Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay was just 17 when he penned Dev Das. “And you bet he wanted his Dev to end up with Chandramukhi, but perhaps the pressures of a conservative society made him change his mind,” filmmaker Anurag Kashyap squats on the step at the exit door, making sure no one leaves in the middle of the exclusive premiere of his film, Dev D at the DT Cinemas organised by Enn Enn Communications. Well, no one did....let me rephrase that - no one could for this curious case of one Devinder Singh Dhillon was a gripping tale. “A modern day simplified adaptation of Sarat’s work,” defines Anurag who used the layered characters and sub text to portray the youth, to draw a parallel, a reflection of society where you’ll stumble across everything - love, suspicion, jealousy, lies, betrayal, heart break, the dirty-dark back alleys of Delhi’s Paharganj, a very rural Punjab, an equally rustic Paro, Chandigarh’s Harish band, a disturbing MMS scandal and yes, a spoilt, indulgent Punjabi Dev’s new poison - coke and vodka. In a cracked nutshell, this is an all-out Anurag Kashyap version of Devdas. “I’ll have to credit Abhay Deol for the idea though,” Kashyap has a permanent smile plastered on his face. Yes, he has arrived, especially in Dev D where he has exploited and experimented. Take for example the women - Parminder aka Paro played by Chandigarh’s Mahi Gill and Lenny aka Chandramukhi enacted by Kalki Koechlin, who hails from Bangalore and is a theatre actor. “In the original versions, the women were an appendage, whereas in Dev D, they’ve got a chance to tell their story,” says Anurag.

To give it that extra edge, Anurag hired a team of “20 somethings, because when you are 36, creativity works on the law of diminishing returns. You are more aware, more conscious, you think more, burdened by even more so creativity takes a backseat. But, when you are 20, you don’t give a damn, you’re on a adrenaline rush of creativity,” he explains the graphics, the visuals, the design and yes, the website - www.devdthefilm.com where you have a lustline on the lines of Chanda’s phone sex girl act in the film and Kashyap’s blog, Emotional Atyachaar where he counsels people on relationships. “Everyone’s pretty messed up,” he winks. “I feel no two people can be successfully together without compromises and adjustments, and for every relationship to work, sex is important. It’s not the deciding factor, but it’s in the top three of all relationships,” Anurag feels that one should try everything, but not at the cost of individuality. “Adventure is great for experience, not when it’s undertaken in a fit of desperation,” roll out words of wisdom. Sorry for the interruption, going back to sex, Dev D did come across as a sexual flick. “But it didn’t. See, that’s my point. I’ve talks about it, brought it out of the closet, that’s it. And when the Censor Board watched it, it was the women who applauded, the men were left confused.” Apparently, Anurag kept bouncing ideas off his mother to get a better perspective on women. And? “They are a deeper species...and women get over men. It was Dev who kept hankering after them and realises in the end that he was the slut.” Interesting turn of events!

It’s the dissatisfaction that keeps him going on. The reality of life, its stark visuals, its bare truth, Anurag wants to capture it all, chase it with his camera. Maybe that’s why he re-framed and re-worked on his entire film after hearing Amit Trivedi’s music. Dev D became a musical. And trust me, there’s no emotional ataychaar here!