Deva Review - Satisfactory stuff that needed more smartness!

Ashwin Ram

Deva is an action thriller starring Shahid Kapoor and Pooja Hegde in the lead roles. The film is directed by Rosshan Andrrews and the background music is scored by Jakes Bejoy.

Premise:

Shahid Kapoor is a fierce cop who has just resolved a murder case. When he is about to report it to his higher officials, he meets with a bad accident in which he loses his memory. He starts his investigation once again all over from the beginning.

Writing/ Direction:

The pre-release predictions are right and the source material is Malayalam film Mumbai Police. The core story is very strong which has a great revelation at the end. Shahid Kapoor’s character arc is excellent, which pretty much drives the entire film. The justification as to why the hero has a memory issue is perfect as well, has more to it than just to create curiosity among the audience. Despite getting the basics right, the flow suffers to be compelling enough, and it’s because of the truckload of writing errors in the screenplay. The narrative lacks clarity, zero depth in the gangster character who is vital to the script. It is evident that the team has gotten confused to execute the film from the director's point of view or through the protagonist‘s. There is a particular key point which the hero does not remember, but it is showcased to us that too in a vividly predictable manner. Also there are absolutely no challenges to the central character in resolving the case in spite of lacking memory, certain characters voluntarily appear and keep throwing these crucial hints, the deviations from the truth which are usually placed in thrillers don’t appeal to be organic here. With respect to the investigation angle, the ones close to the interval are decent and the sequence involving a sharp-shooter in the second half is very intriguing as the character gives some intelligent inputs about the modus operandi. Many commercial loopholes exist as well, Pooja Hegde’s character gets randomly absconded at many places. The hero introduction and opening song are poorly placed, plus the interval block is also weak, also the entire politician angle is overdone and the film wastes a lot of time on it. An outstanding backstory with a tinge of emotion and the big climax reveal does the trick, kind of hides away many flaws with its captivating subject.

Performances:

Crazy performance by Shahid Kapoor, he hits the bulls-eye portraying the psychic cop role. He truly owned his role and portrayed style, arrogance, etc. Dummy role for Pooja Hegde, she appears for hardly five scenes, promises to do something big but disappoints contributing nothing to the flow. Splendid role for Pavail Gulati, he gracefully brought the friendship angle on-screen.

Technicalities:

 Songs aren’t impressive, no big scope as well. Jakes Bejoy’s background score is energetic, he has maintained a peppy mood in the first half and an intense one in the latter, abiding what the situation demanded. Visuals are a mixed bag, absolutely no complaint about the cinematographer’s work, his framing, camera movement and execution was great. VFX quality backfired big time, fire involving portions looked fake and the lame green mat shots spoiled the originality. Many narrative alterations could have been done at the edit table for the betterment of the output, underwhelming work on the whole. Powerful stunt sequences, the fights are realistically choreographed and offer the commercial punch at the same time.

Bottomline

Stylish treatment laced with Shahid Kapoor’s rocking act, the internal reasoning and the dramatic twist at the end is sure to resonate. With a crisper runtime and exhilarating investigations in the screenplay, this could have landed as a solid thriller.

Rating - 2.75/ 5