This Telugu-language movie was guaranteed major international distribution once N. T. Rama Rao Jr. agreed to star. After all, he was half of the leading duo in RRR, the Indian movie which so dramatically punched through to an international audience. Yet Devara Part 1 is not designed for an international audience, not at all. But the clear aim of writer-director Koratala Siva is to beat the Yanks at their own game, which in this case is “aquatic superhero.” Unfortunately the movie’s misogyny and incredibly convoluted plot are the worst of Indian cinema, which means this will get the international reception it deserves.
Since the British left, four neighboring rural seaside villages have built a fearsome reputation for sea piracy. In the modern age this means sneaking containers off moving cargo ships with nothing but their own strength, courage, skill and some ropes. The villages also meet once a year to select a new mutual headman through no-holds-barred cage matches. Devara (Mr. Rama Rao Jr.) is usually the leader thanks to his hyper-masculine fighting skills. This really irritates his counterpart Bhaira (Saif Ali Khan), a man covered in knife tattoos, but they do their dastardly work very well together until Devara has a change of heart. Apparently smuggling weapons is bad? Devara has this epiphany on the deck of an Indian coast guard cutter, where he suddenly and single-handledly prevents his pirate friends from killing the patriotic men trying to do good for mother India. Then Devara shoves some shipping containers off a cliff by himself and announces that the piracy jig is up. Everyone will do honest work as fishermen and like it, or he’ll slaughter them and their families. And this Bhaira cannot stand.
The decades pass, in which Bhaira spends time raising an army of bloodthirsty young men to continue the smuggling game, and Devara’s son Vara (also Mr. Rama Rao Jr.) grows up to be kind of a disappointment. Devara as an adolescent once ripped apart a shark with his bare hands, while Vara can only find a dead shark and claim he killed it himself. The trouble is Vara’s position as Devara’s son is so promising all the village girls are in love with him, and until the most beautiful of them, Thangam (Jahnvi Kapoor), makes up her mind, no one else in the villages can get married. Thangam spends a lot of time in the bath and telling her friends she wants a man who can make her “erupt and overflow.” Thangam is also one of the very few women in the entire film with a name. The others spend their time getting their skulls bashed in, nursemaiding, weeping over their male relatives, or being threatened with rape. And if that wasn’t heteronormative enough, when the young army sits around polishing their swords together there’s no undertone. It’s not pleasant, and it’s so sincerely meant it’s not remotely funny.
So why see Devara Part 1? Well. Mr. Rama Rao Jr. is a capable actor whether in regular movement or crowd-pleasing slow-motion. The many, many, many fight scenes are beautifully choreographed with equal attention paid to mood as well as action. At one point Devara runs someone through with a sword, picks the guy up, and throws him at a second enemy so the other guy is stabbed with the same sword too. Certainly this kind of spectacle is fresher in the West, where the aquatic superheroes must spend their time pretending in front of green screens. At least here there are physical sets and a real sense of physical exertion in the fights. But that’s a pretty weak selling point for anyone who isn’t already invested in this kind of movie. It’s also jarring that every time a shark is onscreen a little label pops up in the corner to reassure us that it is CGI. Were there six Sharknado movies for nothing?
One final thing: the movie has been planned as a two-parter, but the ending is as definitive as could be. With a little restructuring of the second half the plot twist could have been a devastating shock, making this a much more intriguing examination of how reputations can crush as well as elevate. This would add urgency to Thangam’s choice and also to Bhaira’s bloodlust. But apparently the wishes of the box office mean there will be a second half to Devara Part 1 no matter what. There’s just not much reason to see it.
Devara Part 1 recently screened in theaters.
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