Dev, photographed and directed by Govind Nihalani whose zest for making good cinema has never rested since the day his name appeared on celluloid. Amitabh Bachchan, who rose to stardom with the famous 'Zanjeer' in seventies, is still considered as the first and last choice for most of the frontline filmmakers to portray the part of an honest cop.

Dev is the story of two close friends - Dev (Amitabh Bachchan) and Tejinder (Om Puri). Both these characters are police commissioners. The third person in this Bollywood thriller is Farhaan (Fardeen Khan), an unemployed law graduate who believes in peace. But the death of his father, Ali Saheb leaves this lad emotionally disturbed. Probed by Dev unintentionally, an angry Farhaan chooses the path of violence. He joins forces with the corrupted and ambitious politician, Lati, to spark off a series of terrorist bombs in the city. This tense thriller sees the pairing of Amitabh Bachchan and Om Puri for the first time on the Hindi screen. Even as Dev and Farhaan's fate gets irreversibly linked, two soldiers whose allegiance may be to different causes but admiration for each other's courage and integrity brings them together.

Dev is that rare film that makes you think over the stand you take on issues and forces you to debate the rights and wrongs of communal divides and the role politicians play in manipulating sentiments for their own personal use. Long after the film is done, images come to mind, Kareena’s expressive eyes, showing love and grief, Amitabh crying in his wife’s arms over the number of needless deaths, Om Puri’s ranting at a man not in the room, Fardeen expressing intense idealistic anger over what is happening and many more.

Now for the performances. Amitabh is superb. There is a scene in which he is helplessly watching people being killed and shops being burnt down as he has been ordered not to take any action.

Om Puri is brilliant as the cop who is easily manipulated by the politicians. He is a typical slimy cop who doesn't care about how many innocent people are killed in the process.

Fardeen who has shown some glimpses of brilliant genes of his father. Kareena again turns out a fine performance and sings a song too.

Aadesh Shrivastava has proved his hidden genius with this uniquely composed album laced with different moods to soothe all kinds of ears. 'Dev' is a soundtrack, which deserves to be shelved in your collection. The music and cinematography part gets ten out of ten marks, but it's the plot of the film and its pace that fails to grasp the viewers throughout.

On the whole, DEV is a realistic fare that may appeal to a select few, but those looking for escapist cinema will be sorely disappointed.