Dev D.

After a small hiatus, I am back. And what else to start writing about but the last movie that I saw and that was Dev D. It was one of those films that left a lasting impression in my head for a couple of days. The last film that had given me a hangover like this was Maachis. There were many other good films that were released between these two films but the depth and clarity of the film maker comes out so rarely.

I could never accept Devdas as a glorified character the past films tried to perceive him as. I couldnot sit through 10 minutes of Sanjay Bhansali’s Devdas, and could never digest the Bimal Roy’s version with Dilip kumar as Devdas. Sharat Chandra Chattopadyay must finally be smiling at this new age version of the de-glorified Loser.

It is always difficult to make a film version of a book. The reader, as he/she reads the book creates his/her own visual imagery and characterizations in his or her mind, and when a director interprets it through his/her eyes, the film looks flawed and it lands into the critics domain. Devdas was an interesting character, though not heroic. He was flawed in every sense. He was a character who dumped his childhood sweetheart and then found solace in a tawaif and then destroyed himself to death. The problem with the earlier versions were that the director wanted the audience to be sympathetic to him, feel his pain, cry with him and die with him. I feel, that is where the entire problem with the earlier films lie.

Dev D takes on a very different route and sticks to the essence of the story and a positive deviation towards the end. The characterization is so well etched that the film takes you away from the character of Dev and makes you hate for what he is. And when you see the film, each scene, you know that there is a lot of thought put into each scenes, right from its characters, to the locales, to the emotional conflicts and the metaphorical understanding of the subject right to the editing, background score, lighting. The film comes out trumps. There are only two kinds of reactions you can expect to the film. Either you love it or you hate it. There is nothing in between.

The incidents that take the film forward are inspired by real life incidents, be it the MMS scandal and drunken driving. The existence of drug dealers in the underbelly of a metropolitan set up, rich spoilt kids, the characteristic pimp, Chunni, all seamlessly makes the traditional Devdas novella into an extravaganza.

There are some scenes, which are out of the world. The scene where the married Paro comes to his shabby hotel room, washes his clothes, changes the curtains and finally snubs his proclamation of love and gets even with Dev is brilliant. And so is the scene earlier in the film when Dev snubs Paro and she goes ballistic with the hand pump. These are scenes that cannot be written by the Karan Johars and Farah Khans of Bollywood. These are closer to real life and miles away from the world of rich industrialist families shown in the scours of Bollywood films that hit the screen every Friday opening show (Note that Dev’s family is one of the rich industrialist families in Punjab, yet the potrayal of wealth is so much understated and real)
The camera work is excellent. The beauty of the rural Punjab and the congestion of Delhi, the psychedelic world of Drugs and alcohol, Chanda’s haven where she stocks disguises are all fantastically shot.

The editing is top notch. Note the change in pace of editing as it shifts from the village to the city. The edit during the village phase is much slower and as it reaches the city, the pace quickens giving you a feel of hastiness and restlessness. The use of water, where Dev occasionally dumps himself after a drug inhaling session acts as a metaphor of cutting himself from the rest of the world into his own and drowning himself even more into his own self destruction. Every shot has a reason to be there. Every character is needed. Every character has its positive and negative traits. Nothing is black and white, only different shades of grey.

The film would be incomplete without its songs and the background score. Emosional attyachar is one song where I saw people literally clap as it started and you would feel to clap too. The juxtaposition of comedy with the tragedy is perfect. The background score and the songs truly makes this film a musical.

I would highly recommend this emosional attyachar. And would also tell you that if you are a filmmaker, you should grab a copy of it. Hopefully, if it comes out with a directors commentary, it would be a school of learning on the thought process that went through each scene.