Rating : 6 / 10
My Say : Stylish but indulgent.
Anurag Kashyap -the Yuvraj Singh of Cinema - the genius kid , who has seen loads of cinema , has learnt a lot of techniques, has loads of innovative ideas - who just cannot help but go overboard. He has to quickly learn that even if you have all the ingredients required to cook food, you require only specific ingredients in specific amounts for a particular dish. Much like No Smoking, Anurag tries a lot of tricks when only a few would suffice. Dev D is a much more sensible and effective film - with Anurag's insanity intact!
Anurag and Abhay's take on the modern day Devdas, blending it with real life controversies makes it a very engaging story. It delves into the carnal avarices of human beings and does not shy away from most things thought off as taboo. The heroins both Chanda and Paro, are sexually liberated females, who arent hypocrites ( much like the members of the Moral brigade in India!! ) and the hero is a narcissist incapable of love, but who cannot bear the feeling of a female rejecting him. He hits females without discrimination and labels himself and most girls he meets and sleeps with as sluts. Welcome to Anurag's world of eternal depravity.
Even though the interpretation of the age old classic is interesting, the lenght of the movie is a big issue. Anurag in his infinite pursuit of showing off, keeps showing a series of day-break after night-fall and day-break all over again. The story of the movie moves at snails pace, as you see Dev downing one Vodka after another, then going to sleep completely sloshed and then waking up again to start that routine all over again. Ok, so he is an addict, but he dint have to show every trick he learnt from Danny Boyle ( gives special thanks to Mr.Boyle in the opening credits). Plus, I didnt get the feeling that he truly loved any of the 2 women, neither did I get the feeling that he could not , absolutely could not live without booze. Also, Anurag seems to be a bit confused. He does not quiet know if he wants Dev to be a narcissist only in love with himself, who feels no remorse for any of his actions or who is an addict and is driven to madness. Dev is somewhere in between and I had a problem with that. Talking of problems, I had a major problem with the ending, because the movie builds up to the hero snowballing towards eternal doom but finally shows Hope! Come on man.... let the perfect recipe for a tragedy remain one!!!
What I liked though was the style with which he has shot the film. The camera jars, swirls with the character and perfectly depicts the state of trance. Also, the locations, the interiors built are exceptional and give the movie that surreal look it deserves. The dialogues are bold and engaging. The background music is good, and gives the otherwise loopy script some pace. Though some tracks just blast your eardrums and give you a headache, a few are ingenius. The movie is like a continuous string of one song after another, and I truly hope Amit Trivedi hasnt used all his life's work in this film. My pick of the track was - Paayaliya. Emotional atyaachaar is very effectively placed. The use of Music was ok, but Anurag goes overboard here too... Overuse should be the word for it.
Abhay Deol does a decent job and I feel he could have done better in the emotional sequences or the scenes where he expresses his love. Mahie Gill as Paro does a fab job and stands out, while Kalki Koechlin as Chanda is decent ( shedefinitely looks the part!!!).
In the interval they showed the preview of GULAAL , Anurag's resurrected movie which has been in the making for a long time. Bold again, it promises a lot. I sure hope Mr.Kashyap matures quickly, coz I am sure he will revolutionize indian cinema. He has got that Rebellious streak in him, which would probably break the formula within Indian cinema. But I am sure, he would remain a Niche Audience director. A request to Mr.Kashyup - grow up man.... for our sake....
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