FILM · 2009 · INDIA
Dev.D
46 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
34 Interesting Facts About Dev.D
- #001
- #003
- #005
- #006
Dev. D was set to mark Amit Trivedi's debut as a music director, but for various reasons the completion and release of Dev. D took time, and by then Aamir (2008) had been released, which ultimately became his debut as a composer. Anurag Kashyap had in fact recommended Amit Trivedi to Raj Kumar Gupta for Aamir.
- #007
- #008
- #009
- #010
- #012
Amit Trivedi explained that he wanted two Qawwali singers to sing the song Emotional Atyachar. Anurag Kashyap was very particular about the track, so when Amit Trivedi and Amitabh Bhattacharya presented the song to Anurag Kashyap singing it in their own voices, he liked it so much that he abandoned the idea of using Qawwali singers and had them sing the song in their own voices.
- #014
- #015
- #016
- #017
- #018
Anurag Kashyap said: "My films reflect India's existing little-known pockets, the underground India. Like Paharganj in Dev D or the royal underworld of Gulaal, the massage parlour in Sarı Çizmeli. There are people and communities that exist but are not very well known. My films are about subcultures."
- #019
- #020
- #021
- #023
- #024
- #025
- #027
- #029
- #030
- #031
- #032
- #033
Legend has it that for nine years the voices behind Emosanal Atyachar from Dev D were two unknown singers from Himachal Pradesh, until composer Amit Trivedi revealed that the one humming the song was actually himself and lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya. The 2009 Anurag Kashyap film became hugely popular for Trivedi's music. While all the songs were loved, Emosanal Atyachar became the biggest hit and earned its place in pop culture over the years. Interestingly, the song was attributed to two unknown singers: group master Rangeela and Rasila. Both Kashyap and Trivedi spoke very harshly about them and claimed the duo disappeared without a trace after the recording. In an interview with PTI, Trivedi recounts details of how the song was composed for the film, which released in February 2009. "Anurag wanted the song to be a certain way. That was his vision. The term 'duygusal atyachaar' was his, and the idea of doing it in a brass-band style was his too. I just executed his vision and plan," he says. "While Amitabh and I were creating the song, we thought we would first sing it ourselves to show Anurag what we had done. Then we would find some qawwali singers or really interesting cool guys to sing it," he adds. Things turned around when Kashyap liked the scratch version. "Anurag got angry and said, 'Why do you want to change the voice?' 'But this is just the scratch version, Amitabh and I are singing,' I said. 'This is exactly what I want!' he said. Amitabh was scared because he had not sung in his normal voice. We tweaked it a bit and caricatured our voices. Amitabh also wanted to be a singer so he was scared. 'I want to be a singer and if this comes out I won't get work,' he said. We were scared. We changed the name to group leader Rangeela and Rasila. So yes, we are them!" Trivedi explained.
- #034
Anurag Kashyap said: "We did not want to show Dev actually getting hooked on drugs, we just wanted to create the feeling. So I asked Danny whether he could attach the camera, whether the image on screen could go crazy without spending too much money on SFX. He told me about the steady camera he used in the riot scene in Slumdog Millionaire, or at the end in the scene where Salim throws money at the camera. We used that camera, and that is why I thank him in the opening title sequence of Dev. D."
- #035
- #037
- #039
- #040
Anurag Kashyap said, "The spirit of Devdas changed, so the entire film is different. The whole premise of Devdas was built on a lack of communication. But this is an age of communication, where people can talk to each other every day if they want to. Also, in the era when the novel was written, alcohol was a taboo. People who drank were usually society's outcasts. But alcohol is part of our lives today. And there are various other modes of the self." Devdas's emotions were very external — he was like a drama queen. But this Devdas was more internal — he did not share Paro with anyone, and he carried his pain inside. Today there is no naachnewaali or quota, so how would Paro be today, since sexuality is no longer in the closet? In the past, the three characters were an add-on; they carried the story forward. Dev D is about roughly three people: Chanda, Paro and Dev.
- #041
Anurag Kashyap said, "I made many changes. The Devdas trio is just a device to tell the story. Dev D is not only about Dev, it is also about Chanda (Chandramukhi) and Paro. Three characters whose lives intersect on a journey of self-discovery. In some ways I turned the original story upside down. Chanda (played by Kalki Koechlin) is an ordinary college girl who is a call girl at night. In one scene, while smoking a cigarette and watching Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas on television, she suddenly decides to call herself Chandramukhi. The story is inspired by young people from Delhi's affluent families, the kind you read about in newspapers, who experiment with drugs and alcohol and end up making mistakes that change their lives."
- #043
Anurag Kashyap said: "Dev D is Abhay Deol's concept. Abhay was the trigger point that made me look at Devdas from another angle. He told me a story about a man who visits a strip club in Los Angeles, and at the end of the story he said: 'Guess what… that guy is Devdas.' That triggered many ideas in my mind. I was always accused of not being able to make a love story. This time I decided to make a real and identifiable love story."
- #045
The brass band and rock versions of Emosanal Atyachar are great songs. But when it comes to a breakup, the X-rated version completely surpasses the official versions. Although Kashyap claims it was created by a fan, the sound is far too familiar to the brass band (Amit Trivedi and Amitabh Bhattacharya). It is guessed that the makers of Dev D were in a nautanki mood when they made this X-rated thing. They did not want to admit that they created it themselves. It is available on YouTube. Of course, it could not be released. So it was toned down for the Emosanal Atyachar that was released. But Kashyap and company could no longer hide its 'creation.'.