Language: Hindi
Release Year: 2009
Cast: Abhay Deol, Kalki Koechlin, Mahi Gill, Parakh Madan
Producer: Ronnie Screwvala
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Music Director: Amit Trivedi
Dev D movie review
Ray Acharya (Neil Nitin Mukesh), a All those of us who want an apparently free ride on a svelte, sizzling camaraderie can have the time of their lives. Katrina Kaif is matching swords with John Abraham to produce what looks like being one of the real blockbusters of coming times.
The movie would be produced by Yash Raj films. Now few years ago this would have been a success mantra in itself but these are tough times for Yash Raj flicks and they are going through a series of misses, may be interspersed with an odd hit.
Direction mantle will be taken by Kabir Khan, the guy who is attributed to the semi-success of Kabul express. (In fact it did reasonably well in certain territories) the film also has the self- assured but unassuming Neil Nitin Mukesh.
Yash Raj films have been known to keep their venture in complete wraps till the post production stages. Keeping in line with the trend, they have not revealed much. The movie is expected to hit theaters in early 2009.
Monica Bhattacharjee, spokeswomen for YRF has not confirmed even the title, suggesting it is a tentative one.
John Abraham has already become a brand in this country with the latest line of accessories that he has flashed under his name. After Anurag Kashyap’s No Smoking and Kukhnoor’s Aashaayein, he has taken up New York which again like Khan’s Kabul Express is based on terrorism and its various ramifications.
"New York" is a contemporary story of friendship set against the larger than life backdrop of a city often described as the centre of the world. For most of us, larger events in the world are just headlines in the newspapers but these events can change our lives... forever. "New York" is one such story of 3 young friends whose beautiful lives are turned upside down by la
rger events beyond their control.
"New York" stars John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Katrina Kaif. It's the first time the three have worked on a film together. To prepare of the part, Neil Nitin Mukesh had to gain eight kilos then lose it. According to Neil, "It was annoying to put on extra weight, but then my role asked for it. But I'm feeling great that I'm in perfect shape and feeling quite fit now." Also, Irrfan Khan coming off of the success of "Slumdog Millionaire" plays an investigative agent in the film.
The three, Abraham, Mukesh, and Kaif, play friends living in America and enjoying college life. The stars promoted the film during the finale of Indian Idol this year as well as other venues. Philadelphia and New York act as backdrops for the film. After the events on September 11th their lives are changed forever. The film covers the post 9/11 fear and politics that consumed America. Kabir Khan directs the film and hopes to follow up on the success of "Kabul Express."
The Kabir Khan film is a paramount one, according to Kabir "New York is a contemporary story of friendship set against the larger-than-life backdrop of a city often described as the center of the world." This is the second time Kabir will be working with John Abraham, he cast the star in the critically acclaimed film "Kabul."
The film was produced by Aditya Chopra. Music for "New York" is done by composer Pritam Chakraborty who has worked on "Dhoom," "Race," and "Dhol" to name a few. The songs, like other Yash Raj films with catchy songs and sincere lyrics. The movie expected to be a summer blockbuster, the hype began back in December 2008 when the trailer was shown during the release of the Shahrukh Khan film, "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi."
THANK God for the mavericks, the non-conformists, the infidels, the les enfant terribles. They make things happen when kitsch becomes king; when creativity crumbles; when formula pervades, fungus-like. Imagine a world without rule breakers. And then imagine, like Anurag Kashyap: unbridled, unbounded, ungrounded....
Indeed, Dev D is one such flight of fancy from the filmmaker that definitely defies all conventions and demolishes all moulds. Not only does it rewrite the technique of the artistic medium, with its unusual cinematography, dizzy editing, non-linear plot narration, turn-of-the-century dialogues and breathtakingly bizarre audio track (music: Amit Trivedi, lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya), it completely
revises the ancient text which has already made its mark in its various avtars , the latest being the high-pitched rendition of the self-destructive hero by Shah Rukh Khan in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas.
