Cast: Abhay Deol (Dev), Mahie Gill (Paro), Kalki Koechlin (Chanda), Dibyendu Bhattacharya (Chunni),
Directed by: Anurag Kashyap
Written by: Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane
Inspired by the novel ‘Devdas’ by Saratchandra Chatterjee
Release date: Februrary 2009

Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote that the scent of bitter almonds is reminiscent of the fate of unrequited love. In Indian cinema, it would be the pungency of booze. Devdas, the failed lover drowning his sorrows in the bottle clutched to his bosom has been the eternal mascot for jilted lovers. The Bengali novel, which according to Saratchandra himself is his least work, has been adapted to the screen an astounding nine times prior to the current incarnation. But why am I talking about all this history? Let’s get down to Dev D, a knock-out movie which captures the essence of Devdas as none of the previous versions have. This movie along with his last work, No Smoking, establishes Anurag Kashyap as a true auteur. I watched No Smoking a month back and still haven’t recovered from its awesomeness. Kashyap is a director whose movies can’t be compared with any of his peers. They demand to be seen and experienced on their own terms. Barely four movies old, he has already crafted two masterpieces and one very good movie (I haven’t seen his first movie Paanch as it was deemed to be too ‘vulgar’ and banned by the Indian censor board for its obscenity).

Instead of the traditonal setting of early 20th century rural Bengal and Kolkata, Kashyap places his story in the earthy heartland of Punjab and seedy neon-lit lanes and brothels of Paharganj, a Delhi suburb. Dev, the bratty son of a rich industrialist, is packed off to London at the age of twelve. His childhood sweetheart, Paro, waits for him patiently, steadfast in her love. Here, sexual desire is not something to be talked about in hushed tones or be alluded to in cheap double entendres. It is embraced as an essential ingredient of passion. When Dev demands nude photographs over the phone, Paro not only clicks them but travels to the city to mail the pics from a cyber-cafe. Dev returns home. A series of misunderstandings ensue. Ultimately, Dev’s feeble reciprocation proves too weak to sustain the luminous intensity of Paro’s faith in her love.

The parental disapproval angle has been tweaked in this movie to make Dev’s self-loathing even more plausible and relatable. Soon he sets forth on a spiral of unrestrained self-destructive behavior, dragging himself into a zone of coke and vodka induced numbness. One night he ends up in Chanda’s velvety bed in a whorehouse. Supported on the able shoulders of Chunni, a ponytailed, suit-wearing, sleazy pimp.

Chanda is a regular college student by day and a prostitute by night, transforming herself into the fantasies of her clients. The infamous DPS MMS scandal is used to provide an affecting back-story for her. Her charmed existence turns into a nightmare overnight when an explicit MMS clip finds its way online. Abandoned by her parents and society, she is forced to carve out a new identity for herself. And she is strong enough to accept it and move ahead with her life, hiding her vulnerability beneath her verve.

Dev.D’s Paro is not the submissive, demure epitome of Indian womanhood cooked up by Bollywood over the years. Fiery yet tender, she loves Dev almost to a fault. But she’s not not prepared to take crap from him and knows where to draw the line. When she decides to sleep with Dev and carries a mattress out to the fields early on a winter morning, only to be spurned by an insecure Dev….it results in an amazingly poignant scene. Later on, there’s another wrenching sequence when she comes to visit Dev in his pigsty of a room.

I would like to devote a line to Abhay Deol, who thankfully shares only his surname and nothing else with the rest of the Deol clan. He is fast turning into an Indian Marcello Mastrioanni for Bollywood’s new-wave directors.

Dev.D would not be what it is without the mind-blowing cinematography and addictive musical score by Amit Trivedi. I had been listening to the soundtrack for two weeks non-stop, prior to the movie’s release. Now that I have the visuals to go with it imprinted in my head, I don’t think I will stop listening to it anytime soon. From gritty realism to kaleidoscopic hallucinatory images, cinematographer Rajeev Ravi juggles it all with elan.

Dev.D is easily one of the most original, path-breaking movies in recent times, even if you include the best of international cinema. It is an angst-drenched, iconoclastic celebration of quintessentially Indian pop culture and an uncompromising work of art.

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