‘Devdas was more Pulp Fiction than literature’

Spicezee Bureau

Mumbai, Feb 02: Director Anurag Kashyap decided on making a movie out of Sarat Chandra’s ‘Devdas’ despite having a mediocre opinion about the book. The director of ‘Dev-D’, an upcoming movie that is more of a contemporary take on the age old classic, expressed his paradoxical views. He said, “I never liked Sarat Chandra`s novel. Often mediocre literature makes great cinema. What I liked about the novel was its honesty. But to me it`s more Pulp Fiction of its times than great literature.”

Anurag sees his ‘Dev-D’ as a bridge between the original novel and Sanjay Leela Bhansali`s blockbuster movie ‘Devdas’. Talking about the script and storyline, he said, “That`s why I asked Sanjay Bhansali`s assistant Vikram Motwani to write ‘Dev-D’. Vikram loves ‘Devdas’. I connected newspaper stories to the character of Devdas to explore the motivations of today`s youth."

Considering the fact that the major themes in Sarat’s ‘Devdas’ was miscommunication in a relationship, he clarified, “In this era of SMS that wouldn`t work,” adding further, he explained, “Today my Dev and Paro are in touch regularly. The miscommunication here is due to the ego.”

This kind of modern treatment to a seemingly ‘outdated’ literature is a fresh break from the ‘movie-adaptation-of-literature’ craze of contemporary creators.