The success of last year’s Bimbisara still augurs well for Kalyan Ram, despite the poor show of his Amigos earlier this year. The choice of a British-era story has worked well in creating interest in this film. Samyuktha also lends support here. Pushing all these factors is producer Abhishek Nama, who raked up controversy by removing director Navin Medaram from the movie and declaring himself the chief architect of the film. Has the gamble worked? Let’s see.
Devil is all about spies, double agents working for the British or the Indian National Army headed by Subhash Chandra Bose. It is all taking place at the time when Bose is contemplating returning to India, and the British are working hard to catch him. The central stage of this drama is Rasapadu, a coastal town in Madras Presidency, with a British secret agent named Devil (Kalyan Ram) running a bigger operation pretending to solve the murder of a Zamindar’s daughter. Playing other characters of interest are Samyuktha, Vashistha Simha, Satya, Shafi, Ester, Ajay and Malavika Nair.
Devil takes time to establish various characters surrounding the murder. The characters are randomly thrown into the story with no time given to the audience to get invested in the proceedings. The hero also enters this scenario, slightly raising curiosity with the help of Satya, suggesting larger drama at play.
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The romantic angle is forcibly inserted in the story, as a drama within the drama. Due to this layered nature of the story, the connection with the characters never takes root. Then the murder investigation is left behind, and the film moves to a higher level of national fervour and freedom struggle. And this larger angle, too, runs on predictable lines, led by an all-powerful, one-man army that will surely defeat all armies that might stand against it.
There is no sense of historical accuracy or even the pretence of taking history seriously here. It is all about a typical mass hero on a rampage in a historical setting. All the lead characters are paper-thin in this setting.
Satya briefly entertains. A song sung by Sid Sriram is good. A song featuring Elrom Nourozi, though visually inaccurate in this historical setting, is well picturised. The camera work is also good. The production values are rich. The producer has spent well on the project, but the basic premise lacks any sincerity. Srikanth Vissa credited with the story, screenplay and dialogues fails to impress. Not withstanding the credit, the direction has no imagination.
Kalyan Ram is sincere in a film lacking originality or depth. Samyuktha is just there as the character. Malavika Nair impresses in the brief screen time.
Devil is strictly for fans of Kalyan Ram.
Devil movie cast: Kalyan Ram, Samyuktha Menon, Malavika Nair, Ajay, Sita, Srinivas Aiyangar
Devil movie director: Abhishek Nama
Devil movie rating: 1.5 stars
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