N.T. Rama Rao Jr. in Tollywood Action Drama

Devara: Part 1 is ambitious, exhausting and so high-decibel that when it’s finished, after nearly three hours, you might need to pause and reorient to reality. Which is both a good thing and a bad thing. 

In interviews, writer-director Koratala Siva has said that the story is set in the 1980s and 1990s. But there is little of the film, which was shot in Telugu and dubbed in four languages, including Hindi and Tamil, to suggest this. The world of Devara seems to have sprung entirely from his imagination, where the rules are flexible.

The narrative transports us to a remote coastal region with four clans who participate in an annual combat, battling each other like gladiators. The winner’s village then keeps the altar of weapons until the next contest. The population wield torches and guns, but there are no schools or hospitals. This is a land of warriors, and the sea is so often drenched in blood that it has come to be known as Laal Samundar (red sea).

These communities worship weapons, and this movie worships a thundering, over-the-top heroism that adheres to a narrow, old-school definition of masculinity. Devara, played by N.T. Rama Rao Jr., is a benevolent, noble head of his tribe, but when necessary, he’s also capable of annihilating dozens of men. His legend was established when, as a teenager, he killed a shark and dragged its body to the shore. The skeleton still stands there, a testimony to his superheroic strength.

When it seems that his son, Vara (also played by Rama Rao Jr.), hasn’t inherited his skills in combat, other characters are quick to taunt him about his bloodline. It’s clear that a real man is one who can kill, lead, protect his family and drink copiously. At one point, a male character rides a shark like a horse. At another, two men fight each other until dawn. This is not a picture afraid of exaggeration.

The women have much less fun, as they are mostly submissive or suffering. Mothers and wives either wait while their men go to battle or weep when they come back dead. The heroine — Thangam, played by Janhvi Kapoor — spends most of what little screen time she has talking about marriage. Another female character, who is visually impaired, is so ashamed of being a burden on her brother that she attempts to kill herself. Yet another is murdered in a rage. In short, they are expendable. Even Devara’s mother, played by Zarina Wahab, doesn’t pack any emotional weight.

The film is formulaic wine in a new bottle — with the help of VFX, Siva creates an otherworldly environment. The sea plays a key role, and some of the action on it and in it is thrilling. But the characters and plot aren’t innovative enough. Like the KGF franchise and Salaar: Part 1 — Ceasefire, Devara: Part 1 is structured as a tale that one character is telling another, and Siva constantly uses a voiceover to connect the dots because there are just too many of them. 

Through the first half, he manages to keep the many elements moving smoothly. There is an early stand-out sequence in which we see what these men are capable of. The nearly dialogue-free action scene benefits enormously from Anirudh Ravichander’s terrific background music. The dense plot builds up to an impactful interval block in which Devara changes the rules of the game.  

But in the second half, Siva seems to lose his grip. The story flatlines, especially with the arrival of village belle Thangam — while her arc is supposed to add a sprinkling of humor and romance, it only weighs down the narrative. Which, by now, is bursting with so many grunting, burly men baying for blood that even attentive viewers might have trouble keeping track of who is whose son, or who wants to kill whom.

Rama Rao Jr. and Siva’s first film together was the 2016 blockbuster Janatha Grage, in which the actor played an environmentalist who can kill as needed. He brings the same righteous rage to the two roles he plays here, and his conviction goes a long way toward making the most outrageous sequences palatable. He also dances with joy and skill. He’s well matched by Saif Ali Khan, who has become Hindi cinema’s most delicious bad man. As Bhaira, he channels his own Omkara performance and delivers. Even when he’s playing a villager, there is a sophistication to his evil.

But Devara: Part 1 nevertheless sags because none of the other characters have enough meat to them. Prakash Raj, as the village elder, is on autopilot, as are Murali Sharma, Abhimanyu Singh and Shine Tom Chacko. The narrative flatness is accentuated by the a synthetic-looking blue-gray visual palette. In too many scenes, it’s obvious where the set stops and the green screen begins. The movie ends with a predictable climactic twist. Hopefully Part 2 is where this story, like its leading man, actually soars.