Am back.. after a really long time. Honestly i missed writing in all these days that i wasnt here. Not that my blog is like amitabh's, if i do not write everyday i may disappoint many! but yes its and addiction... i cant keep away for long.
What kept me away for long was my shoot. My first TV project that was a tiring yet learning experience for me and something that happily kept me away from writing. The shoots over... made a lot o friends... had a lot of fun... and now am back here.
In the past 60 days i have encountered different people with radically different mentalities. Some i am pleasantly surprised about and some i am not. But what has struck me the most is the intricacy with which minds work here. At times i would stand awestruck at how a few would run over you without you knowing it! Each one is for themselves and everybody wants to be politically correct. A little unwelcoming welcome to the world of tv but no regrets!
So the first instance i got i saw Dev D... without any telephone calls interrupting me to ask for dates... where the scripts were... why wasnt xyz not responding... and i had a blast. I loved the movie.. so much so that i saw it twice..on consecutive nights. Its a dark movie no doubt.. very trippy! Wonder what made people invest in a movie so whimsical.. but you do need to open your eyes to a different perspective yeah!
Dev D- nothing is similar to the old counterparts in must say apart from the name of the characters. The whole movie is a metaphor. A metaphor that describes the world right now, the people right now... The movie is near maddening... it depresses you.. it leaves you with a bitter taste in your throat about half the things Dev does...
The movie juxtaposes the film makers thoughts as opposed to what the writer had originally conceived it to be. Anurag's Dev D is the same self obsessed man who 'thinks' he loves his childhood friend a lot but was a coward to have not stood by his love. He takes to drugs alcohol and in his own self pity ends up hurting people around him. He makes his pain look bigger than it actually is.
Paro has moved on... and well there is nothing wrong in it... her life is not indebted to him so why should she die for him or the lack of his love? She was smart enough to have moved on made a family. She knows her life and love would have been fulfilled had she been with Dev D... but she doesnt regret not having it either. She is a strong woman.
Chanda here is the weakness. She keeps pulling Dev back and makes him weak. She has been through a lot herself. But she doesnt let Dev overcome his love for Paro. Chanda's love is unconditional... she doesnt bother if Dev still loves Paro... she has only given in love... Dev is blind! There is a dialogue in the movie that so simply sums Dev's character, where chanda says "tum apne alawa kisi aur se pyar kar hi nahi sakte.... tumhe to is aaine se shadi kar leni chahiye" i loved the line.
In one of my previous posts i had written, its beautiful how each and every moviegoer interprets the movie in his own way. Dev D is a mad example of it. We have all seen the Devdas's of old times... the Saigal, Kumar and Khan version of it... this one blew my mind.
Well for me... i am pushed an inch closer to realizing my dream... unlike Dev who remorsed the loss in his life and absorbed himself into an endless depression...i don't identify with any character from this film... i had my own interpretation...
Till my next lesson in life... :))
1 comment:
Saw Dev.D last night and I agree with you, almost completely. To be precise, I have a different take about your view that "The movie juxtaposes the film makers thoughts as opposed to what the writer had originally conceived it to be." Devdas was written in 1901 and published in 1917, so Saratchandra was just 26 when he wrote it. I doubt whether he intended to glorify Dev's pathos, which many filmmakers wrongly did in their portrayal. (Bhansali, aided no doubt by SRK's own iconic personality did the same!) One of my friend who has read Saratchandra extensively actually feels that "if Sarat were to see Dev.D he would say - finally someone has understood what I was trying to say."
Anurag Kashyap puts the blame squarely where it lies, in the spinelessness of Dev. The fact that he is caught between his own narcissism and his need for intimacy is no justifiable excuse for his stupid acts of self-destruction. Thats why Dev.D is even more admirable because it portrays the two women as they would be in today's age. So no more of Paro wailing 'Devaaaaaaa' and running around the haveli with her pallu trailing behind.
When you come out of the movie hall, it is difficult to sympathize with Dev, leave alone admiring what he does. And therein lies the success of the movie.
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