anurag kashyap on dev d
The language of the post is Non-English.. only the script is in english. sorry for them,who cant read and understand it.
for reading in hindi log on to…http://chavannichap.blogspot.com
anurag kashyap ne pichhale dinon ftii,pune men dev di ki film adaptation ke bare men baat ki thi.yah post usi ki prastuti hai…
mujhe aisa lagata raha hai ki yah sharat babu ka sabase kamajor upanyas hai. sahitya ke lihaj se,lekin sabse jyada raw aur sabse jyada imaanadar bhi hai kahin na kahin. shayad woh tab tak paripakva nahin huye the, jab unhonne devdas likhi thi. devdas maine bahut pahle padhi thi, jab main college mein tha. uske baad maine kabhi devdas nahin padhi. film banane se pahle bhi nahin padhi. kai cheejen aapako yaad rah jati hain. aur kai cheejen utni yaad nahin rahtin. main janaboojh kar unse pare rahna chahata tha. abhay deol ne ek bar futaball match dekhte huye mujhe ek ajeeb si kahani sunayi thi. LA mein ek strriper moonlight bar hai. moonlightt bar bolte huye usne meri taraf dekha … mujhe samajh mein nahin aaya. stefan naam ka ek ladaka hai, aata hai, us bar men baithata hai, usako dekhata hai … usne mujhe kahani sunayi …us samay tak hum ne thodi pee rakhi thi. mujhe itna sa yaad hai ki us ne poochha,bata kya hai? maine kaha, nahin maloom. usane kaha, moonlightt bar hai. phir bhi meri samajh mein nahin aaya. main uth gaya. lekin jaise hi us ne kaha chandramukhi … turant dimag mein aaya devdas. uske baad aadhe ghante tak main kuchh bol nahin saka. achanak aisa hota hai na ki sare daravaze khul gaye hon. hamesha mere pita ji ko meri films pasand nahin aatin. unako meri ab tak koi film pasand nahin,yahan tak ki dev d bhi. unhonne dev d dekhane ke bad bhi teen ghante tak baat nahin ki. maine poochha, aapane dekhi, kaisi lagi? unhonne kaha, beta … sab log bolate hain achchhi hai to achchhi hai.
mere pita ji hamesha se bolte hain ki panch ban ho gayi, black friday ban ho gayi , gulal rook gayi, beta ek love story bana le. main love story banaoonga to main vahi bana sakata hoon jo main janata hoon. jaisa maine experience kiya hai. hindi cinema mein jab main parde par prem kahaniyan dekhta hoon to main relate nahin kar pata hoon. main un se ekadam se relate nahin kar pata hoon. mujhe to yah bhi nahin samajh mein aata hai ki hero-heroine ek-doosre ko chhoote bhi kyon nahin? ek-doosre se pyar karate hain aur ek-doosre ko chhoote hi nahin hain. jab vo ek-doosre se gale milte hain to achanak heroine ka haath apne seene par aa jata hai. hindi cinema ka yah drishya mujhe hamesha se akhada hai. main mazak nahin kar raha hoon. bahut serious hoon main. jab do logon ko dekh kar lagata nahin hai ki ve aapas men pyar karate hain to prem kahani ka kya aanand aayega ? main hamesha dekata hoon ki director ne bola ki yahan dekho, yahan pakado. woh feeling andar se nahin aati hai. kahin na kahin woh sense of realism nahin hai.
main to chhote shahar men bada hua hoon. humlog is tarah se baat bhi nahin karate hain. hamare yahan to aisa hota hai agar koi ladki pasand aa jati hai, ladki ko shaadi tak kya aaj tak bhi pata nahin hoga ki woh kisi ko pasand aayi thi. dost ladkiyon ko dekh -dekh kar hi baant lete the ki woh teri hai, ye mere liye sahi hai. hamesha se woh chalata tha. jab usaki shaadi hoti thi to humlog uske premi ke saath men baithakar sharab peete the aur rote the … woh gana hota tha, vahi ek gana dimag men rahata tha. mujhe us gane se sakht chidh ho gayi thi. ghungharu ki tarah bajata hi raha hoon main. jab bhi vah gana sunate the to ham devdas ki sthiti men chale jate the.
