When Saratchandra Chatterjee the Bengali novelist (15 September 1876 – 16 January 1938) wrote the novel Devdas in 1901 (published in 1917) little did he know that 108 years later it would morph into DevD. That is the hallmark of a great story. Well this one is written by Anurag Kashyap who wrote the story for Satya (’98) and some fab dialog for movies like Guru, Yuva, Honeymoon Travels, Shool etc. I loved Shool because even Ravina Tandon could act in that film!
The story of Devdas has become like a format. Rich boy loves poor girl next door but is unsure of himself. Girl marries someone else. Boy meets prosti… errrr Commercial Sex Worker and yet pines for first love while doing a brisk jog on the eight lane highway with big bold signs showing the exits to drugs, booze and Elvis Presley like end. Check out some wild photographic effects depicting what goes on in the mind of a drugged and boozed out Abhay Deol which were shot using a camera that Danny Boyle of Slumdog Millionaire fame loaned to Anurag.
There have been ten versions of Devdas made. The first one in 1928. The second version made in 1935 in Bengali had the cinematic legend Pramathesh Barua playing Devdas. Devdas ver 3 was made in Hindi with KL Saigal playing Devdas and Pramathesh Barua as the director in 1936. 
The Tamil and Telugu version of Devdas/ Devdasu was in 1953 by director Vedantam Raghavaiah. Bimal Roy directed Devdas in 1955 – that was version 6. That had Dilip Kumar playing Devdas and pining for Vyjayantimala (Paro) and Suchitra Sen (Chandramukhi) with some haunting music by Sachin Dev Burman. It is my favorite version – not that I have watched any other version except the one by Shah Rukh made in 2002 (ver 9) - the same year that saw another version made in Bengali ver 10. Vijaya Nirmal directed another Telugu version of Devdas in 1974. The eighth version in 1979 was again made in Bengali starring Soumitra Chatterjee as Devdas and Sumitra as Paro while Chandramukhi was Supriya. Uttam Kumar played Chunnilal in that film.
The Tamil and Telugu version of Devdas/ Devdasu was in 1953 by director Vedantam Raghavaiah. Bimal Roy directed Devdas in 1955 – that was version 6. That had Dilip Kumar playing Devdas and pining for Vyjayantimala (Paro) and Suchitra Sen (Chandramukhi) with some haunting music by Sachin Dev Burman. It is my favorite version – not that I have watched any other version except the one by Shah Rukh made in 2002 (ver 9) - the same year that saw another version made in Bengali ver 10. Vijaya Nirmal directed another Telugu version of Devdas in 1974. The eighth version in 1979 was again made in Bengali starring Soumitra Chatterjee as Devdas and Sumitra as Paro while Chandramukhi was Supriya. Uttam Kumar played Chunnilal in that film.What is my take on DevD? This is Circa 2009 and it is Abhay Deol playing the title character. This cousin of Sunny and Bobby Deol is thankfully not in the shallow end of the acting gene pool. Check out Manorama Six Feet Under and Oye Lucky Lucky Oye and you will start to take this Deol seriously. The two women who torment DevD are Mahie Gill and Kalki Koechlin – both are strong actresses. Going forward Kalki Koechlin may face a challenge which has not faced as a model. Kalki with her French looks may find that the only roles that Bollywood has to offer are those that stereotype her as a firangi gal. Look at what happened to Tom Alter despite his being such a brilliant actor. Kalki has the Angelina Jolie pout. Honest.
But the highlight of the film is clearly the trendsetting song Emosanal Atyachar (Emotional Torment) sung by Rangeela and Rasila Bandmaster. The brass band used in the film is actually Harish Band of Chandigarh with the hilarious “Patna Ke Presley” duo performing the actions to go with it on screen. The song is hit from the word go. Just watch Bollywood dish out more such songs in future where people are bold enough to not feel apologetic about their accents. The song has become quite a rage with fan clubs on many social networking sites. Music is used effortlessly to enhance the mood and to build transitions in the story. Check out the spontaneous dancing that Mahie Gill breaks into much to the horror of her husband.
Look at DevD as another film where the characters have the same names as in the Devdas story. That is where the similarity ends. It is not a modern interpretation of the Saratchandra story – maybe just a tad bit inspired by it. DevD is a brilliant black satire. The contemporary events from the BMW driver mowing down people on the pavement to the MMS Clip scandal – it is all there. Both the female leads are as real and in your face as can be. The language used is complete with four letter words as well as seven letter cuss words for those who are counting. The camerawork is stunning.
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