Devara Movie Review

What Is It About?

Devara (NTR) belongs to one of the four villages in Yerra Samudram near Ratnagiri on the Andhra-Tamil Nadu border. Devara and his friends Bhaira (Saif Ali Khan) and others from the four villages rob the ships as their livelihood. An incident makes him realize his wrongdoings and he decides to stop all that. His friends turn into his enemies while he forces others to do the same. What does Devara do to put an end to the illegal activities? Who is Vara (NTR)? Devara Part 1 answers these questions.

Performances

NTR like always delivers an intense performance as Devara. He is simply flawless in the action episodes. NTR’s performance tries to save the movie from the director’s monotonous narrative at times.

Janhvi Kapoor gets a limited role. She was not really given anything meaty to perform in Devara except for the Chuttamalle song.

Saif Ali Khan appears as a pure conventional backstabbing villain. There were no powerful or impressive scenes written for him. He looked just like any other Bollywood villain, but not the Saif Ali Khan we know.

Shine Tom Chacko hardly had a dialogue and Srikanth appears in a routine role. Sruthi Marathe gets an important role and she did fine. Prakash Raj gets a lengthy role he is mostly heard and not seen. Murli Sharma and others got limited roles and they did their part.

Technicalities

NTR’s terrific show is not all, but its partnership with Anirudh’s music is that could save Devara from getting lost in the sea. Anirudh’s background music pushed the sequences up many a time. Fear Song gave the much-needed high moments.

The cinematography by Ratnavelu is excellent in parts. The Ayudha pooja fight sequence and the interval action massacre were shot very well.

Thumbs Up

NTR as Devara
Anirudh’s BGM
Interval Action Episode
Fear Song

Thumbs Down

Lack of High moments
Few Dragged Sequences
Template Narrative
Predictability

Analysis

The director Koratala Siva weaved a story around the concept of ‘fear’ for Devara and he has been trying to project that perspective right from the beginning. But the director chose to narrate it in a typical commercial template while it is NTR’s performance and Anirudh’s background music that made it better to some extent.

Devara starts on an uncommon note by bringing the flashback first but it soon turns stereotypical with the uninteresting narrative by Koratala Siva. The flat storytelling by the director and the typical blocks he used made the plot predictable. With a powerhouse actor like NTR as his lead, the director could not bring out highly intense or thrilling moments from the movie. From Ayudha Pooja sentiment to the antagonist’s wicked ploys, nothing crosses the line out of a known commercial formula.

NTR as Devara gives his best in the action episodes. Anirudh’s background score in the action blocks elevated them even more. The Fear song is undoubtedly the best part in Devara. If anything that lives up to the expectations in Devara, that is interval fight sequence. The fight sequence is well choreographed and NTR takes it to the next level.

The second half takes off on a slow pace and the heroine episode is strictly limited to a few scenes. Jahnvi Kapoor’s debut in Telugu garnered big hype but her role did not live up to the expectations. While Janhvi’s role could not impress much, her Chuttamalle song makes it up to some extent. The over-the-top side characters around Thangam make those scenes more uninteresting.

The surprise element intended by the director falls prey to his own narrative and it too was predictable. The line taken by the director to induce fear in the fearless is good, but the story that gives a reason for the protagonist is not strong enough to match the concept. All the actors apart from NTR, looked far from genuine. From Saif Ali Khan to Murli Sharma, none could make an impactful performance. The high moments expected from a powerful protagonist like Saif Ali Khan are totally missing.

For a movie like Devara with violence as a selling point and NTR in the lead role, there will be expectations for many thrilling and high moments. Unfortunately, the director takes us on a smooth boat ride instead of a thrilling ride amid the high tides. There were many dragged scenes until the pre climax. The climax episode is alright though the graphics could be still better.

The cliffhanger in Devara Part 1 could be the director’s weakest thought. ‘Why Kattappa Killed Baahubali’ was a sensation back then with Baahubali and Koratala Siva using a similar one for another star hero movie like Devara is unimaginable.

Overall, Devara is not a great film but not a poor film either. With Koratala’s familiar and standard narrative, it has to be seen if Tarak’s performance in tandem with Anirudh’s striking BGM brings it to shore from drowning in the Red Sea. The expectations went down a bit after the trailer was released and in a way that helped Devara.

Bottomline: Fear Fails, But Tiger Roars