Mon Avis: Movie Review : Dev D - Darker, modern yet disengaged avatar !

D for Destruction of the self, D for Drugs, D for drinks, D for a demanding sexuality, D for dazzling cinematography, D for dandy direction, yet D for Disengaged!.. All this and more in D for Dev D.

Anurag Kasyap's latest offering provides the darker retake in the world of literature's iconic DevDas freeing it from all the cliched notions, yet managing to provide an aura of self-destruction that is so core to the jilted lover.

Reams have been written on a run upto release of AK's DevD, from psychoanalytical analyses that are so due to a classic , to plain simple cinematic evaluation. And Dev D as a work of art deserves most of the critical acclaim thrown at it.

Set up in modern times, our new avatar uses ATMs, credit cards, mobile phones, email chats, dope (not just drinks), exudes open sexual desperation, making his own dark side darker by an insanely driven self-destructive mood. Most of the locales belong to Punjab and Delhi, most of the script leaning closely to the age-old literature classic , yet it takes few screenplay liberties of its own - just like Omkaara did in reincarnating Othello. But that was far more engaging than this saga of mindless intoxicated self-mutilation. Anyway, here are my thoughts on what may work and what may not for this however laudable inspired cinema -

Ups:

• Cinematography - Rajeev Ravi shows the bylanes of Punjab and Delhi in a meticulous , jazzy way complimenting AK's  modern day vision for DevD. Taking us through farmlands of Punjab, murky sides of Pahadgunj, and underground invisible nightclubs - Rajeev does a splendid job bettering his works in No Smoking and Chandni Bar. I bet, you will simply love most of the camerawork in the movie, something that alone keeps you hooked on for this more than 150 min saga

• Direction & Scripting- AK infuses the same directorial talent into DevD as he did to Paanch, Black Friday and No Smoking - covering up for their otherwise outrageous screenplay. He does it with flair and makes sure that the modern day's Dev is as much in sync with 2009 as possible.

• Music - Amit Trivedi's score in this movie is what you keep after leaving the theatre. I fell in love with Emosional Attyachar (rock and unrock-ed) and Pardesi...especially jazzed up by their Rock touch picturisation.  

• Characterisation and Acting - Junior Deol fits beautifully into the character utterly confused and craving for drugs, alcohol, sex with a panache that he has developed over his previous successes (Read: OLLO etc) - He indulges in a sexual fling as a rebound, sniffs cocaine in the underbelly of delhi and drinks neat from the vodka bottle only to sport self-destructive tendencies sporting a devdasic beards :) . All this with a sense of humor - for instance watch for the scene when Deol gobbles up the bus ticket in retaliation of an old hag pestering him with moral lectures about drinking etc and another when Chunni tries to protect himself of Dev's ire by a pillow,   Mahe Gill may not have a charisma of Aishwarya Rai's Paro but nonetheless reinvents herself as a sexually liberated middle class girl who is devoted to DevD to the extent of filming herself nude for him and engaging in failed sexual act with him at first given opportunity, but deserts him when her self-respect is castigated ; Kalki despite general critique does fairly well as a mild adaptation of courtesan Chanda - playing a prostitute of canadian-indian descent holding a murky past mired by MMS scandal (Ah, creative liberty borrowing the DPS sex scandal close to all its publicly known detail :) ?) - Though her dialogue delivery almost comes out forced . 

Downs:

• For once its screenplay drags in the second half climaxing to an abrupt ending which is neither happy nor tragic. Lol. (See it for yourself to judge the abruptness). I was so turned off by the length of the movie by then that I did not mind movie ending even with an abrupt and silly climax. Anyway, editing could trim it further by good 20-30 minutes - It loses most of its sheen due to its long dwindling screenplay , when you cannot help but glance at your watch now and then to indicate your restlessness. All this disengages the audience half way in the movie.

• Dark theme - I am all for cinematic liberty in terms of creativity but here it turns over a dangerous leaf - It brings out a negative character seeping in drugs, alcohol and sex. It takes itself a little too casually and almost presents an in-your-face depiction of a confused soul taken to damnation. My only grudge here - The character drifts from realism especially when his confounding sense of love is pushed to the background and music keeps banging  while our fallen hero slides deeper into dope.  Moreover, the otherwise so adorable character of Chunni lal is reduced to a sketchily written part of a pimp. This was one major let down. 

No wonder, it has received mixed reactions even from most respected critics nationwide. Receiving perfect score to just about average ratings - but yes, if you are half of a decent movie fan you, will go and relish this cinematic creativity even if you have to come out of the theatre grumbling. Not often do you see a remake of this calibre, despite all its shortcoming :)

Caution: Movie contains a lot of crude sexual innuendos including few from the leading lady :) Quite a few of them are shocking to the sensibilities. 

Upcoming AK release - Gulaal (almost mired with same crude dialogue mouthpieces :)

P.S - Two deleted scenes from Dev D which for some reason dint make it to the theatres. I wonder why. 

WMD Scene between Chunni and Dev

Paying Chanda scene - Time to pay for the services ..err.. through Credit Card. :)