devdas kee baat karoon to ye tha ki vikram motvani,jo sanjay leela bhansali ke ‘devadas’ ke associate director the. woh devadas ka bahut kattar follower hai. jab maine kaha ki main is tarah se banana chahata hoon. aaj jo ho raha hai aur aaj jis tarah se log pyar ko dekhate hain. aaj jis tarah … mujhe jo karana hai woh main karoonga. vah bahut naraz tha. usne kaha ki aise nahin kar sakate. maine kaha ki tu jaise karana chahata hai vaise likh. usake baad mujhe de de.phir mujhe jo karana hoga karoonga. usne sharat babu ke upanyas ka aadhunik sandarbhon mein roopantar kiya. bahut sari cheejen vaise hi hain. mujhe bahut sari kahaniyan kahani thi. woh kahaniyan jo mujhe kahin na kahin kachotati thin ya pareshan karati thin.
baki jo pahli cheej dimag mein aayi thi, woh thi ki sharat babu ke 1917 ka patanashil kolakata aaj dikhana ho to kahan dikhayenge? kaun si jagah ho sakati hai. pahla khyal dimag men aaya woh tha goa, uske baad pahadganj. pahadganj se main vakif tha. jab main delhi mein hansaraj college mein padhata tha to vahan par aksar jaya karta tha. hum solah-satrah saal ke the, vahan isliye jaate the kyonki vahan ganja milta tha. doosra ladakiyon ko dekhne jate the . maine tab tak vaisi ladakiyan nahin dekhi thin. sab kahate the ki pahadganj chalo. vahan russian ladakiyan aati hain. ye sare karan the. hamari sensibility vaisi thi. ham pahadganj jate hi the. pahadganj ka mahaul tab se bahut kuchh badal chuka hai. do galiyan hai. neoon lit galiyan hain. vahan par sare hotel aaj kal keval videshiyon ko milte hain. vahan aisa patan hai ki andar ghusenge to phir nikalana bahut mushkil hai. kahte hain videshon se aaye yuvak vahan khud ki khoj karate hain. bharatiya adhyatma ki shurooaat vahin se hoti hai. vahan jakar woh tay karate hain ki unako goa jana hai ya kahan jana hai. ye sari cheejen likhate samay dimag men thin .visually woh gali mere dimag mein thi. mujhe maloom hai, vahan jakar mujhe kahana hai. jo doosari baat thi, jo devdas ka saar hai. devdas apni chinta aur aparadhabodh se hi pareshan nahin hai, uske andar confusion bhi hai. woh bahut sare cheejon se ludhak raha hai. jiska javab uske khud ke paas nahin hai. use khud nahin maloom ki woh kya ho raha hai. kahin na kahin woh ek had tak sunn ho chuka hai, woh react nahin kar pata hai, woh express nahin kar pata hai. main nahin chahata tha ki devdas sari baten kare. main chahata tha ki usaki peeda aantarik ho. pahale draft mein bahut bolata tha devdasa. maine panktiyan katani shuru ki. samasya thi ki uske andar ki chinta aur aparadhabodh ko kaise vyakt kiya jaye. uske liye ham ne hindi cinema ka vah tool istemal kiya,jo bahar ka koi aur cinema nahin de sakata. sangeet vah madhyam bana. sangeet ke jariye hi usaki chinta aur aparadhabodh aur baki sab kuchh vyakt huaa. aur woh sari kahani teen kiradaron ki yatra hai. devdas ki kamazor kadi mujh hamesha paro lagati hai. devdas padhen te aisa lagega ki devadas chandramukhi ke paas kyon nahin chala jata? chandramukhi aur paro kahani ko aage badhati hain. devdas kahin na kahin sthir hai. woh kahin nahin hilta hai, woh ek hi jagah ataka huaa hai. maine ye sare characterr ko sthapit kiya. mujhe woh bhi yad tha ki… main research kar raha tha to pata chala tha ki ’sahab bwvi aur gulam’ ko jab oscar ke liye bheja tha india se to oscar academy ne ye soch kar reject kiya tha ki iski avadharana hi pashchim se mel nahin khati . is film ka poora vajood isi par hai ki chhoti bahu sharab pine lag jati hai aur uske baad woh kis tarah se girati jati hai. hamari society mein auraten sharab peetee hain . uski anumati bhi hai aur aam baat hai. aapke liye yah bahut bada mudda hoga. hamare liye khud ko is se jod pana mushkil hai.
