Review: Dev D

This review is 2 months late i know but I can't really pass up the chance to broadcast how much I loved this flick. :D

Dev D was a real attention grabber. For me at least. From the marketing(posters), trailers, soundtrack, media hype, rumors and controversies, and the 5 stars it got from Times. I didn't really know what the movie was about except that it was inspired by "Devdas". And since it was still running in cinemas a month after its release, I decided to check it out.

Now I haven't ever watched any Devdas movie and so I wasn't really aware of the story except the main plot. I walked in a little disappointed, because I don't really like it when I know what's gonna happen in the movie. So i did the usual again, dodged trailers, didn't read reviews, I didn't even watch the pre-released censored scenes on youtube. lol


Let me tell you...Disappointed was I not!!!

The friend I watched it with had one thing to say, "That's hollywood stuff." Well I don't entirely agree hehe but he was right up to some extent. Here's stuff we noticed...(m giving my friend half the credit for this...phew)

1. We both agreed that the acting wasn't really commendable as much as the way the scenes were shot. In this case it's a director's film rather than an actor's film or you can say the shots made the scene and not the acting. In the characters, I liked Chanda the most though. The actor did Chanda rather gracefully and was believable. This is not Abhay Deol's best when it comes to acting but he did a coeemdable job at portraying Dev D. I didn't like Paro, the character and the portrayal. Call me bias(for I do not like unclassy people) but there was something very weirdly unfitting about that character.

2. The soundtrack was awesomely awesome. I personally loved it and I'm still hooked on a couple of songs...(See Aankh Micholi, Pardesi, Emotional Attyachar Rock version, Paayaliya, Yehi Meri zindagi hai) What I loved the most is how the songs didn't seem odd from the scene. Normally in Bollywood films, people start singing out of the blue and suddenly strangers become their back up dancers, strangely enough with perfect coordination of choreography lol, well it was nice to see the end of that era and the soundtracks finally being where they are supposed to be, in the background...

3. What I loved the most in this movie is the Cinematography. It was pretty forward for a Hindi movie and I loved how they incorporated the colors as an integral part of the whole set. If you would notice closely, every set has its own color which is saturated to stand out. eg Paharganj was of a bluish tinge, Punjab of greenish tinge and the Mountains of white. I can't really remember now the specifics as it has been 2 months since I've seen that but I am sure this stands out strikingly.Definitely award-worthy:)
P.S. Danny Boyle gave Anurag some pointers, he didn't direct the movie for him, sheesh.

4. Now remember how I said that I was disappointed that I knew the story, well I was mistaken. Knowing the story made me expect what it would be like, although it wasn't entirely off-track, the adaptation was clearly original and well thought of. The twists and turns will keep you from getting bored.:)

*I give this movie 9/10... taking one point away for the weird scenes of Paro....:D