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Daas Dev
Critic reviews and ratings
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...must rank among the better screen adaptations of Devdas, not the least because of its daring, free-wheeling departures from the norm laid down for cinema derived from literary sources.
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Has Sudhir Mishra just given us Indian Cinema's first Soap Opera Classic -- a Soap Opera for all our daytimes and all our nightly longings?
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...has its high points but in totality the film doesn’t grip you. For those who are expecting a film like 'Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi', one of Sudhir Mishra’s earlier films which artfully combined politics and love, this contemporary take on Devdas will leave you wanting for more.
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This rough, dusty roller-coaster ride though is still about the stolen moments (music included), some delightfully wonky folk, crackling scenes (screenplay co-credited to Jaydeep Sarkar), top-notch dialogues, soaked in the patois of contemporary Lucknow (co-credited to Tariq Siddiqui).
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Watch the film if you want to see a different version of Devdas, as also for the sly digs that Sudhir Mishra takes at dynastic politics.
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The film is darkly funny, and a refreshing change from the staid classicism that undermined some of Mishra’s recent work.
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The film’s plot seems unnecessarily layered and often forces one to recount the various permutations to keep up with where the story is possibly headed.
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The trouble with all these people (a fine ensemble cast), whose questionable actions underline the common belief that all politics is for personal gain and not for the greater good, is that they get shoehorned into an overwrought plot. And its all much too jerky and staccato, never really letting its good parts breathe.
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...does have force and vigour, it’s been told with a lot of energy and drive. Wish it could have got visceral enough.
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...this is too much ambition for any film and Daas Dev veers between a love story, a political saga, a thriller and a Shakespearean power game. It flirts with all of those different genres but never pledges its troth to any.
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Few films can survive the weight of so much loftiness and ambition. Daas Dev goes off the rails in its opening scenes and fails to return to course.
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Sarat Chandra Chatterjee's classic but simple love triangle of Paro, Devdas and Chandramukhi is turned on its head and complicated needlessly by setting the story in a lawless, political background in Uttar Pradesh.
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...is meant to be a study of power and what happens to those who lust for it. It’s a solid idea lost in execution.
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Sudhir definitely gives it a contemporary spin off but it is hard to fathom the build up in the narrative unlike the quirk of DEV. D. The pace tries to elevate but falls flat even before the interval and refuses to come back till the end credits.
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The filmmaker tries everything to draw an analogous line between politics, love and the relation between love and politics but unfortunately fails in the end.
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Sudhir Mishra’s latest film has a title that wants to scream at you its creativity — or lack thereof — but ends up with an indiscernible, squeaked out nonsense.
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A Devdas-cum-Hamlet story still feels like it is worth a shot, perhaps even another shot by Mishra, but this one fails to live up to its promise despite an excellent central performance and an unusual interpretation of two iconic literary characters.
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Impoverished, rebellious farmers, greedy businessmen and corrupt and manipulative politicians and their goons are some of the many issues that Mishra skims through with little thought.
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There are so many vested interests in this microcosm of UP politics that I wished I had a cheat sheet to keep track of who is who and why they are betraying and killing each other.
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