2009. Yeah, I remember the year. I was having particularly hard time, had hit rock-bottom.
But more importantly it was the year when an amazing spectacle was witnessed on the screen. The dhoti clad Devdas, a Bengali Babu transformed into RayBan wearin’, Vodka drinkin’ DevD. The movie itself can be seen as a milestone in the Indian Film Industry. I’ll handle the criticism straightaway. It has been discerned by some ‘learned’ persons as lewd and filled with vicious scenes of drug addiction. Not completely un-true. But there’s much more in the movie than that and you do not need your heart broken or some special wisdom to experience it.
The director, Anurag Kashyap, shows the world why he’s the Mr. Unconventional of the B-Town and he’s got this peculiar way of ridiculing the censor board. In case you have given an ear to the song Emotional Attyachar, the singer misses out on Paanch in ‘ek, do teen, chaar….chhey’ , It was Kashyap’s way of getting back at the board for their refusal to release his movie Paanch and also prolonged delays in release of his brilliant work Black Friday.
Now coming to the movie, it’s a movie of Highs (mujhe sirf ek gram chahiye, chunni!) and Lows (kahan chali gayi hai saali khushi?). Right from the beginning, the self-styled ‘
His solitude had become a habit. Running away from everything, he runs into the charismatic Chunni. (Relay karte ho? Kabhi-Kabhi) If you’re talking about DevD, you just can’t forget the 4 minute but yet long-lasting experience called Pardesi, filled with path-breaking cinematography (Loading…Please Wait). The excellent camera work to depict what Abhay Deol is feeling when drunk, the defying 360 degree movements in a brilliant yellow light (with a sound of glasses tingling), the underwater shots with muffled sounds and drops of blood over his face, the synchronized movements of ‘The Twilight Players’ (who interestingly, witness the story as a viewer does). Bollywood finally experiences ‘The Trip’(especially during Pardesi) , roughly 42 years after it was first captured in Roger Corman classic The Trip.
The music director Amit Trivedi does full justice to the movie and pulls out a few surprises out of his kitty (18tracks in one CD, not one of them misplaced in the movie!) Ye Duniya Badi Gol Hai, Saali Khushi and Nayan Tarse in which Abhay Deol is seen carrying a hell lot of liquor.
But I guess the most defining moment of the movie is when sitting as a loner in a metro train (with guitar riffs to the tune of Emotional Attyachar) after passing out in Chanda ‘s room the previous night. (koi naam socha? Haan….Chandramukhi). The transformation of Devender Singh Dhillon to DevD. More than extreme suffering, is the angst that’s reflected in his eyes. The desire to forget everything. And the Vodka sprees do nothing to subdue his anger. As his glass smashes on the wall, you are thrown back into your seat with a massive yell and a vortex of surreal shots suffuse over you. The elysian smile on the drunk face telling the story. Losing her means he has lost the fear of losing.
And not to forget to the enchanting taxi-driver who slipped Abhay Deol some opium and robbing him. (Do you drink Satpal Singh Ji? Like a fish), the immaculate peaks of Manali (ye duniya badi gol hai)and
The final ode to the ‘forbidden’ love comes in the form of a vigorous snort of cocaine with Saali Khushi playing in the background, the psychedelic lights and the intense beats taking over you.
There’s so much to talk about the movie and its difficult for me to stop!! Although it didn’t turn out to be a very big commercial success since it doesn’t appeal to the traditional Indian cinema-goer. But it surely has given rise to the entirely new school of thought in Bollywood and we hope to see such movies in the future.
The first review (I've read) that does the movie justice. +1
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