Dev.D

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title: "Dev.D" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["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"] description: "2009 film by Anurag Kashyap" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dev.D" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 2009 film by Anurag Kashyap ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox film"]

Field	Value
name	Dev.D
image	Dev.D.jpg
alt
caption	Theatrical release poster
director	Anurag Kashyap
producer	Ronnie Screwvala
writer	Anurag Kashyap
Vikramaditya Motwane
based_on
starring	Abhay Deol
Mahie Gill
Kalki Koechlin
cinematography	Rajeev Ravi
editing	Aarti Bajaj
studio	UTV Spotboy
Bindass
distributor	UTV Motion Pictures
released
runtime	144 minutes
country	India
language	Hindi
budget	11 crore
gross	20.82 crore
music	Amit Trivedi
::

| name = Dev.D | image = Dev.D.jpg | alt = | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = Anurag Kashyap | producer = Ronnie Screwvala | writer = Anurag Kashyap Vikramaditya Motwane | screenplay = | based_on = | starring = Abhay Deol Mahie Gill Kalki Koechlin | cinematography = Rajeev Ravi | editing = Aarti Bajaj | studio = UTV Spotboy Bindass | distributor = UTV Motion Pictures | released = | runtime = 144 minutes | country = India | language = Hindi | budget = 11 crore | gross = 20.82 crore | music = Amit Trivedi

Dev.D is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film written and directed by Anurag Kashyap. It is a modern-day adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's 1917 Bengali novel, Devdas. The film stars Abhay Deol, Mahie Gill and Kalki Koechlin in lead roles. The film is set in modern-day Punjab and Delhi, 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 for Dev.D was developed by Anurag Kashyap and Abhay Deol, drawing on real-life incidents, including the 2004 Delhi Public School MMS scandal and a high-profile hit-and-run case. Principal photography took place in Delhi and Punjab, with visually distinct palettes for each character's arc.

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. Over time, Dev.D attained cult status and is now considered a landmark in Indian independent cinema. A tie-in mobile video game based on the film was released by UTV Indiagames.

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 the National Film Award For The Best Music Direction and the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director for his work on the album.

Plot

The film is divided into three parts from the point of view of the main characters.

Paro

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 to London 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 Bhavan, 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. He watches as Paro marries Bhavan, eventually drunkenly collapsing.

Chanda

Leni is a Delhi student of half-European descent. A date with her much older boyfriend turns sexual and ends up being filmed by him, which lands Leni in an MMS sex scandal. The incident becomes public knowledge after the video is widely circulated. Her father, having watched the video, commits suicide out of shame and disgust for Chanda and himself. Leni's mother sends her to live in a small rural town where her father grew up, where she is further alienated. Refusing to live a life of ridicule and shame, she returns to Delhi where she works as a prostitute 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 of Devdas 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

Dev, tormented by Paro being out of his life, 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 continued love by taking care of Dev but spurns his attempts at physical intimacy. Their reunion ultimately ends on a bitter note when Dev tells her he loves her, to which Paro tells him to move on and forget about her. 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 behavior, culminating in killing seven people in a drunk driving incident. His ailing 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.

Cultural references

• Kalki's character is a modern adaptation of Chandramukhi, who was most recently played by Madhuri Dixit in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas. 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 similar scandal that took place at Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram in 2004.
• 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 the Sanjeev Nanda BMW hit-and-run case in 1999.

Cast

• Abhay Deol as Devendra Singh "Dev" Dhillon
• Mahie Gill as Parminder "Paro" Kaur
• Kalki Koechlin as Leni/Chandramukhi (Chanda)
• Dibyendu Bhattacharya as Chunni Lal
• Parakh Madan as Rasika Singh
• Gurkirtan as Satpal Singh Dhillon 'Sattu' (Dev's father)
• Satwant Kaur as Kaushalya Dhillon (Dev's mother)
• Shena Gamat as Welcome Hotel Owner
• Binnu Dhillon as Dwij Singh Dhillon (Dev's brother)
• Kuldeep Sharma as Manager Uncle (Paro's father)
• Sanjay Kumar as Leni's father
• Helen Jones as Leni's mother
• Asim Sharma as Bhuvan Singh (Paro's husband and Rasika's brother)
• Naveen Kaushik as Bimal Barua (Dhillon's Lawyer)
• Aekansh Vats as Junior Dev
• Sasha Shetty as Junior Paro
• Anjum Batra as Sunil
• Ashu Sharma as Canadian boy
• Nawazuddin Siddiqui as band singer in the song "Emotional Attyachar"
• Nitin Chainpuri as Band singer in the song "Emotional Attyachar"
  • Chainpuri resembles such a strong likelihood to actor-comedian Sunil Grover in the music video that people initially mistook him to be Grover, who, however, denied his involvement in the film
• Anurag Kashyap as Chanda's customer

Production

Development

The original idea of film was suggested by Abhay Deol to Anurag Kashyap, who then worked on the script along with Vikramaditya Motwane, using "news headlines about Generation X" to give a youth feel. Dev.D was produced by Ronnie Screwvala and shot in places including Paharganj in central Delhi. For the scenes where Dev is high, British director Danny Boyle suggested the use of a still camera as Kashyap did not have the budget for special effects.

