Devara Review – Koratala Siva’s much anticipated film with Jr NTR in the lead has a well thought through premise that offers opportunity to explore newer setting, which in turn lends itself to some amazing backdrops, especially the sea and the hills, and some crazily stunning action sequences
– writes Rajeshwari Kalyanam
The protectors of the sea from the hills, who once lived as warriors and then patriots fighting the British, stopping them from taking away Indian wealth were neglected post independence. The descendants are left behind to fend for themselves and suffer in poverty.
They live in the area amidst Ratnagiri hills called Erra Samudram for a reason – the sea here has been witness to a whole lot of bloodbath. The people here are from four different villages each of them boasting of a particular skill that makes them rule the sea together.
In order to earn money they help smugglers retrieve their goods from ships and deliver to them via sea before it reaches the coast.
And each of them has a leader who may all be helping the smugglers but not all of them share the same sentiment towards the work they do…
Prominent among them are Bhairava and Devara
Bhairava (Saif Ali Khan), who has no scruples to even kill the innocent if they obstruct his work, and he has no problem to help Muruga (Murali Sharma) smuggle to India weapons used for destruction. All he needs is money. But he is forced to listen to Devara against his wishes.
On the other hand, is Devara (Jr NTR), who feels bad about helping smugglers, and once he realises the smuggled goods are actually weapons, he vows to never allow anyone from their side help in illegal business. He instructs his people to instead do fishing for a living.
Yet again not everyone is happy. The film is about Devara and what he does in order to instil fear in the people of the four clans of Erra Samdram in order to dissuade them to take to the sea for smuggled goods.
The story of Devara is narrated by Prakash Raj – Singappa who has seen it all and on the other side listening to him patiently is police officer who comes looking for missing smugglers even as the story of Errasamudram moves from father Devara to the son. Vara – Devara’s son is identical in looks when he grows up (Jr NTR’s dual role) but does not share the grit and strength of his father.
Koratala Siva’s much anticipated Devara has a well thought through premise that offers opportunity to explore newer setting, which in turn lends itself to some amazing backdrops, especially the sea and the hills, and some crazily stunning action sequences.
Cinematography by Ratnavelu, and background score by Anirudh Ravichander are important for the film that relies on its technical team to elevate the scenes. So, you end up watching an engaging action drama – with the stunt master ensuring the fights are as engaging as the drama. However the songs are not so catchy.
The film boasts of a huge cast including Talluri Rameswari, Srikanth, Shruthi Marathe who deliver flawless performances as do the hero and the anti hero – Jr NTR who shines through it all and Saif Ali Khan.
Meanwhile there is Janhvi Kapoor who has been choosing amazing performance focused roles in Hindi – but somehow has chosen a decorative character in Devara. The costume designers and stylists have ensured that she looks like an odd woman out on the canvas. That she does not have much scope to perform and the director did not choose to add any romantic scenes with the lead pair is very disappointing to the audience who have so long been excited about the combination happening for the first time in Telugu films. In short, she does not contribute to the story at all and does not even have considerable screen space even in a purely glamour avtar she gets to don for the film.
The film Devara starts with action, and is padded up with enough action sequences to take the story effortlessly to 3 hours odd length without offering an ending – and hence watch out for Devara 2.
One can’t help but place the blame of this sequel business upon Rajamouli. Now, film makers are increasingly indulging in their vices and not caring enough about a tightly written script – and the result is you have a long film – despite which there are so many loose ends, which are conveniently left to be dealt with in Part 2. When there is a producer to foot the extravagance and audience ready to pay over Rs 400 for a ticket – then who are we to complain.
Devara Review
Verdict – The stunning visuals, amazingly choreographed action sequences and the gripping drama in the first half make up for the faults in the latter half of the film.
*MUST WATCH*
Rating- 3.0
