Dev.D

A modern-day version of a novel that Indian cinema has filmed many times. The source text is Devdas: the son of a wealthy family cannot marry his childhood love, takes to drink and destroys himself. It has been adapted dozens of times, always as a tragic love story. Anurag Kashyap turns it over. Here Dev is not a lover to be pitied; he is selfish, arrogant, and the author of his own catastrophe. Paro does not wait for him and builds her own life. Chanda carries a separate story: a young woman whose life comes apart because of a video filmed at school, a character drawn from a real case in India. The visual language sits inside the narrative: Delhi nights are shot in neon colour, and Dev's condition inside drink and drugs is told through the image itself. The music is what the film is best known for; Amit Trivedi's work was cited as a different direction in Indian film music. Abhay Deol plays Dev and the idea largely came from him. Kalki Koechlin plays Chanda, in her first film. A strong work for anyone who likes Indian independent cinema and the reinterpretation of classic texts. For a viewer expecting a classical Devdas, the film strips out the romance deliberately.