Devara: Part 1

Koratala Siva's direction is a mixed bag. He handles the scale and grandeur with panache. He also gives supreme mass treatment to the film and presents Jr NTR in a way that his fans would love. A few scenes will lead to claps like Devara saving the coast guard and Devara throwing the container down the hill. The intermission point is when the film goes on a high. It's also creatively executed. But trouble arises as soon as the second half begins. The romantic track is forced while the track of Vara (Jr NTR) is not as exciting as that of Devara. The twist is interesting but it's also predictable. There are also jumps in the narrative and in short, it turns into a messy affair.

Any major movie that has Part 1 in its title will translate to unfinished business. Only it's not due to the cliffhanger moment that Devara: Part 1 arrives at after three hours of slow-motion savagery and bombastic heroics but a glaring lack of end goal in Koratala Siva's generic spectacle. Unable to fully lure us into its furore or make sense of its ambiguity, the curse of the sequel relying on the first one to succeed is fast setting a worrying precedent of fragmented filmmaking. World building is of little consequence if the larger objectives remain unclear and Devara's hazy approach tells it doesn't wish to count its chickens before they hatch. Which is why you'll never understand why India hosting the cricket World Cup has anything to do with a cop's pursuit of a fabled seaside superhero on a remote island far, far away from the mainland.