Understanding Crime & Youth Delinquency By Revisiting The Movie 'Dev.D'

While cinema (or now OTT) is often critiqued for being a bad influence upon the society, or overly exaggerating some claims, there can still be some kernel of truth reflected in them. In this piece, the author would employ the learnings from 'Development of Life Course' (DLC) theory in the field of criminology to analyse the movie 'Dev.D' as a case study to understand youth delinquency in urban India. Based on a 1917 Bengali novel 'Devdas', this story has been adapted for several plays and movies with 'Dev.D' standing out as a modern-day take upon the same. As this movie completes 15 years since its release in 2009, it still feels as timely as it did when it first released.

DLC theory is a widely accepted theory in the field of criminology which presumes that for an individual many events such as their upbringing, peer and parental interactions, presence of any trauma etc. can be a clear indicator of their predisposition to a life of crime. In particular, DLC theory and some of its tenets can clearly fit the behaviour and life trajectory of two key characters of the movie namely Dev and Chanda. A majority of the empirical literature and fictional representations around DLC have traditionally focussed upon two key facets i.e., a very young impressionable child and/or typically downtrodden child's journey from a broken or impoverished house to a perpetual life of crime. The author feels that many of the traditionally employed factors such as weak parental supervision, individual factors like genetics etc. can be suitably applied to even adults (compared to just young children) from wealthier backgrounds as well. It is my hypothesis that a factor such as lack of a strong emotional connection in the lives of even adults from non-impoverished backgrounds can lead one to a dependence upon drugs and possible subsequent criminal delinquency. Furthermore, there exists a possibility of desistance if such a key stimulant is reversed subsequently.

Spoilers Alert!: Movie Facts

In the movie, the key protagonist Dev is the pampered son of an extremely wealthy industrialist. His ill-mannered behaviour is aptly captured by just a 5 minutes childhood throwback montage wherein his sense of entitlement is clearly visible. He is sent to UK to complete his education; however, his growth and journey abroad is not showcased. But after barely getting enough marks to complete basic college education he returns back to India presumably to help his ageing father with the business empire. Although till this stage, Dev has been shown to indulge in alcohol and marijuana consumption, no serious addiction or criminal tendencies could be observed. He rekindles his romance with childhood best friend Paaro on returning back to India but after a scorned admirer of Paaro lies to Dev claiming she is overtly sexually promiscuous, Dev in a fit of drunken rage assaults him with a glass alcohol bottle on the head. He also breaks off his relationship with Paaro calling her a slut and not being of a high social stature enough to marry Dev since she was their manager's daughter after all. Things truly took a turn for the worse when shortly thereafter Dev witnesses Paaro getting married to someone else according to her parents' wishes and he realises his grave mistake fuelled by his male ego and drunken rage. After this he shifts to national capital New Delhi where from his rich father's money, he is leading a self-destructive life by constantly binge-drinking, doing hard drugs like cocaine/heroin as well in night clubs and frequenting brothels, presumably looking for a semblance of emotional attachment. Leni (or Chanda) is the daughter of an Indian bureaucrat and a Canadian mother. Although skipping high school to meet her boyfriend doesn't seem like a major delinquency, her life turns upside down when a leaked MMS sex video gets viral without her consent. Her parents and entire society chastise her and her father even commits suicide presumably because of losing face in the society. An ostracized Leni without finding any support from friends or familial relations including her own mother, runs away from home. As a homeless destitute girl, she attracted the attention of a brothel owner. Although she finishes her high school and even college education, she started consuming drugs and alcohol while working nights in the brothel where she takes the pseudonym Chanda and comes across a drunk Dev as another client.

Analysis

A majority of the research has catered around DLC and delinquency, is primarily centred around childhood or early teens. It has been repeated one too many times that seeds of delinquency are sown early on in the childhood itself. Although this theory is catered more towards criminal predisposition, the author feels that there exist a lot of overlapping factors leading to delinquency from expected societal norms, be it in the form of substance abuse or crime. The author believes that the concept of deviance must be looked at subjectively vis-à-vis the prevalent societal norms. In a highly traditional society such as India, something as innocuous as taking a gap year in college is also quite unheard of, which is quite common in Europe or USA. Measured against such a backdrop, both Dev and Chanda's behaviour is certainly an outlier.

Considering many statutory markers across the world such age of voting, drinking, sexual participation; it is deemed by the society at large that attaining the age of eighteen magically transforms children into adults overnight. As theorised by Dr. Arnett, where economic paucity is not a concern because there seems no immediate compulsion to become the bread-winner of the family, particularly in many industrialised societies the age from eighteen to twenty-five is a particularly instable vulnerable age and constitutes a special category of life-course. It is at this age where individuals are still not settled in typically pre-conceived adult preconceptions of marriage or jobs yet. They can afford to delay these processes for varied mixture of life experiences such as moving out, higher education, exploring their sexual identities sexual etc. Relying on several statistics it is found that this age bracket is the most likely to indulge in both substance use and abuse. According to studies, there are multiple factors such as their new-found sense of freedom, a rebellious desire to break away from the shackles of childhood (and accompanying restrictions therein) along with a desire of the forbidden world of adult life makes them more prone to such experimentation.

