‘Devara: Part 1’ movie review: Jr NTR and Anirudh amp up the intensity in an overstretched action drama

In ‘Devara: Part 1’ Director Koratala Siva and Jr NTR mount an intense action drama, with huge help from Anirudh Ravichander, only for the later portions to lose steam in the over-zealousness to stretch the story for a sequel

Nine years after SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali – The Beginning left viewers curious about why Kattappa killed Baahubali, a spate of films have been mounted ambitiously, with scope for sequels. This has turned out to be a double-edged sword. While filmmakers get the scope to present in-depth character delineations and build the world in which the story unfolds, there has also been a tendency to overstretch the narrative. A few questions are left unanswered, with the hope that the audience will wait in anticipation of a sequel. Director Koratala Siva’s Telugu film Devara, starring NTR Jr, Saif Ali Khan and Janhvi Kapoor, is the latest to follow suit. The film, which has also been dubbed and released in multiple languages, has a few awe-inducing segments that are enhanced by Anirudh Ravichander’s vibrant music score, only to eventually make us wonder if a sequel is warranted.

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The term devara alludes to male Gods who are revered by coastal communities. Jr NTR plays Devara, a mysterious figure in a fictional coastal region adjacent to the mountains. The story begins in 1996, as India gears up to host the Cricket World Cup, and goes back in time to recount the story of Devara, who supposedly rules over the high seas. Koratala Siva does not waste time. A police officer (Ajay) witnesses something underwater that jolts him and sets the stage for a village elder, Singappa (Prakash Raj), to narrate the story of Devara.

We are led into the seaside region where four clans reside, and we learn about the erra samudram (red sea). The narrative explores human behaviour in the context of both courage and fear. Moving away from oft-explored stories of a village being oppressed and turn to a saviour to find courage, this film explores the possibility of what some people can do in the utter lack of fear. When Devara tries to differentiate between the courage that is required to live as opposed to brute courage that can kill, the moral standing of his statement is lost on several folks surrounding him, including Bhaira (Saif Ali Khan).

An engagingly mounted sequence on a ship stacked with containers establishes the stealth with which the men, led by Devara and Bhaira, operate on the high seas. Devara is aware that he isn’t a saint, though he has no idea of the ramifications of his stealth operations until a little later. He tells his young son Vara (NTR in a dual role of the grown-up son) that, unlike their ancestors who fought for freedom, he is insignificant. Devara’s moral stance becomes the prime reason for the cracks within the four clans to deepen.

The film does not delve into how Devara and Bhaira from different clans became friends and collaborators, but gradually shows how their moral compasses are different. The others around them, such as the characters played by Kalaiarasan and Tom Shine Chacko, deepen the divide between Bhaira and Devara. An elaborate Ayudha pooja sequence establishes the significance of the festival and the traditional weapons of these clans. The Telugu title is formed by the assembling of weapons of different shapes. A glimpse of a fish-shaped knife is also in sync with the coastal communities in the film.

Several scenes and segments — like the container sequence and the Ayudha pooja festivities — that have their resonance as the story progresses, rather than being standalone moments. Even the smaller moments, such as Vara casually talking about hair dye and Devara and Vara sitting on a stone hedge, have payoffs later, though some twists and turns can be spotted a mile away.