SHREEKANT POL writes from Mumbai about the MOMA screening of Dev D: The story is based on a famous Indian novel of the ’10s (Dev Das) that created the ‘immortal lover’ or the ‘tragic-romantic-hero’ that you see so often in Indian films. The novel has been made into a film three times before but in Anurag Kshyap’s hand it get a modern feel of the 21st Century (inlcuding a more chic title — “Dev D”). You could say that it is an ecclectic fusion of ‘Cocaine Angel’ and the Indian novel ‘Dev Das’!

Anurag Kshyap (the Director) is a higly acclaimed, young filmmaker in Bollywood. His previous film Black Friday was based on the 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai in the backdrop of biggest ever Hindu-Muslim confict the country had witnessed since India’s partition in 1947. The film was nominated for the Golden Leopard (Best Film) award at the Locarno International Film Festival. He is also the scriptwriter for the Oscar nominated film Water.

Abhay Deol (Actor) is a low-keyed but critically acclaimed actor who is also the nephew of a top Bollywood star of yesteryears. He has done several ‘under-the-radar’ films in Bollywood that look more like indie films than typical big-budget Bollywood studio ventures.

We will seen the film on Saturday when it opens here. From what we have seen in the promos, it certainly looks to be a very big opening.

Apart from regular Bollwyood fans from India and the rest of SE Asia, the film will lend itself to the ‘non-ethnic’ market in the US. I believe that the film might not have a big DVD potential but might do well in theatrical release if marketed to the non-ethnic groups.

[Editor's note: for reference, here is the longer historical note on this film from our friends at Cinema Minima.]