I’ll keep this one short. I had more fun outside the theatre than inside for this film.
WARNING – The following frame is something that can cause immense trauma to a lot of people who reside in Tamil Nadu for the particular reason that said frame is forever etched in our memory as a supposed mass scene from a certain star’s 50th film that ended being rock bottom for his fans. Thank you.
FDFS
Of all the FDFS films I’ve watched, this one was historical. For the simple reason that my friend took me along with him to watch it at 1 AM. Cutouts bathed in milk and beer, firecrackers being lit from every side and the debris falling on all of us. Of course, our friendly neighborhood cops charging with a lathi at anyone causing this nuisance were also present!
That’s, apparently, very normal for a Jr. NTR film release. And a toned-down routine I hear. I legit had to climb over the compound walls of the theatre to get in amidst the chaos and sea of people barging through the gates. A slight misstep, and you’ll be stamped on. But, nothing untoward happened. We got in and out safely.
The Rajamouli Curse
By tradition, any hero’s first film following a collaboration with SSR has to fail commercially and critically. In my opinion, however, Devara did not live up to the curse and the movie itself was decent. A lot of you might disagree. But that’s where Aniruddh comes in, as always.
All Hail, All Hail The Tiger!
The film offers nothing new in terms of story or technique. We have ourselves an over-the-top commercial story with a larger-than-life chieftain who wants what is best for his village. We have his son who does not want to take up his mantle, a betrayal from a Bollywood star playing the villain, and Prakash Raj narrating the flashbacks! There’s also Jahnvi Kapoor, strictly as eye candy, with her repeating the same 3-4 dialogues and hardly 4 minutes of screen time, minus the song! Welcome to the south Jahnvi – it’s not all that different!
Oh, oh.! We also have our homegrown Kalaiarasan who dies in simply every role he does without reason. He dies here too, but let’s say there was a reason!
What Worked?
Despite all this, NTR runs a one-man show and pulls it off quite nicely. He’s performed to his best, I could not find any difference between the one I saw here and in RRR. The action sequences, at least in the first half (before they got repetitive), were nicely done and gave a big-fight feel. And when I say big-fight, I mean like an anime-style fight. Cause men go through cinder blocks and it’s only the blocks that are broken. Men stand up without bleeds. Not sarcastic. When you watch a certain kind of film, you must accept and judge it for what it tells you it’s gonna be.
What Didn’t?
Saif. Big-time miss, at least for me. On two counts at least. One was the dubbed voice. I just could not stand it. The other was that at no point did he ever feel like a legitimate threat to Devara. He’s vile and vicious alright, but a threat? Not at all. I’ve always maintained that in any story, the heel makes the face. If you don’t have a villain you want to see taken down, you’re simply not going to root for the good guy.
Devara was Superman here. And Saif was a joker (just not The Joker!) who’s every plan failed.
Also, I know they have a part 2 planned, but the film starts with a team of cops looking for a particular guy that leads them to this story. After the first 5 minutes though, you do not hear of this guy. It was a loose end that they simply did not have to open up in this film if it was going to only matter in the next. Because I guarantee you, at least half the audience would not know who “Yethi” (the guy the cops were after) is by the time the film ended.
Will I be able to watch it again?
After watching a supposed masterpiece that came out earlier this year called Indian 2, a question I ask myself after every film is will I be able to watch this film again on OTT if I am bored out of my mind? Indian 2, I would not. But Devara gets a pass. It was decent, if you don’t mind over-the-top kind of films!
