Right from his Imtiaz Ali directed underrated love story, ‘Socha Naa Tha’-- which in my opinion is way superior to Jab We Met -- Abhay has shown a penchant for marching into uncharted territory. Be it the daring climax scene in ‘Ek Chalis Ki Last Local’, the pitch-perfect performance of ‘Manorama Six Feet Under’ or the brazen chor act in ‘Oye Lucky Lucky Oye’, Abhay has acquired the badge of being the most fearless actor on the circuit today.

And now with ‘Dev D’, he has not only resurrected the wimpy eternal loser/lover previously taken to operatic melodramatic heights by SRK in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's version, but in a twisted way, Abhay has actually made Devdas pretty cool and hip. In fact, the concept of the film is credited to Abhay. It was he who moved the project and got UTV to back it.

Abhay's aaj ka Devdas is happy tripping. On himself.

His drink of choice is vodka with coke (Thumbs Up is a secondary option) while the other coke keeps his pain centred on himself. The appeal of Anurag Kashyap's psychedelic dramadery lies in the fact that Abhay plays Dev D straight. Abhay plays his Devdas without expecting any emotional connect or sympathy. He plays Devdas as an adjective and not as a romantic hero. He plays him flawed. And damaged. He doesn't want us to like his character because the character doesn't want to be liked. Or saved. Or rescued.

Abhay's Dev D thrives on giving the audience ‘emosional atyachar’, because hey, that's what Paro has given him! He revels in his scum-dog-like existence.

It takes courage to take on a brave role like this. Just like it takes courage to make a film like this. With ‘Dev D’, Anurag trailblazes a new cinematic language and tells the oldest story the way he wants to tell it. His visual flair is his hallmark, his shot selection simply brilliant. Moreover, with Dev D, Anurag has reinterpreted the use of music in storytelling and all 18 songs composed by Amit Trivedi actually tell the story of the film. Actually they are the story of this film.