Dev D (Danny Boyle)

If you are surprised at the title of this post, so was I when I saw special thanks going all the way to “Danny Boyle” in the initial casting. How on this earth is Danny Boyle related to this adaptation of Devdas!! I put all my analysis to task and concluded that the only justification to this special thanks is probably that "D" in Dev.D is taken from "D" of Danny Boyle. Sounds interesting! Isn’t it? If anyone has a better answer then please post it in comments. 

Okay Dev.D has two surprises – One at the start and other at the end – the initial shock I already mentioned, and will let you know the other very soon.

“Devdas” the literary work from Sarat Chandra has been the inspiration for many Indian film makers across various languages. Among them the ones which are widely acclaimed and popular are – K L Saigal (v1.0) 1936, Dilip Kumar (v2.0) 1955 and King Khan (v3.0) 2002. Abhay Deol’s adaptation of this magnum opus can be considered the 4^th version with noticeable changes in content and presentation. Where the earlier versions limited their scope to presenting the character Devdas “As-is” on the screen, Abhay Deol added the right masala which Anurag Kashyap fried well to serve this dish. The direction was good and so was the performance of Mr. Deol who I find has evolved as an actor, infact I would say that after a long wait Dharmendra’s family has got someone who can claim to be an actor.

Why should one go to the theatre and spend 200/- for this movie? Well here are the reasons (If at all it convinces you) 

• If you have watched Abhay Deol in the last few movies – Oye lucky or Manorama Six feet under, and liked them then you will not be disappointed from Dev.D, it’s definitely better. 
  
• Dev.D has some really path breaking music scores. “Emotional Attyachar” and “Saali Khushi” are my favourite both in terms of the music score as well as its choreography. 
  
• The dialogues and setting of the whole movie – in and around Delhi/Punjab – provides the reality which was lacking in earlier versions of Devdas. It gives a natural feel to the movie which was miserably lost in the huge sets and voluminous dialogues of earlier versions. 
  
• Finally there is Mahi Gill – she is really hot on screen. 

Well Anurag kashyap could have done a bit more justice to the movie by limiting the movie to less than 2 hours. At some places (Esp before Interval) the movie is a drag. Also the extra screen time given to the variety of alcohol and drugs taken by Devdas was a bit unnecessary.

Now, the second surprise of the movie – its story, more specifically the end. Dev.D has a surprisingly happy ending with Chanda and Devdas coming together. Well after taking the viewers through 2 hours of alcohol and drug abuse sessions, the end brings some positivity to the whole scene.