Dev.D – Before the dawn.
Dev.D – Before the dawn.
There are lots of interesting things going so right for Dev.D that there’s this audacious hope that it’s going to be that outrageous piece of art which is also going to rake in the box office riches.
Recently I was in a north India trip and I saw the curiosity among the youth. The college goers and the Young professionals in their 20s. The expectations from Dev.D are well, extreme.
The first assault and the biggest that Dev.D made on the unsuspecting audience was the “Emossional Atyachar”. It’s transcended its own realm now. Coupled with the “Lust line” and “Saali Khushi”, there’s this fundamentally different image, a melancholic, psychedelic, sensuous feel about the film which is rare.
The rock version of the song has reinstated the intellect behind.
One of the most unexpected reasons why Dev.D has garnered such a response is due to the Abhay Deol factor. While he might be a limited actor and not a bollywood megastar material in the SRK school of acting, he has managed, by the dint of his body of work to attract a considerable strata of the thinking cinephile. Oye Lucky Lucky Oye has come as the perfect one-two punch which has further fueled the “thinking-intellectual-quality-different” image of Abhay Deol. People just expect his movies to be different and great. It’s amazing how his fanbase has more faith in him than even Aamir’s fans have in Aamir. Somehow, a lot of today’s youth identify themselves with his on and off screen persona and root for him.
I don’t know how big the Amit Trivedi factor is. It has never happened in past that A.R.Rehman has thoroughly been outclassed by another composer when both their albums have come out at the same time. In fact SEL also came up with their Luck By Chance music score. But the sheer audacity, depth, talent, variety and arrogance of Dev.D’s music has drowned every thing else out. Eclipsing ARR and SEL is a titanic feat for a composer and Amit Trivedi right-fully appears to be Rehman’s successor. To give a Tennis similie, It’d be how Jo Wilfried Tsonga dazzles with his tennis even if he loses a few matches owing to his extravagance and how he always reminds of the original master, the great Pete Sampras. Dev.D’s music and the limited picturisation which came out in the promos catapulted Dev.D very high in the curiosity quotient.
Even general people have now started noting how UTV is churning out superb film after superb film. The image that Anurag Kashyap has in the popular media, of being the original maveric, the element of unexpected and provocativeness, general movie goers might be a little wary of him, but they feel a helpless magnetic attraction. And so does the media too, though they’d not admit it.
The first Dev.D promo that came out in PFC and which got five digit clicks in Youtube, that was breath taking. I remember people commenting ‘orgasmic’. That indeed was a mind blowing promo. Like Masakkali set things up for Dilli 6 and formed a certain image, that promo of Dev.D makde people believe. Believe, that Anurag Kashyap hasn’t dumbed down post No Smoking and he still has the audacity to take quality mainstream. I wonder why in Zoom and other TV channels, that promo doesn’t make an appearance.
I was talking to a Jath Driver on my way to Rohtang Pass and he was listening to “Tu raja ki raj dulhari” from Oye Lucky. He was so engrossed, it being a Jath ragini, I was actually scared about the drive. Dev.D has also managed to grow organically on the age group mostly between 18 to 35 and even the friends of mine who do RTL coding day after day and only see “Singh Is King” are also asking me “When is Dev.D releasing?” Somehow the approach shot has been made. The winner is in sight but it has to be hit.
And that’s the only reason I write this post. Nothing else.
It’s time Anurag talked up Dev.D in mainstream media even more. He gets a lot of coverage even when he speaks a sentence. It’s the time Dev.D got an aggressive promotion from the man. Same for the likes of Abhay Deol and others. Bollywood is not going to change with alternative cinema.
What’s the percentage of youth who have seen Dil Chahta Hai and what’s the percentage who’ve seen Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi? You see the point?
Dev.D may or may not be that cinema. I haven’t seen it. I just don’t know.
But it surely is a product of the genesis that has the same rudimentary integrity.
Parallel cinema existed even in 80s. Bollywood will only change when movies like Oye Lucky or Dev.D will rake in as much mullah as a SRK or an Aamir Khan grosser does. Actors will become stars for a change and movies will be made which deserves to be made. It’s too premature may be to dream about that kind of Bollywood. But there’d be no better time to lay the foundation. Bring on that original Youtube Dev.D promo once more, give it all the hype, and let Dev.D have a blast.
Tags: Bollywood, Dev.D, Movies
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
Welcome!
Thanks!
I have wondered the same thing. Why this film is not being promoted by people involved with it? However, I saw Abhay Deol on the comedy show last week..so let’s hope they really are interested in making this a hit, instead of being satisfied with ‘cult classics’..
Amen to that, brother!
