Anurag Kashyap’s 2009 film Dev.D, starring Abhay Deol, Mahie Gill and Kalki Koechlin, is set to re-release in theatres, multiplex chain PVR Cinemas announced on Saturday.
According to a press release, PVR INOX, in collaboration with Star Studio18, will re-release the film on April 24.
“A cult classic that redefined romance and heartbreak! Experience Dev.D on the big screen once again, as every emotion hits harder and every moment feels unforgettable. #DevD re-releasing at PVR INOX on April 24,” the multiplex chain said in a statement on Instagram.
The film, a contemporary retelling of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s 1917 Bengali classic novel Devdas, hit theatres on February 6, 2009. The film follows Devendra Singh Dev Dhillon (Deol), a wealthy young man who spirals into alcohol and drug abuse after his childhood romance with Parminder Paro Kaur (Gill) falls apart.
Along the way, he forms an unexpected friendship with Chanda (Koechlin), an escort dealing with her own emotional pain.
“The film was a provocation, taking a story steeped in nostalgia and tragic romance and thrusting it into the chaos of contemporary India. This Dev isn’t a romantic hero. He’s entitled, impulsive, and often deeply unlikable. His self-destruction isn’t noble; it’s reckless and painfully real,” Kashyap said.
“Paro, too, is no longer just the waiting lover. She has agency, desire, and anger; she chooses; she resists. And Chanda, shaped by the realities of today, isn’t defined by sacrifice but by survival and reinvention. To see Dev.D return to the big screen at PVR INOX feels special,” the filmmaker added.
“When I narrated it to Anurag, I didn’t tell him it was a contemporary treatment of Devdas, I just narrated a love story. He did not guess what it was that I was actually narrating and when I revealed that it was a contemporary Devdas he went quiet for 20 minutes imagining it in his head,” Deol said, who originally came up with the concept for the film.
“He was hooked and he also loved the idea of treating it with a musical score that took the story forward one song at a time. Although he went with a different ending (I stuck to the original with Dev dying in the end), my idea was to call out Devdas’ misogyny, and highlight the women’s resilience,” Deol further noted.
Produced by Ronnie Screwvala, Dev.D is written by Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane.