Dev.D

Yes, i have seen it finally. And my verdict is - impressive in chunks, too long, colorful and missing a baseline. (Sorry for the disappointment Justin!)

To start with, i was never a fan of the devdas - original story or any of its takes so far. I never understood why the story of a loser with life gone wrong had attracted so mu ch attention of Indian audiences. But having said that, i think Dev.d will be the best of them all. Lets start with the good - colorful, some excellent cinematography - the scene where Abhay helds his hand under water, face close ups are very nicely done. A film about sexuality for an Indian audience - i think Anurag walks on tight ropes here nicely using rich colors, to create the appeal. And a good score in background.

But then what's bad - Too much experimentation sometimes, clearly in music, there is no underlying soundtrack, it just jumps off from one to another. Too long of a story, there was no point in showing father's death, it added nothing. I like the investment in time for developing each character but chanda's character was so much over done, she is often portrayed as a victim in the whole story, she with her orgami, face painting, books etc comes out as a moral hero in the whole story. I think in Anurag's version each one comes out as a victim - Chanda as described above, Paro because of Dev and Dev because of himself :) . I belive first two but Dev as a vicitm of his own ego, i am sorry i do not buy it.

But may be i need to view it another time to get a better judgement.