Anurag Kashyap’s Dev.D starred Abhay Deol in the lead role. (Photo: Anurag Kashyap/Instagram and Abhay Deol/Instagram)
Anurag Kashyap, whose Netflix film Choked began streaming on Friday, June 5, has said that it was “painfully difficult” for him to work with Abhay Deol in Dev.D. Kashyap directed Deol in that modern day adaptation of the classic Bengali novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Devdas.
While speaking to The Huffpost in a profile on Deol, Kashyap said, “It was painfully difficult to work with him. I don’t really have great working memories with him. And haven’t talked to him much since I finished shooting.”
Kashyap added, “He wanted to do artistic movies but also wanted the mainstream benefits. The benefits and luxuries of being a Deol. He would stay in a five-star hotel while the entire crew stayed in Paharganj for a film that was made on a very tight budget. Also the reason a lot of his directors went away from him.”
Dev.D was a psychedelic take on the iconic original story which has been adapted several times over the years.
Dev.D also starred Mahie Gill, Kalki Koechlin, among others. Nawazuddin Siddiqui also appeared as one of the band singers in the “Emotional Attyachar” song.