Dev.D

Dev.D is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film written and directed by Anurag Kashyap. It is a modern-day adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's 1917 Bengali novel, Devdas.^[3][4][5] The film stars Abhay Deol, Mahie Gill and Kalki Koechlin in lead roles. The film is set in modern-day Punjab and Delhi, and follows Devendra Singh "Dev" Dhillon (Abhay Deol), a privileged young man who descends into alcohol and drug addiction after a failed relationship with his childhood love Parminder "Paro" Kaur (Mahie Gill), eventually forming an unexpected bond with Chanda (Kalki Koechlin), an escort navigating her own emotional trauma.

The idea for Dev.D was developed by Anurag Kashyap and Abhay Deol, drawing on real-life incidents, including the 2004 Delhi Public School MMS scandal and a high-profile hit-and-run case. Principal photography took place in Delhi and Punjab, with visually distinct palettes for each character's arc.^[6]

The film was released on 6 February 2009 to strong critical acclaim for its unconventional storytelling, visual style, and music. It had a modest box office performance, earning ₹21.5 crore domestically against a small budget, and was declared a hit.^[7] Over time, Dev.D attained cult status and is now considered a landmark in Indian independent cinema.^[8] A tie-in mobile video game based on the film was released by UTV Indiagames.^[9]

The film's soundtrack was composed by Amit Trivedi and featured 18 songs spanning rock, folk, jazz, and electronic influences. It was praised for its innovation and seamless integration with the narrative. Trivedi received the National Film Award For The Best Music Direction and the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director for his work on the album.^[10]

Plot

The film is divided into three parts from the point of view of the main characters.^[11]

Paro

Paro is a young, idealistic middle-class girl living in Punjab. Her childhood sweetheart is Dev, the son of a rich businessman. Paro cares for him immensely, and fully expects a future with him. Dev constantly takes Paro's love and affection for granted. He grows up to be spoiled, arrogant, and lazy, which causes his father to send him to London to complete his education. While separated by distance, Paro and Dev's youthful love only blossoms more, despite Dev growing increasingly egotistical and entitled. After finishing his studies, Dev returns to Chandigarh and meets Paro, and they rekindle their one-sided romance. After some time, Dev overhears scandalous rumours about Paro concerning her reputation and sexual history, which he immediately believes despite no evidence. Paro is shocked at his chauvinist attitude and denounces his hypocrisy. Dev nonetheless passes judgement onto Paro and does not approve of the things that he has heard. Paro turns her back on him when he insults her and she rashly agrees to marry Bhavan, a man of her parents' choice. On her wedding day, Dev learns that the rumors were false but his ego doesn't let him accept his mistake. He watches as Paro marries Bhavan, eventually drunkenly collapsing.

Chanda

Leni is a Delhi student of half-European descent. A date with her much older boyfriend turns sexual and ends up being filmed by him, which lands Leni in an MMS sex scandal. The incident becomes public knowledge after the video is widely circulated. Her father, having watched the video, commits suicide out of shame and disgust for Leni and himself. Leni's mother sends her to live in a small rural town where her father grew up, where she is further alienated. Refusing to live a life of ridicule and shame, she returns to Delhi where she works as a prostitute at night, while continuing with her studies during the day. She adopts the name 'Chanda' or 'Chandramukhi' for her profession, after watching Sanjay Leela Bhansali's adaptation of Devdas on TV. Her 'foreign' looks mean her services are reserved for the highest-paying customers, and she finds some dignity and independence in her new way of living. One night, an inebriated, half-conscious customer is brought to her room, who turns out to be Dev. She falls in love with him, even though Dev is still in love with Paro.

Dev D

Dev, tormented by Paro being out of his life, has been seeking refuge in alcohol and drugs. He meets a pimp named Chunni, who after a drinking relay, leads him to Chanda. He finds some solace with Chanda but is unable to forget Paro. While in a drug-fueled haze, he calls Paro's husband in the middle of the night. Paro visits him at the cheap lodge where he is staying, where she shows her continued love by cleaning his room but spurns his attempts at physical intimacy. Their reunion ultimately ends on a bitter note when Dev tells her he loves her, to which Paro tells him to move on and forget about her. Paro returns to her married life. Dev resolves to go back to Chanda and they fall in love, but confronted by the reality of her profession, he abandons her too. He resumes his destructive lifestyle of alcohol, drugs, and reckless behavior, culminating in killing seven people in a drunk driving incident. His ailing father dies from shock at the news. Months later, after his life has completely fallen apart and hit an all-time low, Dev attempts to pick up the pieces. He seeks Chanda once again and, with her help, sets out to start life afresh and better himself.

