Of Contrast, Character, and Credibility

Dev (2004) is a film about choices—choice between duty and morality; responsibility and obligation; friendship and conscience; and most importantly between right and wrong. It is a film that walks a very thin line—the line that demarcates commercial cinema and the so-called 'art' film, and the divider between jingoism and objective portrayal.

Joint Police Commissioner Dev Pratap Singh's (Amitabh Bachchan) character is an easy chair in a battlefield. He belongs to the old school of thought where duty comes first and the honor of the uniform is of the utmost priority. However, he comes at a crossroad in his life and career when he is wrongly suspected of harboring ill-feelings towards the 'minority' (read: Muslim) community.

Tejinder Khosla (Om Puri) is an old friend of Dev, and in more ways than one his mirror image. Over a bottle of malt whisky, he lambasts the ’outsiders’ using expletives, is quite vociferous in his notions, and goads his best friend of 30 years to subscribe to his communal hatred.

The third angle of this triangle is completed by Farhan Ali (Fardeen Khan), a student of law who witnesses his father (Pramod Moutho)—a peace-loving Muslim—being gunned down during a demonstration by a police contingent led by Dev Pratap Singh. Disturbed, distraught, and disillusioned, Farhan turns into a pawn in the hands of Latif (Ehsaan Khan)—a Muslim political leader—receiving training to eliminate his father's killer. But by a twisted turn of fate, he gets betrayed by his own lot and takes resort in the house of the very man he had sworn to kill.

Aaliya (Kareena Kapoor) plays Farhan's love interest. In a strikingly underplayed role, Kareena excels as the innocent victim of a political nexus run by Latif on one hand, and the CM (Amrish Puri) and his henchman Mangal Rao (Milind Gunaji) on the other.

It is interesting to watch Bachchan play a role that is so diametrically opposite to the ones that made him a living legend in the '70s and '80s. Audiences so used to seeing him take the law in his own hands in situations such as the ones that are portrayed in the film would be pleasantly surprised to see a man torn apart by his emotions and duty-bound attitude. True, he breaks his shackles; but then, too, he doesn't turn into a vigilante.

Overall, the film rests on the seasoned shoulders of Bachchan and Om Puri, but equal credit needs to be given to the writer Meenakshi Sharma. This is a writer's film. However, Govind Nihalani's direction fails to leave a mark. The weakest performance comes from Fardeen Khan. His role demanded emotions, expressions, and empathy. Unfortunately, the wooden-faced actor fails on all three counts.

Aadesh Shrivastava's music appears imposed at times; our fascination with a conclusive dénouement stretches the story towards the end. On the brighter side, the film does break free of certain clichés such as maligning entire communities or being reactionary in its treatment, a la Gadar (2001).

In conclusion, a much better outing for Govind Nihalani than his earlier Thakshak. Special gratitude is due to him for providing Bachchan a role that he can really sink his teeth into. Ironically, with a name like Dev, this is Bachchan's one of the most human characters, ever!