Movie Review: Devadas

   3/5

| | 2018-09-27

CAST

Nagarjuna, Nani, Rashmika, Akanksha, Kunal Kapoor, Murali Sharma and Others

Director - Sriram Adittya
Producer - Aswini Dutt
Banner - Vyjayanthi Movies
Music - Mani Sharma

Nagarjuna and Nani coming together on screen made Devadas a movie to watch out for. A crowd pulling title and fun-filled promos ensured of unlimited entertainment. But did young director Sriram Aditya live up to the expectations and made good use of the combination?

What is it about?

Deva (Nagarjuna), a mafia don is injured in a gunfight and comes to a small clinic of Das (Nani) for treatment. A friendship develops between them in spite of their conflicting ideologies and lifestyles. Das tries to transform Deva into a good man by uniting him with the woman he loved in the past. Das introduces Deva as Vikram to Jahnavi (Akanksha), a journalist. Meanwhile, an undercover cop named Pooja (Rashmika) is after Das to find whereabouts of Deva.

Performances:

Nagarjuna is the main highlight of the film. He is a perfect fit to play a stylish mafia don and he looked super handsome. He looked like a brother too much younger Nani. Director did well to utilize Nagarjuna's on-screen image. Nani as a simpleton is another asset to the movie. His natural performance will make us fall in love with Das's character. Combination scenes between Nag and Nani are the biggest plus for Devadas and they together shoulder the film in spite of a weak script.

Heroines have miniscule roles to play in the story. Even talented Rashmika has been wasted in an underdeveloped role. There are many popular actors playing the supporting roles. Kunal Kapoor is stylish as the mafia don and Satya as Nani's assistant provides good humor in parts. Murali Sharma is apt as a police officer. Sharath Kumar played a guest role.

Technicalities:

Sriram Aditya's did well in making it look slick. He is a very good technician who knows his craft well. The stylish presentation stands one of the movie's biggest strengths. He played to the strengths of his leads and handled the comedy part well. However, he couldn't run the show grippingly after the intermission point.

Mani Sharma's music is adequate. Paduchandam song is good on screen. Background score is very good. The cinematography is fantastic. Editing is not up to the mark as there are many episodes that drag on and increases the runtime. Production values are superb. The film is made on a high budget with quality maintained throughout.

Thumbs Up:

Nagarjuna

Nani

Entertaining first half

Thumbs Down:

Uneven screenplay in second half

Pre-climax

Lack of catchy songs

Analysis:

Devadas gets its basics right by casting the right actors in right roles. Both the characters played by Nagarjuna and Nani are tailor-made for them. Writers have done a fine job in designing the characters as per the strengths of the actors. Also, scenes between Nagarjuna and Nani have been written well. Their combination scenes are a treat to watch with both the actors sharing amazing chemistry. Not just the comedy scenes, but also emotional scenes have come out well with both the actors in top form.

With a lot of emphasis on the lead characters, writers have ignored to set up an intriguing premise. Although Nag and Nani have lit up their combo scenes, Devadas struggles to move from one point to other due to the lack of strong script. Everything else has been half-baked including the important romance tracks. After a shaky start, things turn entertaining with the introduction of Deva to Das. A lot of fun is generated because of their conflicting characters. The film maintains a humorous tone in spite of the action setting.

The second half also starts on a lighter note but turns emotional after a while. The pace slows down with the redemption scenes of Deva. Pre climatic sequences look outright silly with illogical scenes involving police and media. Climax also is predictable, but the final scene ends it on a good note. On a whole, Devadas is a fun film that mainly focuses on highlighting the chemistry of its lead actors. Nagarjuna and Nani make it a watchable fare in spite of its weaknesses. There is potential to do wonders with the combination, but all Sriram Aditya offers is a time pass flick that has nothing much besides the charm of its leads.

Final Verdict: Time Pass!