Anurag Kashyap’s Dev D is regarded as a classic film with a cult fan following. The film was headlined by Abhay Deol, who later criticised it for glorifying toxic male behaviour. However, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap does not agree with Abhay and this caused a rift between the two. In a recent interview, Anurag said that there is more to the feud than Abhay’s side of the story but he will not delve into that as the actor will not look nice.
Speaking to Janice Sequeira, Anurag said, “I am not bad at maintaining relationships. Abhay, I have not met him since the shooting of Dev D. He didn’t even come for promotions and he has never spoken to me since. If he wants to call me toxic, fine, it’s his side of the story. The truth can’t be spoken, because if I will speak the truth, he won’t be able to show his face. There is too much truth in there that Abhay will also not have the courage to talk about. And I will not talk about it because it will make him look like shit.”
In 2009, Anurag Kashyap came up with his most unusual film Dev D, a modern retelling of the story of Devdas, the tale of a tragic and possessive lover. Set in modern-day Punjab and Delhi, the film tells this story by showing the protagonist not as a tragic figure, but as a flawed and chauvinistic man. Abhay Deol played the titular character. When the film hit the theatres, it was praised, as was Abhay’s performance.
Abhay Deol later revealed what his attempt to get into the head of the flawed Dev cost him. Talking about the time he spent in New York after Dev D, Abhay told a media portal in 2023, “The Dev D role that I played, I couldn’t get it out of my head. So, for a year, I did what Dev D did in the film. I got a little more into it than Dev. I wasn’t on the streets in ragged clothes. I drank like a fool every day.” He also said that he even had memory lapses because of drinking so much. “I made some very good friends, so I remember some things. My whole life is one big blur,” he recalled.
Abhay also mentioned in a social media post that his version of Dev D was quite different from Anurag’s version and he wanted the female characters to have more agency. “In my version, Dev gets shot by the police (he becomes a drug dealer) outside Paro’s house and dies just like in the book. Chanda does not fall in love with him, and neither is she ashamed of being an East European high-class escort (again, in my version). She’s the strongest character of the three and isn’t afraid of being judged. She does empathize with Dev, seeing how broken he is, and I went with the ‘prostitute with the heart of gold’ theme from the book,” he wrote.
However, recently, Anurag defended his version of the film and told Zoom TV that his stories are based on real life. He said that he aims to question the morals of the audience with his stories and does not like to give unnecessary traits to his characters.
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