Dev.D (2009 film)

Dev D
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Anurag Kashyap
Produced by	Ronnie Screwvala
Screenplay by	Anurag Kashyap Vikramaditya Motwane
Story by	Anurag Kashyap Vikramaditya Motwane
Based on	Devdas by Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay
Starring	Abhay Deol Kalki Koechlin Mahie Gill
Music by	Amit Trivedi
Cinematography	Rajeev Ravi
Editing by	Aarti Bajaj
Distributed by	UTV Spot Boy Bindass
Release date(s)	February 6, 2009 (2009-02-06)
Running time	138 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	$1,322,461
Box office	$4,247,969

Dev.D is a 2009 Indian romance film released on 6 February 2009.^[1] Written and directed by Anurag Kashyap, the film is a modern day take on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic Bengali novel Devdas.,^[2][3] previously adapted for the screen by P.C. Barua and Bimal Roy and more recently by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.^[4] Dev.D was embraced by the media, critics and public.^{[5] [6]} The film is set against contemporary Punjab and Delhi, where familial ties are negotiated by the traditions of patriarchy and marriages are reduced to a game of power and “honour“.

Plot

Dev (Abhay Deol) is the son of a rich Punjabi Businessman. He and Paro (Mahi Gill) are childhood sweethearts. But Dev, being an insecure narcissist, instead of acknowledging her affection and care, nudges Paro over frivolous things. Dev is sent to London for higher studies when his father senses how spoilt his son is. But while separated by distance, Paro and Dev's youthful love only blossoms more. Dev arrives in Chandigarh to meet Paro. Their endeavor to make love makes for some dark comic moments. The seeds of suspicion are sown here, which the couple will never be able to weed out for a lifetime. When Dev hears rumours about Paro, he immediately believes them and ditches Paro. What makes them fall apart is mutual suspicion and an essentially male vision of how a woman should conduct herself sexually. Paro turns her back on him when she hears him insult her, and agrees to marry whoever her parents choose. On her wedding day, he realizes that the rumors were false. But his ego doesn't let him accept his mistake, and he lets her marry someone else.

Enter Chanda aka Leni. A Delhi schoolgirl of half-European descent, a date with her much older boyfriend lands Leni in an MMS scandal. Her father commits suicide as he feels humiliated by his daughter's reputation. She is disowned by her family. Refusing to live a life of shame and ridicule with her family, she comes back to Delhi where she works as a prostitute at night, while continuing with her studies during the day. She adopts the nickname Chanda for her profession. Her 'foreign' looks mean her services are reserved for the highest paying customers and she finds some dignity and independence in the new way of living. One night a customer is brought to her room in half-conscious state - it turns out to be Dev.

Dev, tormented by Paro’s wedding, has been seeking refuge in alcohol and drugs. He finds some solace with Chanda, but is unable to forget Paro. Once after he calls Paro's husband in the middle of the night, Paro visits him at the cheap lodge where he is staying. She shows her love for Dev by taking care of him, but spurns his attempts at physical intimacy. The meeting ends on a bitter note, after which Paro goes back to her married life and Dev resolves to go back to Chanda, but confronted by the reality of her profession, he abandons her too. It is only months later, after hitting an all-time low in an aimless life, that he gets a wake up call and decides to put his act together. He seeks Chanda once again, and with her help, sets out to start life afresh.

Cultural references

• Kalki's character is a modern adaptation of Chandramukhi, who was most recently played by Madhuri Dixit in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas. In the film, the young Leni is shown to be a fan of Madhuri's, listening to the songs of Chandramukhi. Also when she takes up prostitution as profession, she adopts the name Chandramukhi in short Chanda, in honor of the character.
• Chanda's back story in which she gets embroiled in an MMS scandal while in school is a reference to a similar scandal that took place at a leading Delhi school in 2004.
• Later in the film, when Dev is depressed after losing both Paro and Chanda, he is driving his new BMW while heavily drunk. This is a reference to the BMW hit-and-run case in 1999.

Cast

• Abhay Deol as Devendra Singh Dhillon (Dev)
• Kalki Koechlin as Leni/Chandramukhi (Chanda)
• Mahi Gill as Parminder (Paro)
• Dibyendu Bhattacharya as Chunnilal
• Parakh Madan as Rasika
• Asim Sharma as Bhuvan (Paro's Husband)
• Gurkirtan as Sattu (Dev's father)
• Satwant Kaur as Dev's mother
• Binnu Dhillon as Dev's brother
• Kuldeep Sharma as Manager Uncle (Paro's father)
• Sanjay Kumar as Leni's father
• Helen Jones as Leni's mother
• Bimal Barua as the Lawyer
• Aekansh Vats as Junior Dev
• Sasha Shetty as Junior Paro
• Anjum Batra as Sunil
• Surekha Sikri as the angry bus passenger

Production

The original idea of film was suggested by Abhay Deol to Anurag Kashyap, who then worked on the script along with Vikramaditya Motwane, using "news headlines about Generation X" to give the film its youth feel. It was produced by Ronnie Screwvala, and shot in various places including Paharganj in central Delhi.^[7] For the scenes where Dev is high, British director Danny Boyle suggested the use of a still camera as Kashyap did not have the budget for special effects.^[8]

