Devara

gore

• Cast: Jr. NTR, Saif Ali Khan, Meka Srikanth…
• Director, Writer: Koratala Siva
• Music Director: Anirudh Ravichander

Devara, one of the leaders of a coastal town, becomes a vigilante to prevent weapon smuggling. When questions around Devara’s life arise, other leaders attempt to restart the smuggling business.

The story setup with a subplot about a potential threat to the Cricket World Cup was dragged out. It was made to make way for a sequel. The plot about Vara and Devara is predictable and flat.

• Direction:  Once again, elevations of a masculine protagonist dictate the direction, pace and story of the movie. This, unsurprisingly, ends up being the movie’s downfall. The artistic choice for Vara’s character to suddenly modulate his voice differently after the audience finds out he’s killed people is comedic.
• Acting: Jr NTR’s performance was odd and uncomfortable. Stiff shoulders and a furrowed brow overtook any kind of expressions he could have emoted. Jr NTR deepening his voice distracts from scenes. Srikanth gave the best performance in this movie, outshining his costars in the Ayudha pooja song. Saif Ali Khan appeared misplaced in this role.
• Cinematography: Camera work has definitely seen better days with odd close up shots, random shots of people in between dialogue, and unnecessary movement through and around objects.
• Production Design: The costume department added the most impressive detailing to the visuals. The clothing and costumes were well done. The jewelry utilized also added an interesting touch to the whole look of the characters.
  Set design could have used some help. Vara’s home looks artificial. The placements of the trees and skeletons on the beach made it less believable. While the songs had beautiful sets, not sure if they made anything better.
• Editing: The movie would have become more interesting with a significant amount of trimming. For example, during the Ayudha Pooja, there were repetitive shots of the frenzied audience in between shots of the actual fights. With each shot, the impact of their emotion became less and less because it was overused.
• Music: The music behind Bhaira is engaging. The reality however is that the movie did not match the grandiosity that the music suggested.
• Dialogues: The writing was very flat, boring, and artificial. Not much thought was put into the characters or depth of the scene as Devara’s/Vara’s elevations directed most of the dialogue throughout the movie.

