Devara: Part 1 Review: Lacks Energy and Excitement
By Pavethran Batmanathen
It’s difficult for a film to hide the fact that its creators didn’t fully think things through. Bhaira (Saif Ali Khan) and his crew of semi-aquatic killers are lying in wait for their enemy, Devara (N.T. Rama Rao Jr), to show up.
Although Devara has been away from the village for years, they’re betting on him returning to see his dying mother. Sure enough, he does—slipping into his home through the back door and leaving the same way. Bhaira may not be the sharpest strategist, but even he should know that watching both doors would have been a smarter move when you’re this close to catching the man who wrecked your life.
The film tries to offer an explanation for this scene later on, but only ends up making it more confusing. Eventually, it makes you wonder if writer-director Koratala Siva cares enough about making the story consistent, or if he’s just satisfied with tossing in sharks, wrestling matches, pirate raids, and NTR pulling off a superhero landing pose in the hopes that everything falls into place.
Devara and Bhaira are powerful figures in a coastal village—not exactly pirates but close enough. They smuggle goods from ships right under the coast guard’s nose, getting paid by arms traffickers. Their relationship, which is more like that of colleagues than friends, takes a turn when Devara realizes the damage they’ve been doing (did he never wonder what was inside those giant containers?).
He decides to lay down a new rule: no more sea trips unless they’re for fishing. Bhaira, already resentful after losing to Devara in a village competition, swears revenge.Then there’s Vara, Devara’s son, also played by NTR Jr. He looks just like his father, except with shorter hair. Where Devara is brave and decisive, Vara is timid.
Yet NTR struggles to convincingly distinguish between the two. From concept to performance, it’s one of the most uninspired and unconvincing double roles ever seen.At its core, Devara: Part 1 tells a simple tale: two close allies become enemies, and the son steps in to take over where his father left off.
Siva doesn’t seem particularly interested in exploring the environment or the characters’ motivations. The movie runs for 178 minutes, not because it has enough material to justify the length, but simply because films of this genre are expected to be long.
For example, Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire (2023), another Telugu franchise opener, was gritty and sprawling but covered a lot more ground in terms of story and setting. Devara stretches out a story that could be summarized in just a few sentences, trying to pad it out unnecessarily.
The film is at its most intriguing when the action takes risks. There’s a quirky enjoyment in an attack involving a shark, and a forest chase that’s a thrilling blur of fallen leaves. The standout, though, is when Devara is ambushed on a beach by thugs emerging from the ocean, slithering towards him like some primordial creatures. As Devara fights them, their tattered clothes ripple in slow motion like seaweed.
In one scene, blood arcs from his sickle to form a perfect crescent moon: this kind of wild, poetic violence is where Telugu cinema shines at its best.Janhvi Kapoor’s character, Thangam, exists solely to talk about Vara, which, while not ideal, is still a slightly better fate than most female characters in Telugu cinema receive (the other women in Devara include self-sacrificing mothers, a blind sister, and a sex worker who is swiftly killed off).
Khan, who brought flair to his villainous role in Tanhaji (2020), does what’s asked of him here, which sadly isn’t much. Prakash Raj and Shine Tom Chacko are clearly just going through the motions for a paycheck.Overall, Devara: Part 1 is a lackluster attempt. It’s hard to imagine there will be another installment, given how half-hearted this one feels.
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