Anurag Kashyap Recalls Actresses 'Refused' to Audition for Abhay Deol's Dev D: 'I Got Slapped By...'

Director Anurag Kashyap’s Dev D was not made easily. The film, a controversial take on Devdas, starred Abhay Deol, Kalki Koechlin and Mahie Gill, and was critically acclaimed. However, the filmmaker recently revealed that several actresses refused to audition, leave alone star, in the film. He said that the rejections were so strong that an actress’s boyfriend even went ahead and slapped Anurag after reading the script.

In a conversation at the Marrakech International Film Festival, Anurag opened up about the film’s making. As quoted by The Indian Express, Anurag said, “I made the two women the protagonists of the film, and I didn’t hold back on the language or anything. Girls refused to audition for the film when they read the script. I got slapped by one actress’ boyfriend, who said, ‘How dare you send the script to my girlfriend?’. I was like, ‘Okay, sorry’. My producer threw the script down and called it vulgar. It actually got made because of my producer’s wife, who loved it.” The filmmaker was seemingly referring to Ronnie Screwvala’s wife.

He also added that he wanted to approach Devdas differently from the book. “I took the three characters of Devdas, and subverted every expectation that the audience might have. What really shocked people was that the two female characters in the most misogynistic book had agency. They had more agency than the guy; the guy had nothing. I had women fighting for the film, standing by me, but men told me that I’m spoiling the culture of the country. There was a two-way fight… I changed the famous ending of Devdas, because the book thrives on creating empathy for this despicable character, who dies, so you’re supposed to feel sad. I said, ‘I’m not going to kill him,’” Anurag said.

To his own surprise, Dev D was a big hit, with not only the fans enjoying his unusual take on the characters of Devdas but also loved the songs.