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Dev D - Grade B
Anurag K's 'Dev D' is like Maggi Hot 'n' Sweet sauce - it is different.
I watched it by myself at an evening show on a sunday, in a multiplex,
after buying the ticket from a desperate man who was trying to offload
three. The seat I found myself in was between two amorous couples. They
billed and cooed through the movie,and nudged each other in that
meaningful way lovers do, each time there was a sexual reference on
screen. My side show was almost as erotic as Dev and Paro's couplings
in sarson fields, ghusaal khanas and tabelas. The movie could so easily
have been titled 'Loins of Punjab - Part 2." Khair. I was determined to
remain fully focused on what has been dubbed a brilliant, faultless,
five star film by top critics. Hello?? 'Dev D' is bold ( the forbidden
f-word uttered unapologetically), edgy ( camera on steroids), kinky (
Kalki gives great phone sex in Tamil, French and Hinglish). But
brilliant?? Come on, guys. Haven't we seen all this and more with Jodie
Foster doing her teenage slut routine decades ago? What about 'Lyon"?
and Natalie Portman ?? Besides, how many interpretations of that ghasa
peeta story ("evdas'), do we need before saying, " Enough"? I am upto
there with the main man, Monsieur Devdas, a real loser of a fellow, a
complete jerk, a self -obsessed beast, who in this version progresses
from booze to drugs, but otherwise retains all the creepy qualities of
the original. Why romanticise such a character, I ask you?? Of course,
a classic remains a magnet for creative manipulation. So, one can't
argue on that score with the filmmaker. Visually, the movie is an
absolute stunner, psychedelic lunacy at its zaniest. Delhi's seedy
Paharganj, Daryaganj and other areas favoured by international junkies,
have been captured in all their depressing glory. Mahie as Paro, and
Kalki as Chandramukhi, completely overshone Abhay Deol. I would have
said 'mauled the guy' but he wasn't half bad in some key scenes, though
I do wish he had kept his shirt on, and spared us those ugh underwear
shots. Dev D was a bit of a disappointment. Much was expected, less
delivered. Tau bhi - I would say, 'Isko dekho.' Brutal in bits. But
truthful, too. One grouse: in an otherwise original script, why ghusaao
the much publicised BMW and MMS scandals??
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