I am, of all honesty, no fan of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s acclaimed novella, and I didn’t like either of the movie remakes in Hindi that I had seen so far. With the last remake being Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s mega epic, which starred Shah Rukh Khan as the lead character, I began wondering at the staleness of the storyline, that has remained stagnant despite the emergence of the 21st Century. Later, I watched Farhan Akhtar’s slick remake of the 1978 movie DON, and I started pondering over it, thinking that if Farhan could bring this movie to the 21st Century by changing its style, then maybe someone could even bring DEVDAS and present it to the youth in a different style – maybe even the whole crowd. Enter Anurag Kashyap – the guy who can do anything to bring his movies to true (and sometimes bitter) light. I had faith in the director after his first movie BLACK FRIDAY. Later, he released NO SMOKING, and maybe people didn’t like it, but I sat through the film and realized that it might not have been one of his finest works, but it was different – and it had a possibly strange message to convey. Out then comes the music of his new movie, DEV D, which, some people had told me, was a parody on the original Devdas. I had not expected anything of the music of DEV D, but listening to it completely blew my mind. And I knew I WAS going to catch up with this movie, somehow. Unfortunately, I NEVER caught up with the movie in the cinemas, but got the DVD. And a few days ago, I watched it. And what did I find? That the movie was the most satisfying and spellbinding experience out of the recent trash in Bollywood being released, is the most precise opinion I can give of it.
I believe Anurag Kashyap is one of the most straightforward directors in Indian cinema. His new flick, DEV D, pulls out all the stops, replaces whisky with drugs and vodka, dancers with prostitutes, and everything else with everything else et al. It is ofcourse a risky proposition, but Anurag has given out a convincing and believable portrayal, which worked!