Dev.D
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Anurag Kashyap
Written by	Anurag Kashyap Vikramaditya Motwane
Based on	Devdas bySharat Chandra Chattopadhyay
Produced by	Ronnie Screwvala
Starring	Abhay Deol Mahie Gill Kalki Koechlin
Cinematography	Rajeev Ravi
Edited by	Aarti Bajaj
Music by	Amit Trivedi
Production companies	UTV Spotboy Bindass[1]
Distributed by	UTV Motion Pictures
Release date	6 February 2009 (2009-02-06)
Running time	144 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹11 crore[2]
Box office	₹20.82 crore[2]

Dev.D is a 2009 IndianHindi-languageromantic drama film written and directed byAnurag Kashyap. It is a modern-day adaptation ofSarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's 1917Bengali novel,Devdas.^[3][4][5] The film starsAbhay Deol,Mahie Gill andKalki Koechlin in lead roles. The film is set in modern-dayPunjab andDelhi, and follows Devendra Singh "Dev" Dhillon (Abhay Deol), a privileged young man who descends into alcohol and drug addiction after a failed relationship with his childhood love Parminder "Paro" Kaur (Mahie Gill), eventually forming an unexpected bond with Chanda (Kalki Koechlin), an escort navigating her own emotional trauma.

The idea forDev.D was developed by Anurag Kashyap and Abhay Deol, drawing on real-life incidents, including the2004 Delhi Public School MMS scandal and ahigh-profile hit-and-run case. Principal photography took place in Delhi and Punjab, with visually distinct palettes for each character’s arc.^[6]

The film was released on 6 February 2009 to strong critical acclaim for its unconventional storytelling, visual style, and music. It had a modest box office performance, earning ₹21.5 crore domestically against a small budget, and was declared a hit.^[7] Over time, Dev.D attainedcult status and is now considered a landmark in Indian independent cinema.^[8] A tie-in mobile video game based on the film was released by UTV Indiagames.^[9]

The film’s soundtrack was composed by Amit Trivedi and featured 18 songs spanning rock, folk, jazz, and electronic influences. It was praised for its innovation and seamless integration with the narrative. Trivedi received theNational Film Award For The Best Music Direction and theFilmfare Award for Best Music Director for his work on the album.^[10]

The film is divided into three parts from the point of view of the main characters.^[11]

Paro is a young, idealistic middle-class girl living in Punjab. Her childhood sweetheart is Dev, 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 spoiled, arrogant, and lazy, which causes his father to send him toLondon to complete his education. While separated by distance, Paro and Dev's youthful love only blossoms more, despite Dev growing increasingly 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 despite no evidence. Paro is shocked at his chauvinist attitude, even after she claims innocence. Dev hypocritically passes judgement onto 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 Bhuvan.

Leni is a Delhi student of half-European descent. A date with her much older boyfriend turns sexual and lands Leni in anMMS sex scandal. The incident becomes public knowledge after the video is widely circulated. Her father 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 aprostitute at night, while continuing with her studies during the day. She adopts the name 'Chanda' or 'Chandramukhi' for her profession, after she is seen watching Sanjay Leela Bhansali's adaptation ofDevdas on TV. 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, who turns out to be Dev. She falls in love with him, even though Dev is still in love with Paro.

Dev, tormented by Paro's wedding, has been seeking refuge in alcohol and drugs. He meets a pimp named Chunni, who after a drinking relay, leads him to Chanda. 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, where she shows her love by taking care of Dev but spurns his attempts at physical intimacy. Their reunion ultimately ends on a bitter note and Paro returns to her married life. Dev resolves to go back to Chanda and they fall in love, but confronted by the reality of her profession, he abandons her too. He resumes his destructive lifestyle of alcohol, drugs, and reckless behaviour, culminating in killing seven people in a drunk driving incident. His father dies from shock at the news. 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 and better himself.

• Kalki's character is a modern adaptation ofChandramukhi, who was most recently played byMadhuri Dixit inSanjay Leela Bhansali'sDevdas. 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 similarscandal that took place at Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram in 2004.^[12]
• 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 theSanjeev Nanda BMW hit-and-run case in 1999.^[13]

The original idea of film was suggested byAbhay Deol toAnurag Kashyap, who then worked on the script along withVikramaditya Motwane, using "news headlines aboutGeneration X" to give a youth feel.Dev.D was produced byRonnie Screwvala and shot in places includingPaharganj in centralDelhi.^[14] For the scenes where Dev is high, British directorDanny Boyle suggested the use of a still camera as Kashyap did not have the budget for special effects.^[15]