Development

Anurag Kashyap did not want another remake of any the 9 previous films versions titled Devdas.^[9][10] His version was created as a modern take on the 1917 original classic novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay.^[10] Kashyap decided he wanted to make his own version of Devdas to reflect the original novel but through 2008 mores, with the lead character of Devdas as a debauching, hypocritical sensualist, who is self destructive without knowing he is destroying himself.^[10][11] Talking about the story and his role as Dev, Abhay Deol told Radio Sargam, "The story is very much from the book which I've read in English. I have played the character according to my interpretation of the book. His character was contemporary, he was quite urban in many ways, he's misplaced in the surrounding and has a spoilt, obsessive and addictive personality."^[12]

Initial delays

After the box office disaster of Kashyap's No Smoking, it was rumoured that United Television (UTV) had backed out of the director's next project, Dev.D, starring Abhay Deol. But according to sources, UTV had signed Abhay for three projects and the actor had blocked dates from November 2007 to March 2008 for Kashyap's film, as the idea was to wrap up the film in one schedule. When the film hit initial snags and was stalled, it was rumoured that UTV had backed out.^[13] At that time, the director denied that UTV had backed out. He explained the delay by saying that he would be able to work on the film once work on the earlier film Hanuman Returns had finished. He said that he was still looking out for his Chandramukhi, and so far had locked in Abhay and newcomer Mahi Gill.,^[14] the film was further delayed as he took more time to find an actress suitable for the role of Chandramukhi, which he eventually found with Kalki Koechlin, who was one of the last girls to be auditioned.^[7]

Release

Box office

Dev D had an average opening day collection of Rs 15 million. However the movie picked up in box office soon and recovered its budget of Rs 60 million in a few weeks.^[15] The net collection in its first four weeks were nearly Rs 150 million.^[16]

Reception

Critical response

Reviews to the film were mostly positive. The widespread acclaim was chiefly due to the film's fearless visual style, its experimental soundtrack and the innovative narrative structure which included dividing the script into chapters as in the films of Quentin Tarantino. Raja Sen of Rediff.com gave the film 3.5/5, calling it a 'fantastic visual ride', and ranked it at No 2 in his list of the Best Movies Of 2009. Times of India reviewer Nikhat Kazmi termed the film as a "brilliant breakthrough for Bollywood" and rated it 5/5.^[17] Shubhra Gupta of Indian Express praised the performance of Abhay Deol and the movie overall.^[18] Hindustan Times, praised the film for its "slick style and adventurous interpretation that pushes the boundaries of Hindi cinema" and rating it as 3.5/5.^[19] Noyon Jyoti Parasara of AOL India was "completely bowled out by the movie" and stated, "go and watch Dev D and be blown away by a sample of what Anurag Kashyap is capable of as a director. Shahrukh Khan praised Abhay Deol's efforts and said that Abhay is contributing to the new era of indian film industry."^[20]

Awards

National Film Awards 2009

• Won : National Film Award for Best Music Direction: Amit Trivedi ^[21]

Filmfare Awards 2009

• Won : Best Supporting Actress: Kalki Koechlin
• Won : Critics Award for Best Performance (Female): Mahi Gill^[22]
• Won : Best Art Direction : Helen Jones, Sukanta Panigrahi
• Won : Best Cinematography : Rajeev Ravi
• Won : Best Background Score : Amit Trivedi
• Won : R D Burman Award for New Musical Talent: Amit Trivedi

Others

• Nominated at 2009 Asia Pacific Screen Awards at Queensland Australia^[23]
• Dev D premiered at the 2010 Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Soundtrack

Dev.D
Soundtrack album by Amit Trivedi
Released	31 December 2008
Genre	Film Soundtrack
Length	01:01:31
Label	T-Series
Amit Trivedi chronology
Aamir (2008) Dev.D (2009) Aisha (film) (2010)

