Needless to say, my last weekend's watch was Dev D and it was not a waste of my money or time. Although I would not call it a classic by any stretch of imagination but definitely it is a creative fare with wonderful music and contemporary story telling avoiding cliches in the narrative. The most refreshing aspects was the characterization, the choices reflect free will, in cases people may seem flawed but still no one seeks refuge behind the excuse of fate or family pressure.
The character of Dev D does not create any sympathy for himself and rightly so. He is a selfish, pathetic arrogant soul who gets his just desserts. Paro is fiesty and quickly moves on her life without brooding too long. Anyways I do not want in more detail about the movie as it already has great reviews and I do not want to add to that list.
Coming to the question, why is Dev D the ninth adaption of the old novel about a coward who did not have the guts to fight for his love and dies a broke alcoholic so appealing to the film makers and film goers as well.
Possible reasons why Dev D is so popular
He is extremely arrogant and realizes his only folly in hindsight
He cribs a lot and wallows in self pity
He is neurotic and guilt trips Paro, his family by his chronic lethargy and self destructive habits
He gets to booze first thing in the morning ( yeah many people would like that :P am sure )
He derives pleasure in his own self inflicted pain and assumes he is doing a great sacrifice
In all the reasons, mentioned below many of us have experinced a similar emotion. It may not necessarily a lost love (GF/BF variety), It could be missing out on a dream job, vacation or promotion. Although conventional wisdom suggests we should dust ourselves and keep moving on, there is a morbid pleasure in cribbing and lying on the floor and drawing self sympathy and attention of others.
The overdosing need not be just be on alcohol, it can be over focusing on the job, excessive shopping or even calling up friends/family and restating the same old story on how tragic your life is. In this sorrow you find the purpose of your life, that you are alone in the world and you alone have faced such a calamity. In some way the world, God is against you and you are being victimized. This feeling makes you feel important and wanted some how. Any kind of advice sane or otherwise is just brushed off and you continue on the same vein. In a way, it is a classic attention seeking behaviour to pander to personal ego.
That is the precise reason, why Dev D is so integral to all of us, he reminds to us how as humans we all are fallible and can be petty enough to be self destructive. Dev D is about been stupid,egoistic and on top of it being proud about it.
As the movie Dev D ended on a surprising happy note, let us also find our own redemption and the inner strength to fight the Dev D in us from entirely taking over our life. Life is tough, it does not become any better with a lousy attitude.
“All of us are lying in a gutter, Only few of us are looking at the stars” - Oscar Wilde
a masterpiece of thoughtfulness i must say...
ReplyDeleteAs they say, Misery loves company
ReplyDeleteAbhay D seems to be very smart on his choice of roles
hellos, it seems we talk here more these days.... :)
ReplyDeletethis is not a debate but just my take. I found like you said the film very interesting for the fact that it doesnt attempt to blames any one for dev and his life. The technical work, music and some scenes are simply amazing.
But to me the film is a highly irresponsible film and the film maker should be sued for the same. REason being he takes the lives of real people and fictionalises it and that's very warped. The delhi mms scandal for instance, yes so a girl was trying to explore her sexuality and yes so she gave a blow job to some guy and that got passed around but to show that she ends up as a call girl due to that is completely disgusting. Reinforces a zillion cliches and is almost like a moral cultural warning. He again does the same by using the BMW case, just to make the story interesting. and both these incidents kinda ruined the film for me.
that apart the scene where the girl tucks her skirt outside her house, the guy throws his wallet, the scene where his gf doesnt let him kiss her etc done tastily.
cheers,
go
hey man, nice views and interpretations. want to watch the movie now.
ReplyDelete@ raj - thanks sir for the kind words !
ReplyDelete@ khalil - well said ... misery does love company and making the company miserable
@ Govind - yeah I do agree that the character of chanda taking to prostitution was the lamest link in the movie, but I think the BMW case does give a fair idea how the spoilt kids of rich dads run amok in the city .... wasting their youth n potential, not to talk about the menace to society
but minor flaws considering the whole landscape of things
@ hriday - thanks for the encouragement especially coming from a veteran blogger like you ! I am sure you will enjoy the movie... it is wicked !
dada....hats off to u. Nicely written...I saw the movie and can clearly understand ur thought process here. Keep the posts coming!!!
ReplyDeletehey mayank - thanks a lot man for the encouragement !
ReplyDeleteHey Ganesh, the song and the dialogs that I have been watching of the movie in the promos have demotivated and irritated me enough not to watch the movie. After reading your blog I actually could not make out much, it was too much serious stuff I suppose...
ReplyDeleteYou last para says " let us also find our own redemption and the inner strength to fight the Dev D in us from entirely taking over our life" has made me think otherwise..... Looking fwd to watching the movie so that I can be at the same platform as you to understand your views....need to say good job done to influence someone like me to watch the movie.... he he he
Keep writing....
@ Probal - I guess I should take some commission for the makers of DEv D for making u want to watch the movie/ even to some extent Hriday ....
ReplyDeleteI guess the 2 main points which differeniate Dev D from the older versions is the parents/traditions dont come in the way ... the emotional torture is self inflicted due to miscommunication
Secondly the surprising feel good ending to the tale ...
In my view Dev D is not a classic but it is engaging !
I saw Dev D y'day, quite late for a movie that I have been waiting in anticipation for a long time. Full Marks to Music, it seems to carry the signature of the composers...unique style (I have become a fan of these songs…..'By God'!!), Full marks to the director for keeping the intensity on for the length of the movie, being brutally frank abt the dark side of the society, and for creating that gloomy environment from time to time .......... But to be honest I wont say its a pathbreaking movie, certainly not a 5 starrer that TOI claimed it to be, not because DevD’s depiction of Dev Das is different from the old one but because I failed to see the internal turmoil of Devdas...the story seems more of the journey of a narcissist on a self distructive path.
ReplyDeleteOne place where movie truly differs (in my view offcourse) from the Devdas of 'Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay' is the fact that the Vintage Devd's journey is the one of internal friction, despair, self pity arising out of the protagonist's inability to fight against the Social customs and the class divide so strongly prevalent then. His own cowardice drives him towards a road of perdition............. I thought the director couldn’t bring this out well even taking the current society as the backdrop. Our contemporary hero does not seem to be taking a refuge behind the alcohol rather he simply seems to be pathetically addicted to it so much so that, at a point of time one starts believing whether pain is the reason for addiction or is it addiction the only reason of pain in his life.
A great movie....certainly not a Classic!!