How I wish Abhay Deol had stayed back in Bombay to promote Dev.D and not flown off to NYC for his sabbatical. His popularity would have helped Dev.D gain further momentum, which would’ve definitely helped get more eyeballs and lured more people into the theatres. Wonder what UTV & Anurag think about that. And I just hope the media doesn’t sharpen their nastiest knives again, just coz it is an Anurag Kashyap movie. Lets hope for the best!
I’m just scared about the Rajeev Masand guy. And rediff and other reviews. I’ve seen how they shape opinion. I saw many who didn’t like Dhoom2 at all but came out and said they liked it because it had a 4 star review. The reverse for Don.
Masand was so unkind to Kukunoor’s Dor. He killed NS. I don’t know how he judges movies. All Farah Khan, Yash Raj – SRK, SRK -KJo movies always get favour.
Oh I hate him. And I think they kill some movies to prove their review power.
To be frank, that’s the only fear I have.
rajeev masand IMO does not favour any camps. He just gives his honest opinion. They may not be right everytime. But he did like Dor,
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/masands-verdict-dor/22230-8-single.html
He killed NS, but loved black friday.
Anyways hope dev d turns out to be big commercial success, which will set the platform for gulaal
masand din like NS but gave his reasons saving it was highly personal and self indulgent..and no amount of bad reviews can kill good movies..my fear is not the reviews but the man himself..AK bade bado ka kaat sakta hai..just hope that Dev D comes out just not as a concept with some kickass scenes..but a full blown motion picture.. thats my real fear..
@Subhasish Chakraborty
@praneet
“Don’t fear the reaper”.
@subhasish…think rab ne was srk-yrf combo. isnt it ? here is masand’s review… http://ibnlive.in.com/news/masands-verdict-rab-ne-is-contrived/80427-8.html
i dont agree with him many times but dont think he will fuck any film intentionally.
abhay deol as an actor is MUCH better than srk anyday
just my 2 cents
@phoenixnu
that was a good review by Masand
My problem with critics is that more often than not, their yardstick changes with every review – sometimes they rate a movie based on box-office appeal, sometimes on good cinematic sensibilities, sometimes get carried away by their personal opinions of the actor/director or anything else. But never consistent. As with everything else in life, opinions about anything are just a matter of perspective and where you’re coming from. But as much as we’d wana deny it, critics do have their agendas – we just have to live with it and read in between the lines, as they say.
@SL – Very true. I totally agree.
But I see a lot of herd mentality among the viewers. A major chunk blindly goes by what the review said. Often, people don’t even read it. Just go by the heading and the how many stars the review has got. And regarding Masand, I have ample reasons to stick to my viewpoint. I’ll be very glad if he proves me wrong.
By the way, any one has any idea why the original youtube promo is not there in the TVs?
nicely written Subhasish. u talked about dev d’s promonot being seen and aired on channels like zoom,that’s one of the place where big names of the bollywood have their upper hand. no one wants to run the promos for film like dev’d or for that matter khosla ka gholsa n OLLO. the dominance of biggies in media really made me wonder.
i thought it might be a typo error but it repeated again second time in a next article where the writer was going gaga for anurag basu. now i dont know how much it will affect the popularity of anurag kashyap and anruag basu 
take this, there was a article on dev d in TOI some few weeks back, n guess what, it was well written article but the name of the director was Anurag basu n not kasyhap
dude
are you Anurag Kashyap’s self appointed P.R person ?? i mean seriously stop drooling and wait for the film to come….i knw you mentioned that u have not seen teh film, but its not the first non mainstream movie that is looking good… so chill.
And the new music composer outclassing ARR is just your opinion so please don’t make it sound like everyone else feels the same…Dev D has a very unique sound but Delhi 6 and Slumdog millionaire are way superior albums
@Subhashish,
I echo ur sentiments to the T brother … Wat I do personally to promote these movies is that on all social networking sites I put the youtube videos of the trailer or the few songs .. I put the pics too … so everyone who is my friend or visits my profile can see these updates and normally ppl check em out at least once …
Also .. I dont believe in reviews and I find the whole concept a bunch of BS. No one can tell you anything significant about any movie without ruining it for you.. so before seeing the movie reading the review is actually wasting your time and money ..
and once you have seen the movie it duz’nt matter wat the review says .. so either ways its pointless ..
I just hope Dev D duz well.. it will get only one week and that too it will be against luck by chance which will be in its 2nd week.. there is good BUZZ for both Jugaad and Billu Barber so the second week for Dev D will be really tough … I say its just the first week that will make or break this movie .. commercially.
@Subhasish
“I don’t know how big the Amit Trivedi factor is. It has never happened in past that A.R.Rehman has thoroughly been outclassed by another composer when both their albums have come out at the same time”
I am curious to know what the hardcore ARR fans out here would like to say to this remark.Any way I appreciate your courage
I have also been wondering that inspite of reciving the kind of attention that it has…why isnt dev d being promoted more aggressively…looking foward to watching it…so when exactly is it releasing??
