Dev D --- Movie Review

The eternal character of Devdas is back and this time he goes vulgar and crude . The supposedly modern take of Devdas by Anurag Kashyap is in fact not modern at all . If you think putting a MMS scandal and cursing in English is modern then this one would sound modern to you but for me it was just a crude take on Devdas . If people remember the SLB adaptation of Devdas for its grandness and performances then this one would be remembered for its vulgarity more than anything else . I mean including sex is not that bad an idea considering it is based in today's times but making each of the characters look horny as hell is just out-rightly stupid .

It is evident from the beginning of the film that Anurag had only one thing in mind to make it sound modern and that was to add more and more sex to it apart from the bit of violence . The whole vulgarity sounds funny to an extent but what didn't go down well was that the situations that didn't seem natural ones and looked more like forced ones .

The contradictory behavior of the characters is also very extreme in nature . It is hard to believe that Paro who acts like a complete wacko when her father asks her to marry an another guy , remains calm and composed in front of Dev and doesn't even confront the accusations that Dev makes on her character . It is also very hard to believe that Dev who is a London return scholar believes a drunk loser who accuses Paro to be a slut . In this one Dev is constantly in touch with Paro through phone and Internet etc. from past so many years still he doesn't believes her even a bit . All these things are very contradictory and seem very hard to believe . The so called Ego of Dev's character is also not pretty much evident as it was in the SLB's adaptation .

The pace of the film also suddenly changes after an hour or so and if the first hour is fairly paced , the remaining part moves in a very slow and monotonous manner . The tone also changes from a humorous and casual to a more serious one . The film also has some real life incidences in it like the DPS MMS scandal and the BMW hit and run case . Both have been put into the film just for the sake of making it sound modern and are not an integral part of the story .

The story of this one is very much different from the original one and different in a worse way . The characters have been changed just for the sake of making it different which further harms the story and weakens it . The character of Dev's father also suddenly becomes a positive one when Dev returns from London and his death also doesn't change him despite the fact that he understands him and gives him right advice when he needs it . The whole scene of his dad's funeral was a disaster and even Abhay didn't act well in that one . If SRK's performance in the similar scene was a pinnacle one Abhay on the contrary did nothing apart from shedding a few tears .

The strength of SLB's Devdas was in the way in which even the supporting characters were given full importance and very well written . Here Chunni is not a friend in the first place and is just a pimp who again serves nothing in the film apart from introducing Dev to Chanda . Chanda who is a MMS Scandal victim turned Pro also doesn't quite serve anything in the plot . The whole MMS scandal plot of her character runs apart from the film's story and has no connection to Dev . A whole lot of time is wasted to show her journey from a school girl to a pro which is not at all that important part of the plot in the first place . The only good thing in this whole sequence is that at least Anurag handled it in a serious manner and didn't make a mockery out of it . Paro's character has also not been focussed that much and she is there only in the first hour of the film .

The film completely focuses on Dev's character and his continuous trips to brothels and bars . He practically lives in one of them despite driving a BMW . The biggest change in the plot is the fact that Dev suddenly changes towards the end and instead of dying he decides to move on and live a happily ever after kinda life with Chanda . This left me confused whether he loved Paro in the first place or not . And if he had to finally move on then why so much of self destruction took place in the first place . I would have rather preferred to see him turn into some kinda saint and live a simple life abstaining himself from women and sex .

The music of the film is also one thing that didn't go down quite well . Apart from the two songs , Emotional Atyachar and Nayan Tarse , all other songs didn't quite impress me . Its good that at least the story keeps moving while the songs are played in the background . Still , the music didn't quite serve the purpose of emphasizing the emotions of the characters . The cinematography and art direction were good and at times great . Anurag tried to put in all the elements of a noir film in it like the sexuality , violence and craziness of the characters . He also put in graffiti and comic books to give it a more psycho look . He always does this to make his film a little different but what lacks is the fact that all the craziness that he shows doesn't quite come naturally to the characters of his films .

Overall , its a film that you might like in bits in pieces but overall you would probably won't be satisfied . Even the guys that love crazy kinda cinema like me won't quite like it that much . The film is entertaining enough to be watched once but don't expect wonders out of it . Watch it if you are an Abhay Deol fan because it revolves completely around him . His performance is good but I expect much more from him .

Film Rating : Two and a Half Star out of Five ; good only for onetime watch .