meri chinta yah bhi thi ki aaj khud ko barbad karane ke liye koi kya karega? aaj ka self distruction yahi ho sakata hai ki vah drugs lene lage. woh kahin jane lagata hai. woh raindam relationship mein bhi padata hai. woh kahin bhi aata hai, kisi ke sath bhi jata hai, usko pata hi nahin vo kar kya raha hai.woh chale ja raha hai, woh chale ja raha hai, usko nahin maloom hai ki kahan hai, deevar aayegi to woh rook jayega. nahin aayegi to chalata rahega. kahin bhi bhid jayega. woh state of mind capture karne ke liye humlogon ne script ke saath sidha compose karana shuroo kiya. location bhi saath-saath mein, sari cheejen saath-saath chal rahi thin. ye sari kahaniyan, sare location… likhane ke baad jo individual sin the… jahan par sexuality ki baat aayi. sabse bada sawal ye tha ki kitna bolen aur kitana na bolen. sabko dikkat hai ki ye sab kyon hai is film men. ye sab kya dikha rahe ho. mujhe jo hota hai vakayi, jis tarah se baat karate hain, vah lekar aana hai. kai bar aisa lagta hai ki hamen maloom hai ki aaj ke bachche kaise sochte hain, kaise nahin sochte hain. lekin hum hamesha ghalat hote hain. maine kya kiya? maine poori team jo hire ki thi us samaya,unse baat ki. film shuroo hone ke pahle, hamare production mein kaam karne vali do-tin jo ladakiyan thin, 21-22 saal kee, maine unke saath baith kar discuss karna shuroo kiya. bakayada is level par kiya tha ki tumhare saath aisa hota to tum kya karogi. unke aise javab the, jo sare film mein daal deta to log ghabara jate. masalan paro ke laut ke aane ka scene tha. maine sidha-sidha poochha unse ki ye ladaki laut kar aati hai, paro, jo hua dev ke sath, dev ne use apamanit kiya aur baad men realise karata hai, woh laut kar aati hai. dev jab bolata hai – you make love with me. saval tha ki kya vah usake sath soyegi? ladakiyon ne kaha ki vah soyegi aur dev ko aisa aanand degi ki vah zindagi bhar yad rakhe.best sex of the life… phir maine apne dimag mein socha ki us scene tak jaoon ki nahin jaoon? phir maine apni ma se baat kee. meri ma roodhivadi mahila hai. main ek din ke liye banaras gaya. meri ma chhote shahar ki aurat hai. maine ma se poochha ki paro kya karegi? ma ne kaha, main nahin janati. phir maine unse haan ya na men javab liye. jaise ki poochha kiss karegi? nahin karegi. woh to kabhi nahin karegi. ma ka javab tha. us tarah se yah film likhi gayi thi.
