Devara: Part 1

Devara Part 1 Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: NTR Jr., Janhvi Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Shruti Marathe, Prakash Raj, Shrikant

Director: Koratala Siva

What’s Good: Unalloyed heroics, shot on a grand scale and with style and finesse

What’s Bad: Too testosterone heavy—the women here hardly seem to matter!

Loo Break: Can be taken whenever you feel some sequences are prolonged

Watch or Not?: Overall, yes!

Language: Hindi (Dubbed)

Available On: Theatrical release

Runtime: 177 Minutes

User Rating:

Set in the 1980s and 1990s, Devara: Part 1 is about Devara, a man from a coastal village who sets on a danger-ridden journey into the sea to safeguard the lives of his people. His brother Bhaira would rather be selfish and conspires against Devara. Will Devara’s timid son, Vara, be enough to counter Bhaira?

Devara Part 1 Movie Review: Script Analysis

The script by Koratala Siva makes it clear that it is all about unlimited audience gratification. The story is about the good versus the bad among the folks of four adjoining small fishing villages. There is one man, Devara (NTR Jr.) whose statement is like an order (I remembered the iconic line from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham… that went ‘Jo keh diya, bas keh diya!’ though the similar line here is not as memorable!). But he is a good man, though he and his tribes initially indulge in what they do not know is illegal and antinational—at sea.

When he realizes what they are doing is wrong, he orders the entire community that works for him not to contribute to elements out to create anarchy. Naturally, Bhaira now wants to eliminate him. A plot is hatched when Devara has agreed to come to Rayappa (Shrikant)’s blind sister’s wedding. Assailants by the dozens attack Devara at a beach. Still, he fights valiantly back and finally leaves a message (in the blood of his victims) on the rocks that he is leaving the village to keep an eye on the anti-national and wayward elements.

Twelve years later, we get to see his son, Vara (NTR Jr. again), who has grown up listening to his father’s tales of valour but is exactly the opposite in nature. Unlike his courageous father, who can take on over twenty armed adversaries at once, he even drugs his competitors at the village to win the annual ritual of puja for weapons, where the winner takes the weapons to his village.

Due to a chain of incidences, Vara has to join Bhaira in restarting the nefarious activities of stealing contraband and must be a part of Bhaira’s team that also simultaneously must kill his father, who is expected to come from hiding and prevent them from achieving their criminal mission—to appease the businessman (Murli Sharma) and the corrupt cop (Abhimanyu Singh) who hire them.

This story, in fact, is narrated by Singappa (Prakash Raj), a confidante and admirer of Devara, to a present-day officer who has come to search for a criminal. And the film cleverly ends with a poser a la Bahubali—we now come to know that Devara is no more. He had warded off all his attackers, but a surprise, devoted-to-him entity had killed him. Why did that person kill Devara is what will be answered in Devara Part 2. After a rollercoaster of incredibly sustained action, blood-splitting and the occasional stir of a cauldron of emotions, the poser ends the movie.

But I must admit that the script could have provided more importance to its women. There is some attention on Devara’s mother (Zarina Wahab), on another grieving woman who loses her son, but Janhvi Kapoor as Vara’s beloved and even Devara’s wife (Shruti Marathe) barely count in the story’s plotline.

As for logic—what’s THAT?! So don’t even ask all the dozen and more questions you want to!

Devara Part 1 Movie Review: Star Performance

NTR Jr. is now known to Hindi cinema not just because of RRR but also for his forthcoming role in War 2. He has played to the gallery with full vigor and intensity, and his naturally likable persona holds the film totally, though regrettably, he gets no chance to ‘face’ himself (as in his dual characters).

Saif Ali Khan has by now mastered the art of villainy for 20 years (Cyrus and Ek Hasina Thi being the first, down to Omkara, Tanaji: The Unsung Warrior, and—in the South—Adipurush). Here, he brings in the subtlety that we witnessed in the first two films and the vicious and rustic ruthlessness of his role in Omkara. Shrikant as Rayappa and Narain as Kunjara’s son impress among the rest.

Prakash Raj is excellent as Singappa, while Zarina Wahab is the typical long-suffering mother of Indian cinema. Rameshwari as Jogula, Shruti Marathe as Devara’s wife, and the other women are wasted. But no one is ill-used more than Janhvi Kapoor as Thangam, who is just given a less-than-ten-minute screen time (with one song) as a libidinous girl lusting for Vara.