Sunday, February 8, 2009

Dev D. D for…

still1_300_15jan2009 Have you ever been in a joke narration where there has been tons of build-up and you eagerly await the punch line so you can laugh your ass off and say "hell yeah!"

But the punch line never comes?

That's almost exactly what Dev D. is like.
Except that there is no build up and the joke stretches for around 3 hours by the end of which you are so irritated that you feel like hitting the people sitting in the audience, beginning with yourself.

So incase you don't know, the movie is a modern interpretation of Devdas (hence Dev D.) and attempts to showcase the movie by tying it in with the issues in our "modern day" world of pre marital sex, drug abuse, MMS scandal and a rich kid running over people with his BMW.

Firstly, before my eyes see red again and I lose all control of my temper at the sheer absurdness, pointlessness and stupidity of the film, I must say Abhay Deol acts brilliantly and portrays his role rather well - something I have come to expect after such movies as Oye lucky, Ek chaalis ki last local and socha na tha.

The movie begins with a young dev being a pain in the ass and his father shouting at him.

Dev calls his mom and dad by their first names - a funny but idiotic attempt at portraying him as unconventional and rebellious. Still, it is cutely bearable in way – I think mostly because of the actor.

He gets shipped to London where he grows up chatting with his childhood sweet heart via the web and of course love/lust blossoms.

Dev is shown (to begin with) a guy who is rebellious and doesn't indulge in the molly coddling of stuff that people (usually older) don't want discussed openly.
He wants to fuck, instead of "indulging in the physical act of making love"
He is direct, to the extent of being rude about what he wants, when he wants and how he wants it.
From casually asking his girl "do you touch yourself?" To asking her to send naked pictures of her, and uttering lines like "main aa raha hoon" instead of its obvious english version, Dev D. then, stands for Dev Dude.

And just for a moment, you start thinking that maybe the fresh take is that the movie shows Dev as the guy who takes no prisoners, is direct and blatant and doesn't give a shit about what the world in general or people within ear shot in particular think or perceive.

Cut to his India visit where he meets his childhood sweet heart and the next 20 mintues in the movie are spent showcasing their inability to find some private space to "do it"

Yeah, TWENTY minutes.

Finally that chapter closes when due to a misunderstanding, they have a fight and Paaro marries some other rich guy because Dev D in his Dude style asks her to go to hell.

Had the movie from here taken on a role where Dev moves on and continues his sex cigarettes and whiskey lifestyle, it would’ve probably been a fun and realistic take in today's world. But no.

From here the movie tries to mimic the older dev das with dev missing paaro and taking to heavy drinking and hooker induced sleep.
Paaro meanwhile moves on forgets dev and lives a happy life.

Dev finds a particular hooker Chanda who is a firang girl depicting the DPS MMS scandal victim. He takes a liking to her and a small friendship blossoms but he still loves Paaro.

He pays the pimp to let Chanda go.
Meanwhile, he runs over 7 people in his BMW.

His father dies (he was ill anyway) and Dev literally becomes a beggar for about 2 mins in the film.

Suddenly, a car rams into a wall missing him by several feet but this becomes the life altering moment. He seeks out Chanda and they try to start a life together which is shown by her giving him a sponge bath and later taking him to the police station for his daily hajiri- (he is out on bail in the BMW case)

The pointlessness of the movie is beyond words.

Infact the movie should’ve been called Paaro because her character is the one that is different, she is no longer in love with Dev, marries an equally rich man and lives happily.

So what's so new about the movie? Nothing, unless you count the several ingenious ways they have invented to completely screw up what could’ve been a great movie.

What perplexes me even more is how is it that the other movie reviews I've read have been very positive - did they show a different movie at the premier? I don't know.

If I could have it my way, I would gather up all the people who made this film, their families, distant relatives, offsprings, suspected offsprings and anyone having even a single gene common with any of them.

I would then shoot each of them several times so that never again can they mess up the human gene pool and subject us to such criminally terrible movies.

Dev D. D for… Disaster.

4 comments:

  1. I just read a review yesterday which praised this movie. How come you didn't like it?

    I was so happy for Abhay Deol, now I am not ;)

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  2. Anurag didnt make the movie keeping just YOU in mind :)
    And your comment about Abhay being the 'dude' but becomes a sucker post Paaro leaving him — well people who appear to be the 'dude' variety are the most dud losers. Am ready to bet that a major chunck of people who opt for therapy/counselling of any kind, belong to the 'dude' variety :)

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  3. Wd - actually, Abhay Deol is awesome in the movie. his acting as always is REALLY good.

    PC -

    I am not sure WHAT or WHO anurag had in mind while making the movie.

    I didnt say Abhay was "a dude" I merely said the film couldnt decide whether to portray him as a dude or a loser and succeeded in screwing up both aspects.

    As for the dude variety being the most dud losers, that sounds like a hidden agenda induced rant :)

    I will take that bet. what are the stakes?

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  4. totally agree with you.. Dev D was a disaster! the devdas had essence of true love where they could not meet because of circumstances... but Dev D is over indulging in drugs,sex, money... its just lost essence of love..

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