usake baad jo hamara process hai shoot karane ka, humlog naturally jaisa mahaul hai vaisa hi rakhenge aur usmein apne characters ko dalenge. cameraman se kaha ki camera chhipa lo. characters ko dalo aur shoot karana shuru kar do. bahut hi kam light aur bina kisi ko pata chale humlog shoot kar rahe hain. humlog us tarah se camera lekar shoot karate hain. bahut sare rieactions vastavik hain. camera chalata raha. chandramukhi ko vahin ki ladaki samajh kar log lubha bhi rahe the. maine woh bhi shoot kiya tha. ek shot hai jismen police vala hafta le raha hai. vah vastavik policevala hai, jo actor lagata hai. humlogon ne tay kiya tha ki jo cheejen jaisi hain, vaise hi explore karen. mahaul ko bilkul touch na kare. jo mahaul hai vah mile aur kahani ko usaki zameen mil jaye. musical isaliye hai ki jo kuchh vah kahana chahata hai, vah kah nahin pa raha hai. woh hamare paas ek advantage hota hai upanyas men, state of mind. jab cinema mein jaate hain, to usaki detailing mushkil kam hota hai . state of mind ko rakh nahin pate. vah bahut bada loss hota hai. usake liye music rakha. usaki manasik avastha ko sangeet se bataya. dev di ki yah prakriya rahi.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
please man i would like to read this piece but my hindi is not that good … please, please can i get a english translation to it… think about it
anurag spoke in hindi.i dont have any problem if someone translate it english.
damn, it will take long to read hindi
Good read….thanks for this Ajay.
Ever since I saw Dev D, I wanted to ask one question. Would really appreciate if someone could throw some light.
There are two scenes….one where Paro says “Tumhein tumhari aukat dikha rahi hun!”. I could sense the disconnect Dev begins to have with Paro, the moment she utters these lines. Another is where Chanda asks Dev “Kya Paro se ab bhi pyar karte ho?”. Again a point where Dev realises what Chanda is really trying to say. Needless to say, these were two important moments in the movie. This fact was again re-emphasized when Dev thinks of these two moments, and then decides to go back to Chanda.
I would like to know, was it really necessary to repeat these scenes in a flashback, or is it that Anurag thought the viewers might not have got it the first time?
@4, I loved that flash back scene. For me it’s a high point of this movie.
reading it in hindi(albeit in Roman script), gives a superior kick :-D
@Subhasish:
For me too these two scenes were the high points of the movie, when they occurred the ‘first’ time. But when they were shown again in flashback, I kind of got a feeling that the director is not sure if people got the message initially…..or maybe I am reading into it more than I should
Great read, thanks Ajay! Anurag’s choice of words is excellent, even in this rather casual monologue. (this is the kind of hindi a mumbaikar like me hasnt heard since the movies of the late 70s.)
I do wish, though, that Anurag had touched upon the reasons why he had to settle for such a pat, unconvincing ending for this movie. I was sorely disappointed with it and had to write a sulky blog post about it just to get it out of my system.
First of all to let you know anurag that i am one of your biggest fans like the others in this column,i have been following your work since the days of “paanch”,”black friday”,”gulal”,”no smoking:(my fav film of yours)and if i am not wrong when the likes of you,shriram raghavan used to be the brilliant directors of teleseries:”star bestsellers”,have been a fan of all path-breaking cinema that you have created.
Dev.D is my second most fav film of anurag’s and i was finally glad to see the audience in the theaters loving and appreciating this kind of cinema,something that i supported since the time of black friday,no smoking,and even the over rated critical acclaim this time(4 to 5 star rating),(was outraged when no smoking had got just 1 star in those stupid reviews).
And as some people rightly said two most important high points of the movie,with the brilliant background score,crisp editing,and some brilliant camera angles and depictions(specially the one where you have the coal chamber burning in the background where dev is seen looking at paro’s wedding card)is something you have never seen in Indian cinema before-truly path-breaking.
Geeta, I don’t know what the post above says, but about the pat ending, I respectfully beg to differ. It’s definitely happier than other versions, but we viewers don’t know what will happen to Dev as far as his noon date with the police or how he’ll do with his battle with addiction.
.
For me, the payoff of the movie comes right before the end, when he realizes the true meaning of his relationships with Paro and Chanda. I think some melodramatic dying scene would have diminished the power of that.
Vivek, there you go….was bored at work….
A few days before Anurag Kashyap had talked about the adaptation of Dev D at ftii, Pune. This post details the same.
I always felt that this was Sharat babu’s weakest Upanyas…However with respect to literature somewhat it has also been his most raw and honest work….
probably by that time he wasnt fully developed as a writer….I had read Devdas a long time ago during my college days…..later i never read it again….not even before making this film….
