Dev D - Thoughts after the movie/ Movie Review - Sunday, February 8, 2009

Dev D – Direction: Anurag Kashyap – Cast: Abhay Deol, Mahi Gill, Kalki Koechlin
Dev Doom
A rating of 4 stars by the so called movie critics in Bombay, for the movie Dev D, is beyond my comprehension. I agree, that the actors did a fantastic job, the movie was well directed, and cinematography was absolutely fantastic. The movie could be called as entertainment to a certain extent. But my problem with the movie deals with the entire concept/plot of the movie itself.
A rich kid (Abhay Deol) in love with a girl(Mahi Gill). Mistrusts the girl. Dumps her, insults her. Girl gets married to another guy. Rich kid realizes his mistake later. Regrets. Takes solace in alcohol, drugs. Enters another traumatized girl(Kalki Koechlin) who has become a CSW to support herself. Rich kid meets new girl. Falls in love. Mistrusts her. More alcohol, drugs. Drunken driven – kills people – has to go to jail. Somehow gets bail. Realizes his mistake. Goes back to the new girl. She takes him back. They decide to live simpler lives. They decide to go the police. And then live happily after.
I say, isn’t there enough misery, poverty, alcohol, killing, drugs already in real life that One goes and makes a movie so real? The movie is made for a commercial mass audience. An audience which is less educated, naïve, gullible, and easily influenced. Throughout the movie, one thing comes across very strongly – your life has problems? Do not worry because you can find momentary joy in alcohol and drugs. It is my guess that except some of the people who watch this movie, others have no idea what actual drugs like marijuana, weed, pot, LSDs are all about. This movie is taking these substances nearer to the common woman/man (in terms of the awareness). The movie does not even talk about rehabilitation. Rehabs can be as expensive as INR 6 lacs for 21 days. Let’s not forget that rehab will not necessarily cure any of the addictions. Not to digress further, what I am trying to say here is that the depiction is partial.
Now, people will want to point out that the Devdas directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali staring Shah Rukh Khan had too, the same story. But, I would like to point out here is that the movie belonged to a slightly older era and replication of the same by today’s youth/ generation is not so much as possible. But here, the contemporary Dev D can be epitomized by the youth today. I am not saying that Dev Ds do not already exist. There exist but only a few. I am not sure whether the movie has got a U (For Universal Audience rating) or an A (For Adults Only), but there sure was no checking of any sort of ‘above-18 years-of-age’. The audience in the multiplex where I saw the movie comprised of many a just-out-of-school youth. These are the people who tend to ‘take life lightly’/ have a ‘enjoy while it lasts attitude’. I even heard some people scoff loudly at scenes where nothing was even moderately funny. I am not being narrow minded here. But there has to a limit. And then we say that the country is witnessing more crime, more children leaving home, more homes breaking apart and so on…
I believe, everyone should have creative freedom to create what their mind wishes. But in a case like ‘commercial movie for a mass audience’ – please refrain from topics which are likely to make people go astray. I am fond of watching movies, and I watch many a foreign language movies which have portrayed deeper trauma and misery. But the audience that they cater to is much more evolved/ informed.
I would say this should be made into a documentary and less of a commercial film. And more than needed are some disclaimers and a kind of a write up before or after the movie for the people to read.