Dev.D Dvd

Dev.D is an Indian romantic black comedy musical film released on 6 February 2009. Written and directed by Anurag Kashyap, it is a modern-day take on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s classic Bengali novel Devdas,previously adapted for the screen by P.C. Barua and Bimal Roy and more recently by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Dev.D was embraced by the media, critics and public. The film is set in contemporary Punjab and Delhi, where familial ties are negotiated by the traditional system and marriages are a game of power and a matter of honour.

Plot

The film is divided into three parts from the view of the main characters:

Paro
Paro (Mahi Gill) is an idealistic, young, lower-middle-class girl living in Punjab. Her childhood sweetheart is Dev (Abhay Deol), the son of a rich businessman. Paro cares for him immensely, and fully expects a future with him. Dev constantly takes Paro’s love and affection for granted. He grows up to be arrogant and lazy, which causes his father to send him to London to complete his education. While separated by distance, Paro and Dev’s youthful love only blossoms more, despite Dev becoming increasingly more egotistical and entitled. After finishing his studies, Dev returns to Chandigarh and meets Paro, and they rekindle their romance. After some time, Dev overhears scandalous rumours about Paro concerning her reputation and sexual history, which he immediately believes. Paro is shocked to see Dev’s chauvinist attitude towards her, even after she claims innocence. Dev hypocritically passes judgement on Paro and does not approve of the things that he has heard. Paro turns her back on him when she hears him insult her and rashly agrees to marry a man of her parents’ choice. On her wedding day, Dev learns that the rumors were false but his ego doesn’t let him accept his mistake, and he lets Paro marry someone else.

Chanda
Leni (Kalki Koechlin) is a Delhi student of half-European descent. A date with her much older boyfriend turns sexual and lands Leni in an MMS sex scandal. The incident becomes public knowledge after the video is widely circulated. Her father, having watched the video, commits suicide out of shame and disgust, and Leni’s family decides to send her to live in a small rural town. Refusing to live a life of shame and ridicule, she returns to Delhi where she works as a prostitute at night, while continuing with her studies during the day. She adopts the name ‘Chanda’ for her profession. Her ‘foreign’ looks mean her services are reserved for the highest-paying customers and she finds some dignity and independence in the new way of living. One night, an inebriated, half-conscious customer is brought to her room – it turns out to be Dev.

Dev
Dev, tormented by Paro’s wedding, has been seeking refuge in alcohol and drugs. He finds some solace with Chanda but is unable to forget Paro. While in a drug fueled haze, he calls Paro’s husband in the middle of the night, Paro visits him at the cheap lodge where he is staying. She shows her love by taking care of him but spurns his attempts at physical intimacy. The meeting ends on a bitter note, and Paro returns to her married life. Dev resolves to go back to Chanda, but confronted by the reality of her profession, he abandons her, too. He resumes his destructive lifestyle of alcohol, drugs, and reckless behaviour. Months later, after his life has completely fallen apart and hit an all-time low, Dev attempts to pick up the pieces. He seeks Chanda once again and, with her help, sets out to start life afresh.

Cultural references
Kalki’s character is a modern adaptation of Chandramukhi, who was most recently played by Madhuri Dixit in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas. In the film, the young Leni is shown to be a fan of Madhuri’s, listening to the songs of Chandramukhi. When she takes up prostitution as profession, she adopts the name Chandramukhi or Chanda, in honor of the character.
Chanda’s back story in which she gets embroiled in an MMS scandal while in school is a reference to a similar scandal that took place at Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram in 2004.
Later in the film, when Dev is depressed after losing both Paro and Chanda, he is driving his new BMW while heavily drunk. This is a reference to the Sanjeev Nanda BMW hit-and-run case in 1999.

Cast

Abhay Deol as Devindra Dhillon ‘Dev’
Mahie Gill as Parminder ‘Paro’
Kalki Koechlin as Leni/Chandramukhi (Chanda)
Dibyendu Bhattacharya as Chunni Lal
Parakh Madan as Rasika
Gurkirtan as Satpal Dhillon ‘Sattu’- Dev’s father
Satwant Kaur as Kaushalya Dhillon- Dev’s mother
Shena Gamat as Welcome Hotel Owner
Binnu Dhillon as Dwij Dhillon (Dev’s brother)
Kuldeep Sharma as Manager Uncle (Paro’s father)
Sanjay Kumar as Leni’s father
Helen Jones as Leni’s mother
Asim Sharma as Bhuvan (Paro’s husband)
Naveen Kaushik as Bimal Barua (Dhillon’s Lawyer)
Aekansh Vats as Junior Dev
Sasha Shetty as Junior Paro
Anjum Batra as Sunil
Ashu Sharma as Canadian Boy
Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Band singer in the song “Emotional Attyachar”
Nitin Chainpuri as Band singer in the song “Emotional Attyachar”
Anurag Kashyap as Leni/Chanda’s customer