Thursday, April 16, 2009

devD




DEV-D,the latest cinematic interpretation of Sharatachandra Chattopadhyay’s novel Devdas , has done two things to the classic.

First, it has put the classic on a modern footing,making it more acceptable to gen-x
who might have found the previous renditions of the same too melodramatic.It indeed
has put some sort of realistic limit on the expressions of the characters which makes the
the emotions completely in sync with the story,and never for a second drifts into “over the top” melodrama.The story has a unique absorbing power and tempts u to go on and on till u reach the end..the credit goes to the style of story telling n kudos to the film editor for that.

The second effect,is a bit on the negative side.Modernising the story has in some parts taken the innocence out of the love story.Its more focused on the sex part of it.The childhood interaction between dev n paro needed much more dan its allotted single sequence to establish the blooming of love.. Infact in the whole film there isn’t a single romantic dialogue between dev and paro..all are rather tiltillating stuff …dev shares a lot more with chanda then he ever did with paro in the movie..afterall the moment he saw paro he seemed much too eager to jump into bed with her rather than talk and share…but that sharing part is very much there between dev n chanda…to bring out dis fact I will describe a scene from the movie…

It’s a sequence where chanda is telling dev about her past.. her father instead of trying to support her in those trying times(when her mms scandal was doing the rounds), embracing her and saying “whatever was to happen has happened and I will be with you” he had sought relief from the stigma by committing suicide...dev at this juncture embraces her lovingly and says those exact words…

-aint that wonderful??isnt that what love is all about..playing the role the other side needs at the moment and giving the required affection and support and sharing the pain and joys alike…always n forever…that little moment shared by dev and chanda filled my heart with joy…joy at having discovered that love has indeed found its expression in the film….

Devdas-till these days remains the symbol of eternal love..As all literature its open to interpretation..this novel is no exception…wadever be the ineterpretation, it is successful only when the essence of true love is present in it..and in this movie though for a single scene I found that sparkiling moment..and that makes it if a “saga of love” to me and that’s what devdas stands for…..long live LOVE….

4 comments:

Indrayan Ganguly.... said...

well surmised review of DEV D...little more could have been discussed about anurag kashyap the director n his ingenuity....but overall very well presented...

Unknown said...

May be it will be worth spending money viewing the new dev d. Seems the new dev d's character may be better then the original one as the orginal one made very less afford to get his love(Parvati). Really a very sick and mentally weak character. How can you justify going to a brothel which according to devdas a better option instead of taking his luv(Parvati) with him when he was leaving his parents house. I feel it is more disrespectful that devdas did show towards his parents of getting himself addicted and going to a brothel. i guess he would have done a better job taking parvati with him and get married to her against his parent's wish.

I feel in the new dev d character the editor had tried to omit this part and has given much more emphasis on the devdas and Chandramukhi relationship. I feel the editor has done a better job justifying the story of devdas. This is my imagination.

Meghpeon said...

DevD tries to reinterpret devdas and needless to say it humanizes the eternal lover to an extent where we start pitying him. nice effort amru! i agree it does definitely rob off the innocence of the paro-dev episode, but chandramukhi as chanda is a revelation!

xz1b1t said...

For me Devdas means A tough guy(not physically) wid a bottle of whiskey no matter he is having more than 750 ml but can still find the address of his ex-gfs house..IRONIC