Kashyap has always been a contrarian filmmaker, consciously steering away from traditional Bollywood with films like Black Friday, Paanch, No Smoking. However, while his earlier films were an innovative search for his groove and rhythm, Dev D is like that heady cocktail which has the vodka pitched perfectly with the tang. (Incidentally, Dev D likes his vodka with thumbs up, washed down in unlimited portions, morning, noon and night!) Set against the rich rural backdrop of Punjab and Paharganj (Delhi), the film traces the self-destructive sojourn of a young, contemporary hero who mirrors the existential angst of the proverbial outsider, made legendary in the writings of Satre, Camus, Kafka, Kerouac and the ballads of Kurt Cobain.
But Dev D (Abhay Deol), unlike Devdas, isn't a blast from the past. In his rootlessness, his lack of purpose and his complete disconnect with the real (read traditional) world, he reflects the mindset of the archetypal new millennium 20-something who doesn't know how to blend tradition with modernity, permissiveness with orthodoxy, Oxford with Bhatinda. And so, he asks his childhood sweetheart, Paro (Mahi Gill) to send him her nude photographs through e-mail, yet can't handle the quandary about her virginity and pronounced sexuality. In a fit of aggrieved machismo, he spurns her wild sexual adventurism which sees her cycling to the neighbouring fields at the break of dawn with a mattress meticulously rolled up on the carrier for a clandestine tryst with him. (Ever seen the bharatiya naari do this in Indian cinema? Bravo, brave new Bollywood!) Little does he realise that Paro isn't mere putty in his hand and is unwilling to subject herself to any kind of ‘emotional atyachar', in the name of love.
Having gi
ven vent to her anger and pain, she simply moves on while the already disconnected Dev becomes even more dysfunctional with his alcohol and drug addiction. He moves to a seedy hotel in Paharganj and ends up after a drunken stupour in young Chanda's (Kalki Koechlin) pink and purple boudoir. Once again, Kashyap reinterprets the self-sacrificing courtesan, Chandramukhi in completely post-modern terms. Here, she is Lenny, the schoolgirl who ends up as the sex worker, Chanda, after being disowned by family and friends because she featured in a lewd MMS, that sent the whole nation in a lustful tizzy. `And they call me a slut!' exclaims the feisty escort who attends college by day and plays Florence Nightingale in shorts by night.
The relationship between Dev and Chanda begins with hate, scorn and derision with the decadent Dev unleashing his chauvinism and me-centrism on the hooker. But when the haze of cocaine lifts, the heartburn begins, once again. After having stooped to unimaginable lows, our hero dreams of a second chance. Will he get it or is Devdas destined to waste away forever? The last we saw him was at a non-descript momo joint in the seedy by-lanes of Paharganj, waiting for nirvana. Of course, he's all by himself, since proud little Paro's moved on and survivor Chanda's too strong to play doormat, willing to give up her slutty ways, for love alone.
Dev D is indeed a coming-of-age film, not merely for the protagonist, Devender Singh Dhillon, but it is a brilliant breakthrough for Bollywood too. It really doesn't matter whether the film ends up as a box office scorcher. What matters is the fact that for the discerning viewer, Dev D is a tryst with milestone cinema, reminiscent of Baz Luhrmann's Shakespeare-shaken-and-stirred in Romeo and Juliet. Kashyap, however, gets even more adventurous and adds a progressive flourish to both the plot and the characters which are played to perfection by the three lead players. If Mahi and Kalki are riveting new finds, assured of a long innings in cinema, then Abhay Deol adds a whole new meaning to the term `Unconventional Hero'. Manorama Six Feet Under, Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye were just teasers. Dev D is the class act from the Deol who cleverly flew over the cuckoo's nest. Don't miss this film which completely reinvents the musical love story, with zany numbers like ‘emosanal atyachar', ‘saali khushi', ‘nayan tarse' and the rest. More importantly, it might just go down in history as one of the most radical Indian films, at least in its delineation of male and female sexuality
Language: English
ndled pretty darn well, especially in the first half, and while it compromises on the authenticity, the writers have clearly done their best.