There are somethings that remain with you forever…and some which dont….Abhay Deol once during watching a football match, mentioned about a story….about a LA stripper in a moonlight bar….when he mentioned moonlight though, he looked towards me….I didnt get it….He said that there’s a guy named Stefan, he comes to bar…sits and looks towards her…when he mentioned this we were a bit drunk….then he asked me to guess what this story was all about? I said…I dunno…he stressed on the “moonlight” bar reference…still it didnt make sense to me….then i got up….he them mentioned Chandramukhi….at that instant the whole thing struck me..about Devdas….later for about half an hour I wasnt able to say nothing…You know sometimes it happens that something strikes you and opens the all doors of your mind….
My dad never liked any of my movies before….not even Dev D….
After watching Dev D he didnt speak with me for 3 hours….I asked him “How did you like it?”…he said “Son, If everybody says its good, then it must be!”
He always used to say after Paanch and Black Friday got baaned, Gulaal got stalled…make a love story…however if I had to make one I could only make the one I knew….what I have experienced….when i used to see Love stories on Hindi Cinema before on screen, I was never able to relate to it….I never could understand how people would be in love , but would never touch each other…when they used to hug, in an instant the heroine’s hands would go up to shield her breasts….
This scene has always irked me….I am not kidding….am serious…how can you enjoy a love story if you cant see the realism? I always see the director telling the actors to look here, touch here….however this feeling should come from within….somewhere you cant see that realism…
I am from a small town…we didnt used to even talk like this…where I come from, when we used to like a girl, the girl wouldnt even know till her marriage that someone from us had a crush on her….we used to look at the girls and share them among oursleves…”this one’s yours…this ones perfect for me”….this used to happen always…when the girl used to get married off to someone else, we used to sit amongst ourselves drinking and crying…and the same song used to play…”ghungharu ki tarah bajata hi raha hoon main”….whenever we used to listen to this, we used to go to a devdas state of mind….
Speaking of Devdas, Vikram Motvani, who was AD for Sanjay leela bhansali’s “Devdas”, was an admirer of the original Devdas….when I mentioned about how I wanted to adapt it…set in todays times and about what happens today….he was unhappy….he said that we cant do it this way….I mentioned him to write it his way….then i would add on to it…he adapted SaratBabu’s upanyas to today’s times….most of it is still the same…however I had many more stories to tell…the ones that used to trouble me…
The first thing was where to replicate Sarat Babu’s 1917 Calcutta…which place would be apt….First i thought of goa..and then Paharganj…I knew Paharganj well when i was studying in Delhi’s Hansraj college….we used to go there often….we were 16-17 then and would go there to get ganja (bum bum bhole)…and to look at the girls….russian girls….these were the reasons….our sensibilities were limited…however things have changed now….there are 2 neon lit lanes now….all the hotels are only rented to foreigners…once you get in there…it is difficult to get out from there….the foreigners come to discover themsleves and India….here they decide where to go next, what to do next…all these things were in my mind back then….the other was the essence of Devdas….he was a man troubled but more due to his own internal confusion….there many things for which he needed answers….which he didnt have himself…he didnt know what was happening…he had become sort of comfortably numb…unable to react…unable to express…
I didnt want Devadas to say this all…I wanted to somehow show his internal struggle…in the first draft devdas had lots of lines to speak….I started trimming down his lines…however there was this propblem of how to show this state of mind….I used Hindi cinema’s tool which no other cinema offers…thats music…using that as a medium we tried to depict his internal struggles and state of mind….this story was the journey of 3 characters…I always felt Devdas weakest link was Paro….When you read the novel, you wonder why didnt Devdas go to Chandramukhi???? Chandramukhi and Paro take the story ahead….however Devdas is stuck at one place…he doesnt move much…I established the characters….
I remember when i was researching, I came to know that when “Sahib, Biwi aur Gulam’ was sent to the oscars, the academy rejected on these grounds that the story didnt make sense with the western culture…the whole film was based on how a daughter-in-law starts drinking and then falls in society..however in the west there was no such distinction…females used to drink…they said that for you it might be a big issue…however for us it is tough to accept that….