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. When she takes up prostitution as profession, she adopts the name Chandramukhi or Chanda, in honor of the character.
• Chanda's backstory in which she gets embroiled in an MMS scandal while in school is a reference to a similar scandal that took place at Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram in 2004.^[12]
• 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 Sanjeev Nanda BMW hit-and-run case in 1999.^[13]

Production

Development

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 a youth feel. Dev.D was produced by Ronnie Screwvala and shot in places including Paharganj in central Delhi.^[14] 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.^[15]

Kashyap did not want another remake of any of the nine film versions titled Devdas; Motwane had been part of the last known version, the 2002 adaptation directed by his former mentor Sanjay Leela Bhansali, on which he was an assistant.^[16][17] 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 it; Motwane contributed his expertise from the 2002 adaptation to the script.^[17] 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."^[18]

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 Dev.D hit initial snags and was stalled, it was rumoured that UTV had backed out.^[19] At that time, the director denied these rumours. He explained the delay by saying that he was still looking out for his Chandramukhi and had locked in Abhay and newcomer Mahi Gill.^[20] It 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 to be auditioned.^[14] Despite being her debut, Kalki received praise for the performance.^[21]

Release and reception

Dev.D premiered at the 2010 Palm Springs International Film Festival.^[22]

Box office

Dev.D had opening day collection of Rs 15 million. The movie picked up in box office soon and recovered its budget of Rs 60 million in a few weeks. The net collection in its first four weeks was nearly Rs 150 million.^[23] Dev.D crossed added another 3 million in week 6. The film's final domestic gross was Rs 215.0 million with distributor share of Rs 65.5 million.^[24] The film was declared a 'Hit'.^[25]

Critical response

Reviews to the film were positive. Rony D'Costa of Box Office India gave it 4 stars out of 5, stating "Missing Dev.D would be an 'Emotional Attyachar' to oneself."^[26] Raja Sen of Rediff.com gave Dev.D 3.5/5, calling it a 'fantastic visual ride', and ranked it No 2 in his list of the best movies of 2009. Times of India reviewer Nikhat Kazmi termed the film a "brilliant breakthrough for Bollywood" and rated it 5/5.^[27] Shubhra Gupta of Indian Express praised the performance of Abhay Deol and the movie overall.^[28] 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.^[29] 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."^[30]

Several reviewers have highlighted the unconventional visual aesthetic and soundtrack. The film has also been noted for its portrayal of modern toxic masculinity through the protagonist Dev, years before it was portrayed in other high-profile Indian films such as Animal and Arjun Reddy.^[31][32][33]

Accolades

Soundtrack

Dev.D has 18 tracks by artiste Amit Trivedi. The songs were written by Amitabh Bhattacharya, Shellee, Anusha Mani, and Shruti Pathak.^[44] Released on 31 December 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 1970s-80s pop touch to it.^[45][46] 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."^[47] Rahul Bhatia, critic of Hindustan Times fame, said "Each part of each song in this album is special & gives a great impact on audience."

The song "O Pardesi" was replicated using a cycle as a Sprite commercial quotient and is available on YouTube^[48] with 140K+ views in the first 24 hours. The song "Emosanal Attyachaar" has become a catch phrase for many Indian youth.^[49] Nikhil Taneja of Hindustan Times noted that the song was "singularly responsible for driving audiences to the theater to watch a movie."^[50]