Kashyap did not want another remake of any of the nine film versions titled Devdas. Kashyap wanted to make his own version of Devdas 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.

Initial delays

After the box office disaster of Kashyap's No Smoking, it was rumoured that United 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. When Dev.D hit initial snags and was stalled, it was rumoured that UTV had backed out. 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 newcomer Mahi Gill. It was further delayed as he took more time to find an actress suitable for the role of Chandramukhi, which he eventually found with Kalki Koechlin, who was one of the last to be auditioned.

Release and reception

Dev.D premiered at the 2010 Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Box office

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. 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. The film was declared a 'Hit'.

Critical response

Reviews to the film were positive. Rony D'Costa of Box Office India gave it 4 stars out of 5, stating "Missing Dev.D would be an 'Emotional Attyachar' to oneself." Raja Sen of Rediff.com gave Dev.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. Shubhra Gupta of Indian Express praised the performance of Abhay Deol and the movie overall. 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. Noyon Jyoti Parasara of AOL India was "completely bowled out by the movie" and stated, "go and watch Dev.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."

Several reviewers highlighted the unconventional visual aesthetic and soundtrack. The film has also been noted for its portrayal of modern toxic masculinity through the protagonist Dev, years before it was portrayed in other high-profile Indian films such as Animal and Arjun Reddy.

Accolades

::data[format=table]

Award	Date of the ceremony	Category	Recipients	Result
V. Shantaram Awards	18 November 2009	Best Debut Artiste in a Leading Role	Kalki Koechlin
Asia Pacific Screen Awards	26 November 2009	Best Director	Anurag Kashyap
Producers Guild Film Awards	8 January 2010	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Kalki Koechlin
Stardust Awards	17 January 2010	Best Film – Drama	Dev.D
Searchlight Award for Best Actor	Abhay Deol
Searchlight Award for Best Actress	Mahie Gill
Breakthrough Performance – Female	Kalki Koechlin
Screen Awards	23 January 2010	Best Film	Dev.D
Best Director	Anurag Kashyap
Best Actor (Popular Choice)	Abhay Deol
Best Female Debut	Kalki Koechlin
Mahie Gill
Best Screenplay	Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane
Best Dialogue
Best Cinematography	Rajeev Ravi
Best Background Music	Amit Trivedi
Best Art Direction	Helen Jones and Sukanta Panigrahi
Best Editing	Aarti Bajaj
Best Sound Design	Allwyn Rego and Sanjay Maurya
Bollywood Hungama Surfers Choice Movie Awards	29 January 2010	Best Female Debut	Mahie Gill (tied with Shruti Haasan for Luck)
Mirchi Music Awards	10 February 2010	Upcoming Lyricist of The Year	Amitabh Bhattacharya for "Emosanal Attyachar (Brass Band Version)"
Upcoming Female Vocalist of the Year	Aditi Singh Sharma for "Yahi Meri Zindagi"
Filmfare Awards	27 February 2010	Best Film	Dev.D
Best Director	Anurag Kashyap
Best Actress (Critics)	Mahie Gill
Best Supporting Actress	Kalki Koechlin
Best Music Director	Amit Trivedi
R. D. Burman Award for New Music Talent
Best Background Score
Best Cinematography	Rajeev Ravi
Best Production Design	Helen Jones & Sukanta Panigrahi
International Indian Film Academy Awards	3–5 June 2010	Best Film	Dev.D
Best Director	Anurag Kashyap
Best Actress	Mahie Gill
Best Supporting Actress	Kalki Koechlin
Star Debut of the Year – Female	Mahie Gill (tied with Jacqueline Fernandez for Aladin)
Best Music Director	Amit Trivedi
Best Lyricist	Amitabh Bhattacharya for "Emosanal Attyachar"
Best Story	Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane
Annual Central European Bollywood Awards	10 October 2010	Best Film	Dev.D
Best Director	Anurag Kashyap
Best Breakthrough – Female	Kalki Koechlin
Mahie Gill
Best Music Director	Amit Trivedi
Best Story	Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane
Best Cinematography	Rajeev Ravi
Best Editing	Aarti Bajaj
Best Art Direction	Helen Jones & Sukanta Panigrahi
Best Costume Design	Shubhra Gupta
National Film Awards	22 October 2010	Best Music Direction	Amit Trivedi
::

Soundtrack

Main article: Dev.D (soundtrack)

Dev.D has 18 tracks by artiste Amit Trivedi. The songs were written by Amitabh Bhattacharya, Shellee, Anusha Mani, and Shruti Pathak. Released on 31 December under T-Series, he specifically reports that there are two special Punjabi tracks, one which is raw Punjabi and the other with a street band baaja flavor to it. He also reports two romantic Haryanvi folk tracks, apart from a hard rock song, world music, an Awadhi number and a song with 1970s-80s pop touch to it. 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." Rahul Bhatia, critic of Hindustan 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 with 140K+ views in the first 24 hours. The song "Emosanal Attyachaar" has become a catch phrase for many Indian youth. Nikhil Taneja of Hindustan Times noted that the song was "singularly responsible for driving audiences to the theater to watch a movie."