• From the first time Devara is mentioned in the movie, the characters continue to mention how Devara is scary but that emotion is not conveyed in the 2 hours and 58 minute runtime.
• Casting: Saif Ali Khan was not the best choice for this role. While it was a sincere attempt to attract wider audiences, I’m not sure what they intended this audience to enjoy out of this movie. They were self-aware of the lack of substance and used Jahnvi Kapoor to hopefully keep audiences from leaving.
• Vara’s rude treatment of his family doesn’t make sense. Distancing himself from his father’s ideologies could ensure no one finds out Devara died. However, there were instances that He shouts at his mother after he himself visited his grandmother disguised as Devara. Why? While he may want to stop his family from waiting for Devara, the intensity of those interactions is apathetic.
• This entire movie rides on the underlying backstory that the four groups have specific and specialized skills for work/war at sea. In multiple instances, their skills fall short, convenient for the protagonist, of course
  • When Bhaira plans to murder Devara, the disguise of one of the men (mud) is what wakes Devara up, ruining their surprise ploy
    • During that same fight, multiple men are seen doing nothing in the background – unless Devara was fatally injured beyond recovery (which also explains why Vara kills him – to continue the legacy of keeping the seas free of weapon smuggling) this fight makes no sense
    • Additionally, for being so skilled, no one thinks of drugging, if not poisoning Devara during the wedding before the fight to ensure his death
    • Yes, the approach of the people crawling through the sand is frightening to watch but why are there people still crawling after the fight starts?
  • When Bhaira and his men are on the lookout near Jogula’s house waiting for Devara to appear – they all stay on one side of the house. Not one person is looks behind her house – even with them not being familiar with the layout of the house, this is silly
  • Rayappa’s village knowing of the annual Ayudha Pooja chooses not to train anyone for the fight for years on end. Rowers, supposedly of their caliber, have strong cores and arm strength. Yet they are portrayed as weak people who need to be saved.
  • During Devara’s last smuggling trip, they are caught by the coast guard when the underwater swimmers come up for air. The coast guard boats are very different, they’re motorboats. Yet the swimmers come to the surface right next to the coast guard boat. They didn’t even try to hide themselves by their own boats.
• Believability was a big joke in this movie
  • Devara multiple times with grand music is shown pulling large containers and boats but the ropes are not taut – unless this village is also skilled at telekinesis, not impressive.
    • In the visual of him pushing four containers off a cliff, the containers move in uncanny unison even though he is not in direct contact with all of them.
  • The task force chief (Ajay) and Singappa (Prakash Raj) are on a boat seemingly far from shore. Ajay’s character dives with no equipment and finds skeletons tied to the bottom of the sea. He immediately comes back to the surface with no decompression sickness. Maybe he should join the smuggling team.
  • There are multiple conversations (for example with the coast guard before they get caught) during which characters speak calmly. Realistically they wouldn’t be able to hear each other when at sea.
  • As Devara and Bhaira work together to prevent a knife dropping from making sound, Bhaira jumps against a container to propel himself.
  • Devara soaring out of the water with dolphins did not make the intended impression. It set the scene for how ridiculous the rest of the movie was going to be.
• Theatricality was taken very seriously in the making of this movie
  • The conversation between the children of the village leaders is cringeworthy.
  • Lightning in the form of an X and blood in the air lining up with the crescent moon during the attack on Devara might have been exciting if the audience connected with Devara and were rooting for his character.
  • Devara’s interactions with villagers are awkward – take the mother of the boy murdered – those conversations were not about her or her son, they were setups to elevate Devara and alleviate any negative feelings towards his stake in smuggling weapons.
    • The forced interaction with the coast guard when he realizes the violence he has a hand in is also forced and artificial.
  • There is a moment when Thangam “falls” in response to Vara refusing to fight in the Ayudha Pooja. Rayappa, who is right there, just stands there and doesn’t react to his own daughter possibly fainting.
  • When Vara joins Bhaira’s team with Kunjara – why does a shark need to come out? Yes, the fire symbolizes Devara and that could have passed as plausible. The shark skeleton and this shark were immature additions.
  • When the point of drama is drama with no strong foundation or context, scenes like the first smuggling sequence happen – when containers being pushed off and dropped into the ocean call no one’s attention, why would a knife dropping on deck?
• The chemistry between Jr NTR and Jahnvi is bad in both the songs they have together.
• The proportions throughout multiple fight sequences are off. Devara inconsistently appears larger and smaller than objects.
• It makes no sense that Devara and Rayappa don’t foresee anything bad coming from an alliance with Bhaira – this never came up or was considered at all.
• For being a young character, Thangam was hypersexualized in the way she was written and depicted.
  • Her entry is in the shower
  • Her pallu continuously changes positions, placed revealingly not for any functionality
• We have still not moved past clunky exposition – take Devara’s mother not eating until he is home and Vara not sleeping until Devara tells him a story. These are things all the characters already know. Explaining details already known to the characters is a fine talent. Just like the rest of this movie, it is heavy-handed.
• This small population of people have no use for their extreme physical skillset after Independence. Why do they continue to train years and years after those skills don’t serve them?

No.

• The women of course were only cast to be saved or to fawn over Devara/Vara
  • Thangam’s whole character is irritating
  • Devara’s wife and mother don’t contribute much to the story
  • Valli (Himaja) makes awkward comments about wanting Vara
  • Rayappa’s sister is there for the coup storyline and to elevate Devara
  • Vara’s sister is only present when harassed and a couple scenes before that to introduce her
• Favorite moments:
  • Watching Devara swing from the skies like George of the Jungle
  • When I realize we never find out why there are skeletons tied to the bottom of the ocean and Singappa is the worst and creepiest storyteller of all time

• Movie Rating: 3/10
• Maguva Impact Scale: -2