Koratala Siva’s Devara: Part 1, set in a fictitious village by the sea, stars Telugu star Jr NTR in a double role alongside actors from the Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam industries, including Saif Ali Khan, Janhvi Kapoor, Kalaiyarasan, Prakash Raj, Shine Tom Chacko and Shruti Marathe. Made in Telugu and dubbed into several languages including Hindi, Devara: Part 1 has the lofty ambition of becoming the latest “pan-Indian film”.
Jr NTR plays Devara, a Neptune-esque guardian of the seas, as fierce on the water as he is on land. His ancestors were proud warriors. Circumstances that woosh by in a flashback reveal that Devara and his community have been reduced to smuggling to stay afloat.
Devara’s word is law for his people. But Devara has an Ashoka-like moment of truth about the error of his ways, deeply annoying his rival Bhaira (Saif Ali Khan).
Bhaira may not be the only one who finds Devara’s overnight saintliness grating. Siva’s film has no character development to speak of. From Jr NTR’s impossibly noble hero to Saif Ali Khan’s glowering antagonist, Janhvi Kapoor’s oomphy rural belle to Prakash Raj’s gnomic village elder, the movie is groaning with formulaic character types.
Part 1 ends on a Baahubali-like moment of revelation that anybody paying attention during the 178-minute slog can see coming. Having neglected to create an immersive story that might be even halfway surprising, the handsomely produced movie at least puts some effort into its production design, fight sequences and visual effects.
But a handful of good-looking underwater action scenes do not a movie make. Sharks lurk in the waters traversed by Devara and later Vara. Grandiose rather than grand, boring rather than beguiling, Devara: Part 1 may mark the moment at which the potential of the “pan-Indian” film is sliding into decline and is jumping the shark.
