A moving, insightful and apt film. Review on Dev

I am not a movie buff. Till about 10 days ago, I had not seen any movie on the big screen or the idiot box for the last two years! It was broken with my visit to Regal theatre (south Bombay) to watch 'The Day After Tomorrow'. And, now, yesterday I went and saw 'Dev' at Metro theatre (south Bombay). Two movies in two weeks after a hiatus of two years!

Anyway, my biggest motivation behind going to see 'Dev' was that it was a Govind Nihalini film (I have great respect for him primarily because of the serial 'Tamas' and the movie 'Ardha Satya' that was directed by him). Another attraction was Om Puri for whom I have great respect, not just as a great actor but also as a fine and sensitive human being.

And, Amitabh Bachchan? He was my hero of all seasons and purposes when I was a kid (used to try and watch ALL his movies first day first show). But since early 1990s his choice of films degenerated. Also, his mixing with shady politicians (like Bal Thackeray, Amar Singh, Mulayam Singh) and dicey corporate honchos like Ambanis made Amitabh's stature reduce significantly in my eyes. Not to mention the financial scam that was ABCL (Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd). I might be expecting my childhood screen hero to be a real-life hero too and that might be expecting too much from the film world.

Anyway, Amitabh in 'Dev' comes a pleasant surprise to me and he has regained some of the lost stature that he had lost in my eyes (a lot of credit for it must however remain with Govind Nihalini, and his co-actor Om Puri in the film who together with Amitabh raised the movie to new highs) . He brings forth a subtle yet very powerful force to the character of the honest and upright police officer he plays in the movie. It is, to me, a bit unfortunate that Govind Nihalini chose to highlight such strong attributes in a police officer at a time when in reality in our country there might not be a single such police officer. So, to this much extent, 'Dev' is not a realistic movie.

Yet it is the least unrealistic Hindi movie that is being offered to us after many years of trash films and superficial and jingoistic India-Pak war movies. The background of a communal carnage in 'Dev' is very real. It is an ugly reality that many among the minorities (especially Muslims) in our country have had to face upfront in the last 12-13 years; the latest one being the genocide in Gujarat in February-March 2002. And then you have the ugly reality of bomb blasts which is also covered in 'Dev'.

From my reading of newsreports in the media, I was aware of Govind Nihalini's 'Dev' having this underlying theme. And so I was motivated to go and watch it. Movies, however, are not the best medium to acquire knowledge of the realities in our society, country and planet. Non-fictional reports (by the media, concerned citizens' groups etc) of the happenings remain the best disseminators of truth and information.

I have not gone into the full storyline details of 'Dev' in my review. You can read about it from umpteen places on the internet (just go to google news and do a search on dev).

I am not highlighting in detail everything in the story plot or acting performances that I appreciated. There are lots to appreciate in the movie including otherwise-glamorous filmy figureheads like Kareena Kapoor (if only there were more Govind Nihalinis in Bollywood, there wouldn't then be untapped potential of people like Kareena nor would there be over-exploitation of glamour or glamourisation of violence for violence's sake).

But let me highlight one instance in the movie which did NOT impress me one bit. It is right at the start of the movie wherein Amitabh, playing the character of police officer 'Dev Pratap Singh', shoots point-blank at the forehead of an abusive youth protesting in a college and kills him. Though this is realistic, in the sense that are many police officers in our country who pride in being trigger-happy, the provocation by the young man in the movie was not severe and there was no need for police officer Dev (Amitabh) to shoot him dead for it.

At best, he could have shot him on his feet and injured him, but shooting him dead was, I felt, an excess that should not be condoned easily. While reality was portrayed to a certain extent in these opening minutes of 'Dev', Govind Nihalini, in my view, failed to bring out the moral depravity angle of an excessively trigger-happy police force.

But, all in all, I give a five star rating to 'Dev'. Its an immensely watchable film that will not fail to move you or make you ponder on issues facing us in our current times (if you aren't doing it already from non-fictional reports in the media and on the internet....but even if you are, it is still worth a see).