Dev. D

Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's disgrace? Would he be turning in his grave if he saw the latest adaptation of his famous work 'Devdas'? Where one would firmly agree that Chattopadhyay's impoverished beginnings were the main inspiration behind one of Bollywood's all-time love stories, he would probably be pleasantly surprised if he saw Anurag Kashyap's contemporary adaptation of the Bengali novella, Devdas, as 'Dev. D'. Abhay Deol plays a rich, spoilt brat who is shipped of to London to study. On his return, he finds himself in a relationship with his childhood sweetheart, Paro, who not only talks to him 'kinky' online, but also has been promiscuous otherwise. When he hears a rumour about her 'doing it' with a servant, his manliness takes over and he makes an unwise and completely nonsensical decision to break it off with the 'slut'. It raises an interesting issue about the confusion of the present day man. Where a man today supposedly appreciates a woman who is 'liberal, free, and outgoing' with him, he cannot accept if she is the same with another man. Paro innocently asks Dev, "If you can do it with someone else, then what is your problem if I do?". Well obviously, Dev is not one for women's equality, he is pretty satisfied if he can roll a joint and drink down a glass of vodka with Thums-Up. Paro then decides to accept the marriage proposal as she realizes then that Dev is nothing but an MCP and an obsessive maniac. Although, her motive is to make him seethe with envy, the decision was probably best for her. Even though they love each other and yada yada. Step in Chanda, Leni, who took one wrong step with her boyfriend and landed up as high-profile escort in seedy Daryaganj. Leni helps Dev 'spoilt-obessive-junkie' Das get back on track, just a little, even if he is rolling up joints with a credit card and rolling them in a Rs. 100 note( you can't deny, the man's got style). It's all there, the MMS scandal, the BMW hit-and-run, the latest drug-fad. It seems Anurag has picked up all that's 'wrong' with this generation and put it together, in a pop-arty, wonderfully aesthetically bright way. There are some finer nuances about Chanda, like her persoality tilt towards the circus, what with her juggling and origami abilities and her painting a joker on Dev's face. (Makes you wonder, if her parents did throw her out, she should've joint the circus instead of a prostitute-ring). Stellar music score with the brass band, 'Patna ke Presley's' and especially the refreshingly brilliant, 'The Twilight Players', Dev. D is a breakthrough. Abhay Deol has done a wonderful job. He is a complete ass in the movie, but you still can arouse a mighty large amount of sympathy for him. His sorry, deteriorated state makes you want to tousle his hair and 'hug him and say that it'll all be ok'. This movie, is no 'atyachaar'.