Film Producer anurag kashyap Recalls his first hit film Dev D and the disappointments that led him to make this film. He said that when his first few projects were either shelved or outright banned, he decided to give the audience what they wanted, but with a twist. He directed an adaptation of the popular novel Devdas, but reversed most of its themes. The film angered purists, but built a cult following among the youth and became popular with the masses for its songs. But it wasn't easy to get off the ground, and many female actors refused to even audition for the lead roles Paro and ChandramukhiDue to which an unfortunate incident happened.
In a live interaction at this year's Marrakech International Film Festival, Anurag expressed his deep dislike for the source novel, as he went down memory lane and shared anecdotes about several of his best films. “I was sitting with my friends and thinking, 'How will this country let me be a filmmaker? They love love stories and they love songs. I will give them the greatest album ever; 19 songs!'”
Abhay Deol in the film Dev D. (Express archive photo)
He further added, “India's favourite love story is a book called Devdas, which I think is a very terrible book, which has had 20 films made on it. It's a very bad book, written by a great writer who wrote it at the age of 19. It was his first book, but somehow, it became his most popular book. His personal life story was more interesting, so I borrowed more from his personal story and chose contemporary issues for Dev D.”
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Anurag said that given his track record, it was not easy to get people on board. “I made two women the protagonists of the film, and I didn't put any restrictions on language or anything. When girls read the script they refused to audition for the film. I was slapped by an actress' boyfriend, who said, 'How dare you send the script to my girlfriend?'. I said, 'Okay, sorry'. My producer threw away the script and called it vulgar. It actually got made because of my producer's wife, who liked it.”
Abhay Deol and Kalki Koechlin in Anurag Kashyap's Dev.D.
Talking about the twists he made to the classic story, Anurag said, “I took three characters from Devdas and broke every expectation of the audience. What shocked people the most was that in the most misogynistic book, two female characters had rights. They had more rights than the men; the men had nothing. I had women fighting for the film, standing with me, but men told me I was ruining the culture of the country. It was a two-way battle… I changed the famous ending of Devdas because The book is based on creating sympathy for this despicable characterIf someone dies, you should feel sad. I said, 'I will not kill him'.
Read More – Dev D vs Devdas: Anurag Kashyap's adaptation respected Paro and Chandramukhi in a way that Sanjay Leela Bhansali completely ignored
Anurag said that the success of the film was surprising as he had conceived it in anger. Earlier, Anurag and the lead actor of the film, Abhay Deol, had joined hands for this film. There were differences of opinion on who came up with the idea of Dev.D. While Abhay has said that he had approached Anurag to direct the film, Anurag has described Abhay as difficult to work with. He has said that they have also spoken on the matter in private. The lead female characters in the film were played by Kalki Koechlin and Mahie Gill.
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