Both Dev and Chanda clearly fit in the special age bracket of 18-25 as theorised above. Both of them came from affluent enough backgrounds and clearly direction less in life till this point of time. Although not explicitly stated, Chanda was under no compulsion or forced by her brothel owner to continue working against her will. She even attended college during the day and eventually in the end left the brothel as well when she fell in love with Dev. Before this, she continued working in the brothel and didn't make any further attempts to reconnect with her mother or family. Due to her work, she was able to earn handsomely enough which could also support her substance addiction as well. Similarly, there was no financial strain wherein Dev had to continue his anti-social behaviour of excessive drugs and alcohol and in the end an eventual manslaughter where an inebriated Dev ran his car over 7 people. Instead, one may argue that it was weak parental supervision where pampered children were always provided money for their excessive lifestyle but never enough emotional attachment. Although sheltered from a life of total delinquency whilst abroad due to structures of education, when back home he was led astray because of even greater financial freedom. His behaviour could have been nipped in the bud if he had been counselled or asked to stay home to look after his ailing ageing father's businesses and lead a more settled life. On the contrary, he was never refused money for his drug fuelled lifestyle or for prostitutes or even a new car, which tragically was used in the drunken manslaughter.

A lot more research is needed to know the exact causations for beginning of substance use and addiction. For some addiction can begin as harmless recreational experimentation to a vicious cycle of being forced and exploited to consume drugs. These substances are often resorted to by disabled war veterans, out on their luck gamblers and many other people feel they have nothing else left to accomplish in their lives. Some studies have also drawn positive links between traumatic life events such as divorce, a close relative's death or even feeling neglected etc. as key triggering life events for drug addicts.

Both of these troubled characters were looking for emotional support and understanding having been deprived of the same throughout their lives. In the movie, both Dev and Chanda had experienced trauma in their own ways. At a young age of 10-12 Dev was defiant enough to call his own father by a disrespectful nickname instead of the colloquially accepted terms for father such as 'papa' and being caught with a cigarette for which he is repeatedly slapped by his father and sent abroad to UK. Even as a child committing minor mistakes, instead of emotional support and counselling, Dev was suddenly uprooted to another country to complete his education in the hope of inculcating discipline. Loss of Dev's closest confidant and lover Paaro from his life threw him over the edge. Likewise, Chanda was desperately looking for emotional support since she was so wounded by the loss her of father, family and friends that substance abuse and exploration of her sexuality by working as a prostitute came naturally to her as a coping mechanism. Let alone any major truancy or criminal disposition, neither of them were not involved even in petty property offences or the like as usually demonstrated in similarly aged deviants. It was simply their inability to cope with the loss of their respective loved ones and the resultant void created by their absence which made them substance dependent and resulted in subsequent aberrant behaviours in life.

As per the generally accepted theory of desistance; events like finding a stable job or finding a strong romantic partnership or other factors which ground people to stronger social ties leads to a life away from crime. Studies have also established the positive correlation between drug usage and an increased propensity to lead a crime laden life. Interestingly enough, such relation between drug based delinquency and self-destructive behaviour is cyclical as well wherein pattern of desistance can also be observed when people with a chequered past have entered into strong supportive romantic relationships. Although research has not established this causation beyond reasonable doubt, but some studies have confirmed a statistically visible relation. For instance, entering in romantic relationships like weddings has been linked with declining criminal behaviour. Another study has shown the link between diminished crime risk to the existence of a strong romantic relation with a partner to as high as eighteen percent. Near the end of the movie after the manslaughter, Dev had hit rock-bottom in his life. He contemplated running away and even breaking his parole. Chanda having left her brothel life, on meeting with Dev fessed up her feelings for him and both of them get engaged. In the final shot, the happy couple could be seen as going for one of Dev's court hearings. This pattern is quite consistent with the theory of desistance in DLC. Here both of them who were leading a life of substance abuse seemingly because of want of emotional attachment take overt steps to return back to normalcy and social reintegration once they find strong emotional support in form of each other. Although this does not guarantee that either of them would not engage in substance use or any other criminal activity, it does portray a positive change nonetheless.

The field of criminology and specifically DLC should not be limited to studying just the effects of genetics or traumatic events once occurred in childhood and forever scarring an individual to a life of crime. This goes on to show that DLC is a field where continuous interactive relation between life events and behaviour should be monitored. In a country such as India where urban youth delinquency is on the rise, the solution may not be found by simply bringing in new laws or amendments. Such timely pieces of popular culture can be a good source to reflect upon this growing problem and collectively ponder upon systemic issues and targeted reforms.

Views Are Personal.