before the eyes. Kashyap has those inherent directing skills, where he highlights the character without really showing him on the screen. Dev’s father is just a very rare occurrence but we can feel the frustration of a father’s heart.

Paro, played by Mahie Gill, is a good looking village belle and she gets her due in the scenes where she gets hurt by her impulsive and pampered lover’s carless words. She visits him in the dank and dark motel he resides in and does menial chores for him, while making him rue for what he had missed and showing him his status. She is caring as much as she wants to reply him for what he had said regarding her character. Kalki Koechlin plays Chanda, the prostitute, who forms the third angle of the triangular love story and who loves Dev. Kashyap doesn’t hold any stops as he shows how the prostitutes live and behave as he gives a deeply moving, well directed path of Chanda on her road to flesh trade. It is like a small documentary on one of the banes of the modern youth culture.

As with many Kashyap movies, Dev D is a great musical. One of the best musical of Indian cinema. We will fall short of applauding Amit Trivedi’s great score. It is the most different and genre evolving piece of music ever heard in mainline Indian cinema. He has numerous tunes in his quiver and they easily find themselves into the minds and on the tongues of the listeners. Every song is a legend in itself. they have rock, traditional, country folk and many other flavors. Songs are intercut and are spliced with screenplay, a tool which Kashyap employed in his other movies, too.

Abhay Deol has a charm in him with his lazy body language, reflecting his rich ways and when he moves through the dirty, dark alleys of Delhi, we see in him that fearless young man, who is bold not because he has a tough heart, but fails to recognize any dangers. In a way he is innocent. He is sucked into the unfortunate stage of his life as he couldn’t get over Paro. He even spies on her as he gets obsessed. He befriends a pimp, who suppies him with his booze and also the mediator between him and Chanda. There is no direct divulging of his innermost secrets of Dev with the prostitute. He gains her trust slowly and only then does he talk about his past life. Their relationship evolves over time.

Kashyap’s main secret with the success of the movie lies in the fact that he doesn’t show his protagonist as a hero. While there was dramatization in previous movies regarding Devdas as he let out his pain, in Dev D, Kashyap just shows dev’s feelings. You will know that he is paining but he doesn’t ask for your consideration. He just needs a way to forget her. And with that approach, you sympathize with him and really feel if he would have dealt with her lover a little more carefully. Kashyap uses the daily lives of the people in his telling of the story, when he even highlights a vulgar quip of a quote on a local bus. It is his way of making us aware that Dev is a human like us and more importantly one among us and it could be anybody’s story.

Kashyap’s screenplay shows the chaotic mind of his principal character as he moves on with his character from Punjab to Delhi and then again to Delhi. There is a difference in ending compared with the old tale and it completes the fresh look on the story. One can’t help but comment on the direction of the songs. Their visual feel is out of the world. The delhi streets, back alleys, constricted images of cheap hotels, late night liquor hubs, dens of working girls, all of these create an eerie atmosphere.

 I never felt I could watch and like a movie with Devdas as the principal character, but Kashyap’s vision is of the highest order. He could even give Hollywood a run for their money.