References

1. ^ Elley, Derek (17 September 2009). "Dev. D". Variety. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
2. ^ "Dev D – Movie – Box Office India". Box Office India. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
3. ^ "Devdas over the years …". YouthTimes.in. Archived from the original on 9 June 2013.
4. ^ Hollywood.com, "Movies from SpotBoy Motion Pictures"
5. ^ Dev. D – Overview The New York Times.
6. ^ "Kashyap's film is anything but faithful to the novel". Retrieved 2025-07-09.
7. ^ "Amit Trivedi on 15 years of Dev D: 'Thought it would be my first and last film'". 6 February 2024. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
8. ^ "How Dev.D gave Devdas the transformation it needed". Retrieved 2025-07-09.
9. ^ "Indiagames launches game around the much awaited Dev D"
10. ^ "Great film soundtracks: Amit Trivedi and Anurag Kashyap's magnum opus 'Dev.D'". 12 September 2018. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
11. ^ "Dev. D". Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
12. ^ Kazmi, Nikhat (16 January 2010). "Tart with a heart". The Times of India Crest Edition. Retrieved 2 September 2015. The turning point in Leni's life was the MMS scandal and Kashyap confesses he used the reference to the DPS MMS scandal to show what happens to a person whose privacy is affected by cheap, hidden cameras.
13. ^ "BMW hit-and-run case: No extra jail term for Sanjeev Nanda, SC directs him to pay Rs 50 lakh to Centre". The Times of India. Retrieved 2017-02-21.
14. ^ 'Dev D' is not like Sudhir Mishra's 'Aur Devdas' Archived 4 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine, The Hindu, Wednesday, 10 December 2008.
15. ^ "Being treated like the other woman drives me' – Indian Express". The Indian Express
16. ^ "Devdas (2002)". IMDb.
17. ^ Passionforcinema.com Archived 5 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine, 9 July 2007, Anurag Kashyap interview
18. ^ RadioSargam.com, "Abhay Deol talks to Radio Sargam about Dev D"
19. ^ In.movies.yahoo, 17 November 2007, "UTV Backs Out of Dev D?"
20. ^ Buzz18.com Archived 10 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine, 1 February 2008, "It's official: Ambika-Anurag split- Anurag's film will be now produced by Spotboy, a sister concern of UTV"
21. ^ "Meet actress who did not have work for two years after her debut, faced financial crises, survived on vada pav, traveled by local trains, her name is… | India.com". www.india.com. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
22. ^ Brooks, Brian (2009-12-16). "Palm Springs Fest Unveils Extensive Premieres; "Last Station" to Open". IndieWire. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
23. ^ "Bollywood box-office report of the week". Bollywood Trade News Network. Archived from the original on 28 July 2010. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
24. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
25. ^ "New Releases Dull Jai Veeru And Gulaal Poor". Box Office India. 21 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-23.
26. ^ "Dev.D – Review". Box Office India. 15 November 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-15.
27. ^ 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, 5 February 2009.
28. ^ "Movie Review: Dev D – Indian Express". The Indian Express
29. ^ "Review: Dev D". Hindustan Times. 6 February 2009. Archived from the original on 14 February 2009. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
30. ^ Glamsham, Posted Apr 28th 2011 3:30AM (28 April 2011). "AOL Bollywood". Aol.in. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
31. ^ "'Dev.D' portrayed toxic masculinity way before the discourse caught up". 7 February 2024.
32. ^ "14 Years of Dev.D: Anurag Kashyap's Psychedelic Rendition of Devdas and the 'Woman Saves Manchild' Trope"
33. ^ "How Dev.D gave Devdas the transformation it needed | 5X Press"
34. ^ "Asia Pacific Screen Awards » Nominees & Winners Archive". 2014-12-16. Archived 2014-12-16 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
35. ^ "Winner - Producers Guild of India". producersguildindia.com. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
36. ^ Hungama, Bollywood (2010-01-18). "Winners of Max Stardust Awards 2010 2010 : Bollywood News - Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
37. ^ "Star Screen Award Winners 2010 – Sixteenth (16th) Nokia Annual Star Screen Awards". www.awardsandshows.com. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
38. ^ Hungama, Bollywood (2010-01-29). "Results of Bollywood Hungama Surfers Choice Movie Awards 2009 2009 : Bollywood News - Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
39. ^ "Airtel Mirchi Music Awards Winners". 2011-10-02. Archived 2011-10-02 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
40. ^ "Filmfare Awards 2010 Winners". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
41. ^ "Archive Details". IIFA. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
42. ^ Zellner, Ingrid (2010-10-11). "Central European Bollywood Awards Winners". BollySpice.com - The latest movies, interviews in Bollywood. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
43. ^ "National Awards 2009 Winners". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
44. ^ Hindustan Times"Amitabh Bhattacharya: The reluctant lyricist"
45. ^ Radioandmusic.com, 5 September 2008, "Amit Trivedi to compose for UTV Spot Boy's next two films"
46. ^ Rediff.com, 21 July 2008, "Making music, from Aamir to Dev D"
47. ^ BollywoodHungama.com, 7 January 2009, "BollywoodHungama Music Review for Dev.D"
48. ^ "RE-CYCLED BEATS – O Pardesi – DEVD | Sprite Till I Die – YouTube". 14 October 2014. Retrieved 2020-08-23. – via YouTube.
49. ^ RadioSargam.com, 24 January 2009, "Radio Sargam Music Review for Dev.D"
50. ^ Taneja, Nikhil (31 December 2009). "From Melody to Dev D". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2012.

External links

• Dev.D at IMDb