Reviewer's Summary - Good
Language: Hindi
Year: 2004
Actors: Amitabh Bachchan, Om Puri, Amrish Puri, Fardeen Khan, Rati Agnihotri, Kareena Kapoor
Director: Govind Nihalani
Producer: Govind Nihalani
Story: Meenakshi Sharma
Music: Aadesh Shrivastava
Lyrics: Nida Fazli, Govind Nihalani
Script: Meenakshi Sharma
Dialogs: Meenakshi Sharma & Govind Nihalani
In the hands of a fine storyteller like Govind Nihalani, even a shop-worn Bollywood subject like communalism can receive different, and entertaining, treatment.
Dev tackles the beast of recurring communal violence between the majority Hindus and minority Muslims that has ravaged India for over five decades.
Despite tackling an oft-addressed theme, Dev's narrative seldom sags and proceeds at a steady clip.
Besides stunning photography and a tight story, particularly of the communal violence scenes, there's examplary acting from Amitabh Bachchan, Om Puri and Ehsan Khan.
Amitabh Bachchan is the upright secular police officer Dev Pratap Singh. Despite the tragic death of his only son Armaan at the hands of Muslim criminals, Dev pushes religion aside when enforcing the law.
However, Dev's close friend - and subsequent boss - Tejinder Khosla is full of venom towards Muslims. In the Muslim community, Tej sees nothing but betrayers and terrorists.
When both Hindu and Muslim politicians whip up communal frenzy among their followers for their own nefarious ends, communal violence increases leading the state's Chief Minister to appoint a special force headed by Tej to tackle the problem. Tej appoints Dev to his team.
But Dev is increasingly disillusioned by his friend Tej's passive attitude when terrible, unprovoked violence is commited by Hindus against Muslims.
There is also the intersecting story of two young Muslims Farhaan (Fardeen Khan) and Aaliya (Kareena Kapoor) engulfed in the maelstrom of violence raging around them. When Farhaan's father falls to police bullets while leading a protest march that turns violent, an embittered and angry Farhaan vows to kill Dev and is pushed into the arms of a venal politician like Latif (Ehsan Khan).
But Latif is merely using Farhaan to further his own ends.
Kareena Kapoor and Rati Agnihotri are mere dressings, with limited roles.
The song Rang Deni was a delight that kept us humming the tune over and over again.
Govind Nihalani hits the high mark again. - Copyright SearchIndia.com.
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