I also felt in todays time, what would one to do to self destruct? he starts doing drugs…one night stands…random relationships…he isnt aware of what he is doing with his life…he is just whiling away his time…he isnt awsre where he is…he just going….if a wall comes to stop him, he stops…if not, he just goes on….In order to capture this state of his mind, we started to compose with the script…locations and all….
After all this, came the more important part of sexuality…didnt know what to show and what not to….everybody who has a problem with this movie, says why are you showing all this….I wanted to show how it happens today…how people talk, react…i wanted to bring that on screen…often it seems we know how kids today think and do not…however we are always wrong….What I did was in our team there were 2-3 girls around the age of 21-22…before the movie production started….I started discussing about this film with them…to this extent that if this happened with you, to what levels would you go? the answers were so mind boggling that if I had put them on screen, people would have been scared…for example the scene where Paro returns back….I asked them directly that when this girls returns after what has all happened, where Dev has insulted her and then later realises,,when dev mentions to her “You make Love with me”, do you think she will sleep with him? The girls said “Yes…and she would give him something to remember for the rest of his life…The Best SEX of his life”….I thought should I go the whole nine yards with this scene…
Then I talked with my mom who is from a small town with principles…I went for a day to Benares…I asked her what would Paro do? She said “That she doesnt know”….i asked her to say Yes or No….Like would she Kiss? She said “No…and that she would never do “it”" This is what my mom said and this is how I made it….
So we then started shooting naturally and tried to keep it the same way…and tried placing our characters within them…i told the cameraman to hide the camera….put the characters and just shoot….with less light….withour nybody even knowing we tried to shoot….Many of the reactions here are natural….the camera would just roll…Somepeople mistook Chandramukhi to be from that place and tried to impress her….I also shot that….there is this one shot where there is a real policeman taking hafta…who looks like an actor though he ain’t one….we decided to explore and capture elements the way it is….and the story would find its essence….it is a musical coz what he wants to say/express he cant say…..this is one advantage a novel has where it can make the reader aware of the state of mind…trying to bring this on film is tough….you need to go into details and somewhere you lose the way and are not able to show it…and thats a big loss…we tried to replicate this by using music…which refelcts his state of mind in the current scene…
This is how Dev D evolved….
Stuff I loved in the movie…
1. the chanda back story with MMS fiasco. Most pertinent these days and how it unravels her life.
2. Chanda is studying on the side too. all the prostitutes are going to thank AK for years to come for that… very positive element.
3. Loved the end …despite the drug stupor Dev is rocked back into his senses by the near miss accident.
bad stuff…
1. Like “Jaane tu ..”had needless constant party hopping Dev’s constant in and out of seedy places made it boring !could have added more story there….loved it when Chanda washes his clothes and Dev says he loves her.
2. Original Dev D ones show Dev D with some character…this one is a real a**. Actually he doesnt deserve to live at the end….sadly he does…modern irony I guess.
3. Kitni ladkiyan nide pics bhejengi even now…woh bhi ek gaanv ki chori…
general thoughts…
thanks goodness Im not 20 anymore. When we were in college one felt a pressure to be in love but never to have sex (as is was pretty much taboo..thank goodness!!)…Seem to have regressed big time.
thanks axw11…now i hope people will talk about the adaptation process of dev d.
No Probs Ajay…i just did for the fun of it…nice post though…
English translation please ..
oh ok .. got it .. thanks evelyn
I appreciate the acknowledgment, but it was axw11 who did the translation. :-)
Evelyn, I agree with you in that Dev dying at the end, as in the previous versions, wouldnt have been the best ending. But neither is the current one, where Dev suddenly finds his ‘true’ love in Chanda.