Dev.D has 18 tracks by artist Amit Trivedi. Released on December 31 under T-Series, he specifically reports that there are two special Punjabi tracks, one which is raw Punjabi and the other with a street band baaja flavor to it. He also reports two romantic Haryanvi folk tracks, apart from a hard rock song, world music, an Awadhi number and a song with 1970’s-80’s pop touch to it.^[24][25] The soundtrack received overwhelmingly positive reviews. Critic Joginder Tuteja said, "Chuck the very thought around whether this album will do well commercially or not; it is an exemplary piece of work and that's what that matters most".^[26] Ekansh Aatre, critic of Hindustan Times fame. said "Each part of each song in this album is special & gives a great impact on audience." The soundtrack has been massively popular in the youth.The song "Emosanal Attyachaar" has become popular amongst the masses and the song's name has become a current catch phrase for many Indian youths.^[27]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Emosanal Attyachar (Brass Band Version)" (performed by BandMaster Rangeela and Rasila)	4:00
2.	"Duniya" (performed by Amit Trivedi)	3:52
3.	"Nayan Tarse" (performed by Amit Trivedi)	3:09
4.	"Pardesi" (performed by Tochi Raina)	4:00
5.	"Saali Khushi" (performed by Amit Trivedi)	3:13
6.	"Paayaliya" (performed by Shruti Pathak)	5:52
7.	"Mahi Mennu" (performed by Labh Janjua)	2:54
8.	"Aankh Micholi" (performed by Amit Trivedi)	4:00
9.	"Yahin Meri Zindagi" (performed by Aditi Singh Sharma)	3:43
10.	"Dhol Yaara Dhol" (performed by Shilpa Rao and Kshitij Tarey)	4:10
11.	"Ek Hulchul Si" (performed by Joi Barua)	4:29
12.	"Hikknaal" (performed by Labh Janjua)	3:47
13.	"Dil Mein Jaagi" (performed by Anusha Mani)	3:01
14.	"Emotional Attyachar (Rock Version)" (performed by Bonnie Chakraborty)	4:01
15.	"Ranjhana" (performed by Shilpa Rao and Kshitij Tarey)	1:47
16.	"Mahi Mennu (Sad Version)" (performed by Labh Janjua)	1:21
17.	"Dev-Chanda Theme 1" (performed by Neuman Pinto & Bianca Gomez)	2:23
18.	"Dev-Chanda Theme 2" (instrumental)	1:47

References

1. ^ Passionforcinema.com, 30 December 2008, Anurag Kashyap comment
2. ^ Passionforcinema.com, 9 July 2007, Anurag Kashyap interview
3. ^ Hollywood.com, "Movies from SpotBoy Motion Pictures"
4. ^ Dev. D - Overview New York Times.
5. ^ Sharma, Sanjukta (Fri, Feb 6 2009). "Dev D | Style, substance (and length)" (in English). Article. livemint.com. http://www.livemint.com/2009/02/05183439/Dev-D--Style-substance-and.html. Retrieved 13 November 2011. 
6. ^ "Be Warned, This is Not Your Mama's Bollywood". republicofbrown. Thursday, August 26th, 2010. http://republicofbrown.com/be-warned-this-is-not-your-mamas-bollywood/. 
7. ^ ^{a b} 'Dev D' is not like Sudhir Mishra's 'Aur Devdas' The Hindu, Wednesday, 10 December 2008.
8. ^ Being treated like the other woman drives me, Indian Express
9. ^ IMDB list of previously made versions]
10. ^ ^{a b c} Passionforcinema.com, 9 July 2007, Anurag Kashyap interviw
11. ^ Masala.com, "Anurag Kashyap is keen on making his adaptation of Devdas as modern as it can get"
12. ^ RadioSargam.com, "Abhay Deol talks to Radio Sargam about Dev D"
13. ^ In.movies.yahoo, 17 November 2007, "UTV Backs Out Of Dev D?"
14. ^ Buzz18.com, 1 February 2008, "It's official: Ambika-Anurag split- Anurag's film will be now produced by Spotboy, a sister concern of UTV"
15. ^ "Dev D hits Box Office gold". NDTV Movies. http://movies.ndtv.com/newstory.asp?section=Movies&Slug=Dev+D+hits+Box+Office+gold&Id=ENTEN20090085307&keywords=bollywood. Retrieved 2009-03-15. 
16. ^ "Bollywood box-office report of the week". Bollywood Trade News Network. http://www.glamsham.com/movies/scoops/09/mar/13-bollywood-box-office-report-of-the-week-030901.asp. Retrieved 2009-03-15. 
17. ^ Nandini Ramnath gave Dev-D 3 stars, calling it 'the most arresting audio-visual experience this year'.Movie Review: Dev D The Times of India, Feb 5, 2009.
18. ^ Movie Review: Dev D
19. ^ "Review: Dev D". Hindustan Times. 2009-02-06. http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=NLetter&id=6e08f7d4-7695-4ff5-b600-606c563eb936&MatchID1=4922&TeamID1=4&TeamID2=2&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1244&PrimaryID=4922&Headline=Review:+EMDev+D/EM. Retrieved 2011-05-02. 
20. ^ by Glamsham, Posted Apr 28th 2011 3:30AM (2011-04-28). "AOL Bollywood". Aol.in. http://www.aol.in/bollywood/story/dev-d-review/2009020607129019000001. Retrieved 2011-05-02. 
21. ^ "And the National Award goes to...". The Times of India. Sep 17, 2010. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/And-the-National-Award-goes-to/articleshow/6565889.cms. 
22. ^ 3 Idiots shines at Filmfare Awards The Economic Times, 28 Feb 2010.
23. ^ www.asiapacificscreenawards.com, "Asia Pacific Screen Awards"
24. ^ Radioandmusic.com, 5 September 2008, "Amit Trivedi to compose for UTV Spot Boy's next two films"
25. ^ Rediff.com, 21 July 2008, "Making music, from Aamir to Dev D"
26. ^ BollywoodHungama.com, 7 January 2009, "BollywoodHungama Music Review for Dev.D"
27. ^ RadioSargam.com, 24 January 2009, "Radio Sargam Music Review for Dev.D"

External links

• Dev.D at the Internet Movie Database
• Dev.D at AllRovi