Dev D - TBC

Really like Anurag Kashyap after watching
Dev D. When the trailer was first out, I betted it was going to be a flop
because it looked like Trainspotting. I thought it’d be pretentious. But it
turned out to be a hit and it was highly praised!

 

The first thing that I want to say about
this movie is the song Emotional Attyachar. It’s really popular and I can’t
understand why. (I didn’t understand even after reading the translation of the
lyrics. Maybe it’s a language thing. So bad that I can’t understand Hindi.) Bt
I have to say it’s a song that stuck in your head after listening to it. Other
songs from the movie are also marvelous. They’re of very diversified styles and
don’t sound like typical Bollywood songs.

I like Anurag because he knows what he’s
doing. I don’t think I can say it’s the case for the majority in B-town. He’s a
good storyteller. Devdas is a story of lover. Anurag has trned it very “real”
and human. I enjoyed the story much better when the characters can communicate
in the modern ways. It justifies the relationship between Dev and Paro so much
better. (Dev D: email & long-distance calls Vs Devdas: the 4 letters that
Paro held on to for 10 years?)

Okay, on to the characters. Dev in Dev D is
totally a “good-for-nothing”. You don’t have a single bit of sympathy for him
in the 1^st part of the movie. Life/fate definitely serves him right.
Abhay Deol played this character right and should have been nominated in
Filmfare!

 

Despite all the praise for Abhay, I’d say
it’s a movie of heroines. Paro and Chanda simply rock, rock and rock!

Paro is played by Mahie Gill. She doesn’t
have that great a part in the movie. But she got the Best Actress (Critics) in
Filmfare. I love her performance too. She’s very natural in the role. The new
Paro is feisty and has strong characters. She’s loyal to her lover. She’d get
rid of anything that gets in her way. Especially love the scene she ran after
and threw a horrible tantrum on the gossipers who badmouthed her in front of
Dev. She also has the guts to stand up to her parents.

 

Paro becomes sensible and rational after getting married. But she’s still there for Dev.
The scene that she visits Dev in Delhi
really struck me. She’s no longer a servant girl. She’s married to a rich
family. But when she helped Dev with the chores, it’s like everything is still
the same as old times.

And –
the best bit about the movie – Chandramukhi, played by Kalki Koechlin. I’ll
have to save it for next entry!