@Sharath, I can’t believe my luck. Hard core ARR fans have been unusually kind to me!! On a serious note I believe in what I wrote about Amit Trivedi’s sound in Dev.D. Time is the best judge. The future will tell it all.
Would You ask the same question to Partheon(16) too? I guess both mine and partheon’s answers would be same.
@Kunal, I appreciate your humour
Raunak@18, releasing on 6th Feb. That’s what I read on Net. Don’t know if there’s any other delay.
Skywalker@14, If I’m not mistaken I actually saw many promos in many channels. I think zoom included. My point was, why’s that Kickass promo not being shown which we all first saw posted on PFC? That was the best possible promo in my opinion and close to a lakh people in Youtube seem to share the same view.
“A.R.Rehman has thoroughly been outclassed”
Ga ga ga…
We’ve already seen Amits Music in two films and thats enough to expect anything we can from him. I expect nothing less from Amit than what I expect from Rahman, nothing less from Abhaya than what I expect from Aamir and I expect nothing less from Anurag Kashyap than what I expect from Benegal, Gowarikar(my favorites). And I expect nothing less than the trio Aamir, Rahman and Gowarikar(of Lagaan of course) from Abhaya, Amit and Anurag.
Dev D’s music is exceptional. In the same league as ARR. ARR over the years has cemented his status giving mind blowing music one after the other. Amit Trivedi has done it twice with Aamir and Dev D. As a music director he has shown good command across different genres of music, a trait which only ARR and SEL have in the current scenario. If this guy continues to impress in his next ventures, then am sure, we as audience, can add one more name to the list of most awaited albums.
And one more thing because of Dev D Luck by Chance (even though the music is good) music has been overshadowed. Can’t say the same about Dilli6.
Cherish, I agree fully to Your comment22.
But one thing I noticed over last fortnight was the tremendous re-listenibility value that Dev.D’s music has. Obviously Mohit’s “Masakkali” and then “Yeh Dilli Hai mere Yaar”, when I heard them initially, I was really pumped up. But over a period of time, I found Dev.D’s music had tremendous life time. You could just go on and on, listen for 15 days straight and not develop irritation. SEL’s album for me was one dimensional. Almost all songs in the similar genre/scale. And Rehman’s Dilli 6, well, actually I’ve heard him so much. 18 years. So, Dev.D sounded fresh.
I wonder if the promo wasn’t shown on TV because it displays drug abuse and “F#*K”. I don’t know, I’m just throwing it in the air here …
Also, agree with you about Dev D music. I just can’t stop listening to it. Usually with good music, I’m very vary of listening to the album on repeat. Eventually, I get bored of it. But Dev D music has immense repeat value. The last time I came across such an album was Rock On.
dude, i dunno y u guys keep hating on SRK and Aamir here. i mean talk up dev.d, but y u gotta beat up on those guys? not like they don’t act or nothing. u guys talk as if their careers was a fluke or nothing. jeez.
i never got around to the lust line thing. that was unfortunate, since i was quite interested, so that sucked.
but i’m sure glad, like u said, that he hasn’t changed or gone mainstream, like kevin smith. saw a promo today with luck by chance, and i can’t wait for next week :D
thank god somebody commented on oye lucky’s music. dude that album OWNED! IMO it was the best album of last year, and even better than dev.d. but thankfully this motherfucker’s very good too.
Amit Trivedi is an outstanding composer. Cannot believe a rock band lead guy will have so many variations. I loved Dev.D music. EA rock version, Nayan tarse in loop. But hang on, that comment about ARR was a bit too much. Actually, Amit’s voice sounds a bit like Rahman and so his music is leaving a subliminal impact that he is the next Rahman. Sure Amit’s got potential to reach those heights but surpassing him already is like stretching it too far.
Dev D was the best album of the year, until Delhi 6 came out. I mean forget Masakkali or the title song, Genda Phool is such a great north indian folk put to great music by ARR.
Trivedi is damn good’ but u’ve gotta be out of your mind to compare him with ARR.
Ok, is this film definitely releasing this Friday???
There are no listings for the film at any UK cinema’s.
I take it that this is an India release only then?????
Steve -mere bhai the movie is indeed releasing on 6th Feb.
Amit Trivedi IMO has done quite well with Dev D but lets not get too hasty & say he’s outdone ARR & all that so soon.He himself is extremely media shy as pointed out by Anurag & I dont think he would himself endorse such statements.
Yaar Sethu :(
Anurag Kashyap ne sapne dikha ke KWAAAAB ka KOOOOON kardiya!!!!!
Itna bada dhoka!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why aren’t we getting it here??!!!!!!!!!!!
Baad mein bolenge ‘Pirate par kyun dekhi’?!!!
Well..no choice.. is there?!!!!!!