Did you know Abhay Deol's version of Dev D had a different ending?

Abhay Deol has done numerous films in his career out of which many are highly rated on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes. However, the actor is still regarded highly for his performance in Dev D which became a cult film. Counted among art films, the filmmakers were credited for having broken many stereotypes of Hindi cinema. 

Dev D brought Kalki Koechlin and Mahie Gill to the film industry in lead roles and reaffirmed the faith of filmmakers in art films. The movie boldly took a step and experimented by contemporising Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic Bengali novel Devdas.

Read Also | Abhay Deol Pitches Film On Bollywood's 'corrupt Practices'; Hails Ones Risking Careers Now

Abhay Deol's version of Dev D had a different ending

Abhay Deol has posted an interesting series of posts with the hashtag 'making what Bollywood wouldnt' (#makingwhatbollywouldnt) in which he shares with his fans interesting facts about the movies he has done. The actor took to his social media handle and shared how he had spent a year narrating the script of Dev D when finally Anurag Kashyap accepted the idea and presented it beautifully on screen. However, Abhay Deol also revealed that his version of the film had a different ending.

Read Also | Abhay Deol's Films That Opted For 'straight To OTT' Release Rank On 'most-liked' List

Spoiler alert: The article contains spoilers and has revealed most of the plot of the film ahead

The Dev D plot as we know it today

Dev D revolves around a young man, Dev, who loses his mind after he lets go of his childhood love, Paro. After Paro gets married to another man, Dev realises his mistake and travels to her city, Delhi. Seeing her happy with her husband, Dev, who has a drinking problem starts taking other drugs as well.

To get Paro off his mind, he starts to spend time with Chanda, a strong-headed woman and eventually both Dev and Chanda fall in love with each other. However, Dev leaves her as well only to realise she is his true love. He comes back to see she is gone. By the end of the film, the two unite and the movie had a happy ending.

Abhay Deol’s was aware that Dev D was a 'risk'

In several interviews, Abhay Deol has admitted that he was aware that his idea of the film involved risk and experimentation. Risk, as the content was slightly explicit. And the experiment would be to make a movie relying on the performance of each actor, good cinematography, excellent direction as well as screenplay.

Abhay Deol’s version of the film and charcaters

Abhay Deol in his Instagram post revealed that his idea for the film was different from what people got to see. The actor revealed that in his interpretation of the characters, Dev was a chauvinist, misogynist, entitled and arrogant man. He explained that despite all the bad qualities, the idea of that man was romanticised for years. He further wrote how the female protagonists were strong and had integrity yet they were expected to love their man no matter what.

Abhay Deol wanted to change these two particular perceptions about the characters. He wrote that he wanted to empower the women and make them independent. He further wrote that he wanted the female leads to not be defined by the man they love or men in general.

For Paro's character: Abhay Deol explained that this was the reason why he felt Paro called out Dev’s faults and left him. She is portrayed as one who was happy with the choice she made and was not weeping for a past lover. Neither did she fall weak in front of her husband or society.

For Dev’s character: Abhay Deol had envisioned Dev’s character to get shot by police when he becomes a drug dealer. Deol wrote in his post that Dev was supposed to die in front of Paro’s house, just like in the book. Abhay Deol wanted to 'expose the chauvinism and entitlement that Dev’s character is all about.' He wanted to portray that the women had the strength and Dev is the one who was vulnerable, which is very common in paternalistic cultures.

For Chanda's character: Abhay Deol had a different vision for Chanda’s character as well. He felt that Chanda’s character was the strongest of the three. Abhay shared that in his version, Chanda would have empathised with Dev but would not have fallen in love with him. He further said that Chanda would have taken pride in her profession as a high-class escort. Abhay Deol described Chanda’s character as the "prostitute with the heart of gold”.

The ending of the film: Though Abhay Deol wanted Dev to get shot by police and Chanda to not fall in love with Dev, Abhay Deol explained that the director of the film felt that a happy ending would make the film more accepted by the audience. The filmmaker’s twist was to have Dev and Chanda fall in love while Abhay’s version was too dark. So Abhay went with the flow and was glad about how everything turned out.

Read Also | Farhan AKhtar On Abhay Deol's Nepotism Row: 'Not Possible To Keep Getting Validation'

Read Also | 'Doesn't Give Your Father License To Throw Chappals': Kangana Hits Back At Pooja Bhatt

Image Credits: Abhay Deol Instagram