Kashyap did not want another remake of any of the nine film versions titledDevdas.^[16][17] Kashyap wanted to make his own version ofDevdas to reflect the original novel but through 2008 mores, with the lead character of Devdas as a debauching, hypocritical sensualist, who is self-destructive without knowing it.^[17] Talking about the story and his role as Dev, Abhay Deol told Radio Sargam, "The story is very much from the book which I've read in English. I have played the character according to my interpretation of the book. His character was contemporary, he was quite urban in many ways, he's misplaced in the surrounding and has a spoilt, obsessive and addictive personality."^[18]

After the box office disaster of Kashyap'sNo Smoking, it was rumoured thatUnited Television (UTV) had backed out of the director's next project,Dev.D, starring Abhay Deol. But, according to sources, UTV had signed Abhay for three projects and the actor had blocked dates from November 2007 to March 2008 for Kashyap's film, as the idea was to wrap up the film in one schedule. WhenDev.D hit initial snags and was stalled, it was rumoured that UTV had backed out.^[19] At that time, the director denied these rumours. He explained the delay by saying that he was still looking out for his Chandramukhi and had locked in Abhay and newcomerMahi Gill.^[20] It was further delayed as he took more time to find an actress suitable for the role of Chandramukhi, which he eventually found withKalki Koechlin, who was one of the last to be auditioned.^[14] Despite being her debut, Kalki received praise for the performance.^[21]

Dev.D premiered at the 2010Palm Springs International Film Festival.^[22]

Dev.D had opening day collection of Rs 15 million. The movie picked up in box office soon and recovered its budget of Rs 60 million in a few weeks. The net collection in its first four weeks was nearly Rs 150 million.^[23]Dev.D crossed added another 3 million in week 6. The film's final domestic gross was Rs 215.0 million with distributor share of Rs 65.5 million.^[24] The film was declared a 'Hit'.^[25]

Reviews to the film were positive. Rony D'Costa ofBox Office India gave it 4 stars out of 5, stating "MissingDev.D would be an 'Emotional Attyachar' to oneself."^[26] Raja Sen of Rediff.com gaveDev.D 3.5/5, calling it a 'fantastic visual ride', and ranked it No 2 in his list of the best movies of 2009.Times of India reviewer Nikhat Kazmi termed the film a "brilliant breakthrough for Bollywood" and rated it 5/5.^[27] Shubhra Gupta ofIndian Express praised the performance of Abhay Deol and the movie overall.^[28]Hindustan Times praised the film for its "slick style and adventurous interpretation that pushes the boundaries of Hindi cinema" and rating it as 3.5/5.^[29] Noyon Jyoti Parasara ofAOL India was "completely bowled out by the movie" and stated, "go and watchDev.D and be blown away by a sample of what Anurag Kashyap is capable of as a director.Shahrukh Khan praised Abhay Deol's efforts and said that Abhay is contributing to the new era of Indian film industry."^[30]

Dev.D has 18 tracks by artisteAmit Trivedi. The songs were written byAmitabh Bhattacharya,Shellee,Anusha Mani, andShruti Pathak.^[41] Released on 31 December under T-Series, he specifically reports that there are two specialPunjabi tracks, one which is raw Punjabi and the other with a street bandbaaja flavor to it. He also reports two romanticHaryanvi folk tracks, apart from a hard rock song, world music, anAwadhi number and a song with 1970s-80s pop touch to it.^[42][43] The soundtrack received overwhelmingly positive reviews. Critic Joginder Tuteja said, "Chuck the very thought around whether this album will do well commercially or not; it is an exemplary piece of work and that's what that matters most."^[44] Rahul Bhatia, critic ofHindustan Times fame, said "Each part of each song in this album is special & gives a great impact on audience."

The song "O Pardesi" was replicated using a cycle as a Sprite commercial quotient and is available on YouTube^[45] with 140K+ views in the first 24 hours. The song "Emosanal Attyachaar" has become a catch phrase for many Indian youth.^[46] Nikhil Taneja ofHindustan Times noted that the song was "singularly responsible for driving audiences to the theater to watch a movie."^[47]

• Dev.D atIMDb
• Dev.D atRotten Tomatoes

• 2009 films
• 2000s Hindi-language films
• 2009 black comedy films
• 2009 romantic comedy-drama films
• 2000s sex comedy-drama films
• Devdas films
• Films about alcoholism
• Films about prostitution in India
• Films directed by Anurag Kashyap
• Films set in Delhi
• Films shot in Chandigarh
• Films shot in Delhi
• Films shot in Himachal Pradesh
• Films shot in London
• Indian black comedy films
• Indian romantic comedy-drama films
• Indian sex comedy-drama films
• UTV Motion Pictures films
• Films scored by Amit Trivedi
• Films with screenplays by Anurag Kashyap
• Films adapted for other media
• Films set in Chandigarh
• Films about substance abuse

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