A wealthy young lad (Devdas) in love with his childhood girl friend (Paro). A huge amorphous mass, society, standing right between them. A matter of personal choices and ego masqueraded under the rubble of social stratification; and a brooding and sardonic nature that drags Devdas to his deprivation. The result- a painful and tragic death. Of love. Of Devdas…
… and a legend is born.
In his movie DevD, director Anurag Kashyap has set out to discover the psyche of this legendary “Devdas”, twisted to fit into modern world. Placed in backyards of Delhi- DevD’s music, sensibility, and characters converge into a shambolic collage where the original concept of the novel and suffocation of the modern Indian youth scream together in their own distinct flavors.
Dev (Abhay Deol) is from an affluent family of Punjab studying in London. He has a steaming long distance affair with his childhood girlfriend Paro. But when Dev arrives in India, he finds his love for Paro trapped in social conventions, hypocrisy and distrust arising from their own (Dev’s and Paro’s) unbridled sexual explicitness. Jealousy and hatred prevails, Dev refuses to marry Paro. Paro gets married to another man, and Dev (being the rich and spoilt boy of 27 years) starts drowning himself into single malt Glenlivet.
Paro starts a new life with her new man and Dev, neck deep into drugs and alcohol, meets Chanda- a victim of high school tragedy and an escort. Abandoned by the whole world, 19 yr old Chanda is highly educated, intellectual and believes in a guilt free life. Dev and Chanda connect well, become good friends and fall in love with each other. The problem- Dev believes that he is still in love with Paro.
If it were a painting, I’d classify DevD under Cubist- every character seen from every angle and thrown flat on the screen. The movie’s strengths are its editing, nonchalant (and commendable) performance by the actors and an off-beat music teamed with chaotic cinematography. Its weakness is that it suffers from time dilation induced by boredom- the last 45 minutes painfully hang at the event horizon of a black hole ( there were moments when I could get up, wash my dishes, come back, and not feel that I have missed a whole lot.)
So, if you aren’t planning to watch this movie in a cinema hall, and if you belong to the generation that bleeds love from outside and an obsession with self inflicted problems from inside, a.k.a “the Y generation”, then you will love this movie.
For everybody else, it’d be just some garbled noise. 
