‘Devara Part 1’ (2024) Movie Review - An Unimaginative Action Drama and a Sterile NTR Jr

I have always detested filmmakers who encourage audiences to leave their brains at home to enjoy their films. But after sitting through so many recent mainstream movies, I think leaving your brain at home is a good choice. You might not enjoy what you see on the screen, but at least your brain will remain safe from rubbish. I know I will not walk out of the theater like a zombie. Over the past few months, I have noticed that I have been going to the movies with plenty of excitement and energy, but I exit the theater feeling tired and annoyed. I wish I could say I experienced something different after watching Koratala Siva's Devara: Part 1. Alas, I was once again overcome with intense disappointment. This action drama with a budget of ₹200−300 crore (source: Wikipedia) is so full of itself it never pauses to see if you are actually enjoying or buying whatever it's selling. Devara is made by someone who has watched many epic/action/adventure/hero-worshiping movies but has no idea how to execute the tropes satisfyingly. Siva looks like an amateur student filmmaker reproducing things from other movies he likes. It's a pity that his influences are pretty narrow and generic. Siva seems so tightly tethered to the words of his script that he doesn't do much visually. He is a literal-minded filmmaker who can only superficially decorate the screen. Siva knows the lyrics, not the music.

Consider Devara's (N. T. Rama Rao Jr) entry scene. He emerges from the turbulent waves like a man waking up from his sleep. The intention might have been to convey that for Devara, such a task is easy-peasy. But his expressions are so bland that we don't feel the risk he's taking. Note the name of the merchant ship on which Devara and other villagers climb like monkeys. It's Ethan, which naturally reminds you of Ethan Hunt. Tom Cruise, in the Mission: Impossible movies, performs dangerous stunts with an attitude that screams, "Don't try this at home; you're just kids." The audience holds their breath in exhilaration because Cruise, through his acting, renders palpable his perils. NTR Jr, on the other hand, is so sterile he removes the believability factor from his surroundings. Nothing he does has a sense of urgency. NTR Jr sleepwalks through the first half of the film. He becomes bearable post-interval when he appears cowardly. Thankfully, Devara has an actor like Saif Ali Khan, who knows how to play a bad guy. Khan and Shine Tom Chacko exude a raw, menacing energy. Their mannerisms are almost animalistic. Sadly, Tom Chacko is relegated to the sidelines. He is mainly smoking. Khan, too, eventually becomes a dispenser of scowls and screams. This hero vs villain(s) story has a weak hero and disposable bad guys. Tarak Ponnappa gives you the creeps. The movie, though, doesn't use him properly. We neither see his rough sex nor his ugly villainy. Ponnappa's character, then, looks like a warning sign that can be ignored blissfully.

Janhvi Kapoor is used as an eye candy. She dances, looks gorgeous, and talks about the man of his dreams. She wants someone strong and confident - a Devara-like daredevil (or even Devara himself). While watching Kapoor's scenes, I understood what happens when a filmmaker grows up watching only male-centric action movies. What's more, Siva doesn't seem to have contact with reality. He sees women as pretty dolls who merely talk about men and suffer for them. Siva is so inept that he even fails to present women as sex symbols/goddesses. Kapoor doesn't ooze sexiness. She looks like one of those plain, magazine-cover bikini models. No wonder NTR Jr, during a song sequence, observes her in a way that makes you feel as if he is at an IKEA store inspecting furniture (he doesn't get sexually aroused, which was the main aim of doing this song sequence). There is a blind girl who gives rise to melodramatic emotions. Siva uses melodrama as a shortcut to elicit an emotional response from the audience. The weepy music begs us to shed tears. We don't cry, but we chuckle when the blind girl performs the same steps as Devara during her wedding function. What a miracle!

Devara is about men who lust for blood like animals. The action scenes, however, are devoid of a primal rage. Siva goes for embellishments like completing the moon's circle with blood and showing us Devara's enemies coming out of water and sand like insects. But the fights themselves lack a violent spirit - they are just palatable. Siva has a frustrating habit of heavily underlining certain moments. Books fall out of a kid's bag who is shot with a bullet (meaning: not only his life but his future, his dreams of education have been snatched away). In the middle of a bloodbath, Siva hits us with a shot of a man stepping on a coast guard officer's hat. The director indulges in such idiot, melodramatic images. He doesn't trust us to grasp simple points. But he really insults our intelligence when he inserts the word "CGI" at the bottom of the screen while showing us aquatic animals. It's the final nail in the coffin. I really wanted to walk out of the movie theater. When a movie doesn't work, you start poking holes in its logic. Devara's story is narrated by Singappa (Prakash Raj), whose last name must be Omnipresent. He not only knows all the secrets but is also aware of the fact that a girl's mother scolded Thangam (Kapoor) while she was in the bathtub. Singappa also knows that Thangam and his friends talk about boys and that she tried to seduce Devara's son, Vara (NTR Jr), through song and dance. What's Singappa's middle name? Voyeur? 

Final Score- [3.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times