References

References

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6. "Kashyap's film is anything but faithful to the novel".
7. (6 February 2024). "Amit Trivedi on 15 years of Dev D: 'Thought it would be my first and last film'".
8. "How Dev.D gave Devdas the transformation it needed".
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10. (12 September 2018). "Great film soundtracks: Amit Trivedi and Anurag Kashyap's magnum opus 'Dev.D'".
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14. [http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/009200812100932.htm 'Dev D' is not like Sudhir Mishra's 'Aur Devdas'] {{Webarchive. link. (4 November 2012 , ''[[The Hindu]]'', Wednesday, 10 December 2008.)
15. "Being treated like the other woman drives me' – Indian Express".
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18. 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."[http://www.radiosargam.com/films/archives/31925/abhay-deol-talks-to-radio-sargam-about-dev-d.html RadioSargam.com], "Abhay Deol talks to Radio Sargam about Dev D"
19. [http://in.movies.yahoo.com/news-detail/12990/UTV-Backs-Out-Of-Dev-D.html In.movies.yahoo], 17 November 2007, "UTV Backs Out of Dev D?"
20. [http://www.buzz18.com/news/movies/its-official-ambikaanurag-split/36731/0 Buzz18.com] {{Webarchive. link. (10 June 2008 , 1 February 2008, "It's official: Ambika-Anurag split- Anurag's film will be now produced by Spotboy, a sister concern of UTV")
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27. Nandini Ramnath gave Dev-D 3 stars, calling it 'the most arresting audio-visual experience this year'. [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/movie-reviews/hindi/Dev-D/movie-review/4082878.cms Movie Review: Dev D] ''[[The Times of India]]'', 5 February 2009.
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30. Glamsham, Posted Apr 28th 2011 3:30AM. (28 April 2011). "AOL Bollywood". Aol.in.
31. (7 February 2024). "'Dev.D' portrayed toxic masculinity way before the discourse caught up".
32. "14 Years of Dev.D: Anurag Kashyap's Psychedelic Rendition of Devdas and the 'Woman Saves Manchild' Trope".
33. "How Dev.D gave Devdas the transformation it needed | 5X Press".
34. (2014-12-16). "Asia Pacific Screen Awards » Nominees & Winners Archive".
35. "Winner - Producers Guild of India".
36. Hungama, Bollywood. (2010-01-18). "Winners of Max Stardust Awards 2010 2010 : Bollywood News - Bollywood Hungama".
37. "Star Screen Award Winners 2010 – Sixteenth (16th) Nokia Annual Star Screen Awards".
38. Hungama, Bollywood. (2010-01-29). "Results of Bollywood Hungama Surfers Choice Movie Awards 2009 2009 : Bollywood News - Bollywood Hungama".
39. (2011-10-02). "Airtel Mirchi Music Awards Winners".
40. "Filmfare Awards 2010 Winners". The Times of India.
41. "Archive Details".
42. Zellner, Ingrid. (2010-10-11). "Central European Bollywood Awards Winners".
43. "National Awards 2009 Winners". The Times of India.
44. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120207062716/http://www.hindustantimes.com/Brunch/Brunch-Stories/Amitabh-Bhattacharya-The-reluctant-lyricist/Article1-806618.aspx Hindustan Times]"Amitabh Bhattacharya: The reluctant lyricist"
45. [http://www.radioandmusic.com/content/editorial/news/amit-trivedi-compose-utv-spot-boys-next-two-films Radioandmusic.com], 5 September 2008, "Amit Trivedi to compose for UTV Spot Boy's next two films"
46. [http://www.rediff.com/movies/2008/jul/21amit.htm Rediff.com], 21 July 2008, "Making music, from Aamir to Dev D"
47. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080821211814/http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movies/musicreview/13812/index.html BollywoodHungama.com], 7 January 2009, "BollywoodHungama Music Review for Dev.D"
48. (14 October 2014). "RE-CYCLED BEATS – O Pardesi – DEVD {{!}} Sprite Till I Die – YouTube".
49. [http://www.radiosargam.com/films/archives/31922/music-review-dev-d.html RadioSargam.com], 24 January 2009, "Radio Sargam Music Review for Dev.D"
50. Taneja, Nikhil. (31 December 2009). "From Melody to Dev D". [[Hindustan Times]].

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