dev d

watching an anurag kashyap film is a gamble...it is either phenomenal, effective and intense (black friday) or slow, baseless and incomprehensible (no smoking). 'dev d' is a classic example of kashyap's genre of cinema. you will either love it or hate it...its that simple.
based on sarat chandra chatopadhyay's novel, dev d is 'devdas' made in the present tense. not only is it audacious, brash and raw but it also makes the story of a self-destructive, egoistic, romantic alcoholic seen three times already on screen interesting and nouvel. 
its the boldest hindi film ever made and it pushes the envelope genre-wise, subject-wise and dialogue-wise. forgive my langauge, but i am proud to see that anurag kashyap had the balls to pull something like this off. just last week, i had said that we, the audience had become used to unreal, larger than life caricatures and could not digest real characters. well, the characters in dev d cannot get any more real. the vulnerability, the ego, the passion, the intensity has been so well potrayed that you are completely convinced by their individuality. kashyap uses profanity to define his actors and the moment not because he simply thought it would make the film different but because its essential. the rotating shots, the use of colour, the angles show us the genius of anurag kashyap as a director.
the downsides of the film are plenty, the second half lags and becomes repetitive when you see dev fall into an abyss of alcohol, drugs and whores (although, i completely understand that the director had to show this as gradual and not sudden). the climax of the film is not at all convincing and mr. kashyap gets it completely wrong...its sudden and is not at all impactful. the soundtrack which is magnificent fails to shine in the last 20 minutes and doesn't support the film's climax at all.
among the actors, it is abhay deol who not only personifies dev but also delivers a performance that has to be applauded even by his worst critics. he delivers every line with complexity and his expressions and dialogue delivery are spot-on. the vulnerability of dev is so well potrayed by deol that i said to myself, this guy has amazing potential as an actor. kalki koelchin and mahie gill both making their debut shine in their respective roles. kalki for her remarkable potrayal of a schoolgirl who turns into a prostitute and mahie for her personification of a vengeful, loving, lusting, conceited paro. yes, the inexperience does show in a few scenes but both are fabulous new finds to the industry.
like i said in the beginning, you will either love the movie or hate it...there are no two ways when it comes to anurag kashyap's films. it has one of the best and most engaging first halves ever made. it also has a sluggish second half. i am just glad that we still have film-makers like kashyap who are not afraid of making a very real, bold, brazen genre of cinema (not the bhandarkar kind) that effects you either positively or negatively. 
RATING - 3.5/5