My ideal ending for this movie would show even Chanda rejecting Dev when he goes back to her. That would’ve been a more believable cause for Dev getting jolted back to reality.
darkndusky, to add to what you said, i wondered why an internet-savvy Paro couldnt just have used a digital camera and spared herself all that trouble. If she didnt own one, she would surely have the resource to borrow it.
and btw, it’s Paro who washes his clothes, not Chanda. Chanda bathes him, towards the ending of the movie (about the worst ending i couldve imagined for a movie of this quality)
@Geeta
U didnt want Dev to live, also u dint want Chanda to accept him ..
BTW if u have noticed in the movie, many instances were planted in the movie to show that Dev was trying to forget Paro and was remorsing.
Newaz what according to you would have been the perfect ending…
thanks for the translation axw11…
I think the ending was kind of fitting… I mean, look at it this way, there couldn’t be two characters more complex, more damaged than Dev and Chanda… isn’t it kinda symmetric that they finally find some rhythm in their lives through each other?
i know the ending was pretty out of the ordinary… but i think we are so used to being given a definite end to movies in general that we find it sorta out of the ordinary. I mean think about it, it’s not a traditional ending as such, but when u think about it, you realize that the story is not over i mean Dev’s story he’s still being incarcerated for the hit and run. However, the whole point of the movie, as we heard it from the horse’s mouth was it was a love story, so in a sense we got our traditional happy ending, that true love triumphs all. But now AK gives us the freedom to decide what we want the characters to do after the last scooter ride. I honestly think that it made the movie. Everything in the movie was expected but unexpected at the same time. I mean that people knew the story but at the same time we didn’t expect what was happening on the screen. I guess that’s why there were so many people castigating the film. I personally feel that we need to nudge movie-goers out of their comfort zone, because we have been used to watching shit movies for a long time. I am not saying that DEV D was a work of art, but it definitely is a welcome change in a direction that most discerning cinephiles have been craving for ages. Hopefully, this is just the tip of the ice-berg and we get more movies made with the in-depth characterization that Mr. Kashyap and so many others whose name i can’t remember right now seem to have undertaken for their movies. I aspire to be a screenwriter someday and i never knew that you can take your characters to such intricate levels.
P.S.
Ok i know i have babbled on a lot… sorry folks just a little hungover and really bored at work. lol
Vikas, i didnt say i didnt want Dev to live. I only said the ending, as it stands, sucks big time.
i’ve already mentioned what my ideal ending to the movie would be – Dev going back to Chanda bcos he’s got nowhere else to go, and then Chanda rejecting him bcos she’s realised she can do more with her life.
For me, the best thing about this movie is that it shows Dev as the spoilt, mule-headed person he really is, and not as some tragic hero that the earlier movies tried to pin on our psyches. The ending i wanted would have been totally in sync with that truth. After this, Dev would be forced to really look hard in the mirror and truly ‘discover’ himself, which is the alleged purpose of this movie. (dont get me wrong, i still like the movie)
Vivek, you say the ending was out of the ordinary, but you also say it was ‘our traditional happy ending’!
Anyway, the point i wanted to make is that giving the audience the ‘freedom to decide what we want the characters to do after the last scooter ride’ isnt much. Even the traditional happy endings give us the freedom to think about how a rich girl-poor boy couple is going to live after they get married against all odds! The ending of Dev D is clearly intended to leave the audience with the feeling that now Chanda n Dev are together, Dev has found his anchor etc. etc. And thats what spoilt the movie for me.
Sahi
!!!
but i guess that’s what the intent was… think about it … the story is a love story agreed and we know that Chanda & Dev are together now… but what happens to Dev is not for sure. The point of the story is that internal struggle of Dev to decide and eventually find his one true love(i know it sounds corny), which he did, that’s what the story intended to depict. Now that we know that he found his true love, his life is still not over. That’s where i referred to the traditional hindi movie ending, where there was a definitive end to the movie, whereas here, he is still to find out his fate after the car accident. I don’t think it was what the story was about( the hit and run). So, the story did not delve into what happened next.
‘Chandramukhi ho ya Paro,
ki farak penda hai yaaron’
this Kishore song wouldve been an apt theme song for Anurag’s Dev, what say Vivek?
Great Article and thanks for translating it axw11!