In the second and concluding part, he spoke to Patcy N about making Dev D and his fight with the film's lead, Abhay Deol. Excerpts from a conversation:

Is it true that Abhay Deol came to you with the idea of Dev D?

Yes, the idea came to Abhay while we were watching a football match. He didn't tell me that it was Devdas. He narrated me a story about a boy living on the streets of Los Angeles who visits a stripper called Chandramukhi. He then asked me to guess the story. When I couldn't, he told me that it was Devdas. Suddenly all these ideas started flooding in; ideas of making a contemporary Devdas and how to go about it.

Is Abhay in this movie because this was his idea?

After Abhay narrated the idea to me, I could only visualise him for the role. Abhay and I know each other inside out. I could have played Devdas but then nobody would watch it. So I thought, let Abhay do it. (laughs)

Similarly, I never thought of anyone other than Mahi Gill for Paro. The film and the role was written keeping Mahi and Abhay in mind.

Photograph and video: Reuben N V

Also Read: Abhay Deol takes on Dilip Kumar, SRK

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