Koratala Siva and Junior NTR’s Devara-Part 1 is a typical Telugu mass masala entertainer with a formulaic larger-than-life hero, an overblown villain character and a theme based on the age-old conflict between good and evil.
The director however tries to work with a new kind of a premise — how too much courage can also lead people down the wrong path. And, how they need a righteous brave leader to instill fear in them to transform their lives! But not helped by good writing, the film fails to take off.
The story
The storyline revolves around Devara (Junior NTR), who at first, doesn’t realise how smuggling illegal weapons with his clan affects people. When realisation dawns on Devara, he gives time to his clan to change but they refuse to stay away from wrongdoings. Now, the brave leader has no other choice but to stand against his own village people and kill some to instil fear in them so that they don’t smuggle illegal weapons anymore.
Devara also disappears from his coastal village not before leaving a message that he will be back when the situation arises to correct them. The fear actually makes the village folk not indulge in smuggling and go back to their traditional occupation —fishing! On the other hand, Devara’s nemesis Bhairaa (Saif Ali Khan) is waiting for the right moment to kill Devara when he returns to the village!
Years later, Devara’s son Vara (Junior NTR) grows up as a timid youngster who is not brave like his dad. Vara shies away from unnecessary fights and he even hates his dad for not being around. The rest of the film rests on the question whether Devara will return to his coastal village and will Vara ever become brave like his dad?
Passable first half
The first half of the film is quite passable largely due to Anirudh’s enthralling background score that elevates all the major action sequences in the film, especially the superbly choreographed intermission action sequence. Without Anirudh’s music and Junior NTR’s mass screen presence, the first half would’ve been a patience tester mainly because of the drab formulaic writing! But the second half steadily goes downhill as there is no major conflict until the climax action sequence.
As pointed out earlier, Junior NTR is the lifeline of the film, his sincere performance in the emotional sequences and majestic screen presence in the action sequences make this action drama watchable. Anirudh is another big asset of the film, his background score and songs amplify many adequate moments.
Jhanvi and Saif are wasted
Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan is wasted, his villain character has no build-up and he gets minimal screen time. Jhanvi Kapoor too suffers the same fate. In recent times, we have seen filmmakers giving an edge to the female lead making them strong and multi-dimensional but in Devara, Janhvi only comes across as a glam doll. She is only there in the film as a woman to love (or lust) for Junior NTR!
The other actors in the film like Shine Tom Chacko, Kalaiyarasan, Prakash Raj, and Ajay are also under-utilised.
Rathnavelu’s cinematography is exquisite but his hands remain tied as most portions of the film were shot on the sets to support visual effects. There are also a number of underwater sequences! The viewer cannot experience the grandeur in Cattle mainly due to these factors! The action choreography is quite good but the writing completely lets down the film.
To conclude, Devara-Part 1 is a mass, action entertainer that breathes mainly because of the terrific Junior NTR and Anirudh Ravichander, who is in top form.
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