‘Devara: Part 1’ movie review: NTR and Anirudh amp up the intensity in an overstretched action drama
Devara Part 1 movie review: Director Koratala Siva's Devara Part 1, starring Jr NTR and Saif Ali Khan, is an action drama with elaborate characterisations. The film features strong performances from Jr NTR and Saif Ali Khan, but the story remains predictable.
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The Beginning left viewers curious about why Kattappa killed Baahubali, a spate of films have been mounted ambitiously, with scope for sequels. This has turned out to be a double-edged sword. While filmmakers get the scope to present in-depth character delineations and build the world in which the story unfolds, there has also been a tendency to overstretch the narrative. A few questions are left unanswered, with the hope that the audience will wait in anticipation of a sequel. Director Koratala Siva’s Telugu film Devara, starring NTR,Saif Ali Khan and Janhvi Kapoor, is the latest to follow suit. The film, which has also been dubbed and released in multiple languages, has a few awe-inducing segments that are enhanced by Anirudh Ravichander’s vibrant music score, only to eventually make us wonder if a sequel is warranted.
The term devara alludes to male Gods who are revered by coastal communities. NTR plays Devara, a mysterious figure in a fictional coastal region adjacent to the mountains. The story begins in 1996, as India gears up to host the Cricket World Cup, and goes back in time to recount the story of Devara, who supposedly rules over the high seas. Koratala Siva does not waste time. A police officer (Ajay) witnesses something underwater that jolts him and sets the stage for a village elder, Singappa (Prakash Raj), to narrate the story of Devara.
We are led into the seaside region where four clans reside, and we learn about the erra samudram (red sea). The narrative explores human behaviour in the context of both courage and fear. Moving away from oft-explored stories of a village being oppressed and turn to a saviour to find courage, this film explores the possibility of what some people can do in the utter lack of fear. When Devara tries to differentiate between the courage that is required to live as opposed to brute courage that can kill, the moral standing of his statement is lost on several folks surrounding him, including Bhaira (Saif Ali Khan).
An engagingly mounted sequence on a ship stacked with containers establishes the stealth with which the men, led by Devara and Bhaira, operate on the high seas. Devara is aware that he isn’t a saint, though he has no idea of the ramifications of his stealth operations until a little later. He tells his young son Vara (NTR in a dual role of the grown-up son) that, unlike their ancestors who fought for freedom, he is insignificant. Devara’s moral stance becomes the prime reason for the cracks within the four clans to deepen.
The film does not delve into how Devara and Bhaira from different clans became friends and collaborators, but gradually shows how their moral compasses are different. The others around them, such as the characters played by Kalaiarasan and Tom Shine Chacko, deepen the divide between Bhaira and Devara. An elaborate Ayudha pooja sequence establishes the significance of the festival and the traditional weapons of these clans. The Telugu title is formed by the assembling of weapons of different shapes. A glimpse of a fish-shaped knife is also in sync with the coastal communities in the film.
Jr NTR, fondly called the 'Man of the Masses' by his fans, is back as a solo lead after six years, choosing director Koratala Siva's Devara (now a two-part film) for his big moment. Devara explores the theme of fear and its impact on an entire generation. Fear is the strongest emotion in Devara, but how is this translated into a cohesive script? Let's find out!
Set in 1996, the story follows a police officer (Ajay), who along with his team are on the hunt for criminals, Daya and Yethi. Their investigation leads them to Singappa (Prakash Raj), who lives in Errasamudram (Red Sea) and recounts the story of Devara (NTR) and Bhaira (Saif Ali Khan). Cut to the 1970s, Devara is a righteous man, who thinks twice before taking a life, while Bhaira, on the other hand, is brutal and kills without hesitation.
Devara is the leader of a group of pirates who loot cargo ships. Their contracts come from Muruga (Murali Sharma). One of their assignments makes Devara realise that he's doing a job that claims the lives of many innocent people. When he proposes to stop robbing, he faces roadblocks from Bhaira and Kunjara (Kalaiyarasan). Although Rayappa (Srikanth) sides with Devera, he is soon blackmailed by Bhaira and Kunjara. What happens between Devara and Bhaira and how does their rivalry unfold forms the rest of the story.
