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‘Devara’ Review: N. T. Rama Rao Jr.’s ‘RRR’ Follow-Up Turns Out to Be a Taxing Watch
The first half of Koratala Siva's pirate action saga 'Devara' is over-reliant on its Telugu superstar NTR, and doesn't bring much of its own to table.
It relies heavily on the superstar’s charisma — to the point of casting him in two roles — but director Koratala Siva seldom imbues his pirate village saga with the gravity needed to ground the actor’s poise and persona. With this extraneous context out of the way, the film finally kicks off for real with a story set 12 years in the past (and with hints of its own flashbacks to centuries prior), establishing a relatively isolated island community whose de facto chief, the seafaring Devara (NTR), leads his men in nocturnal raids of shipping vessels at the behest of rich smugglers who would rather sneak their illicit goods into India instead of dealing with authorities. This leads to perhaps the movie’s only fun, thematically cogent and visually exciting fight scene, during which Bhaira and most of the village warriors attempt to kill members of the Indian Coast Guard who capture them mid-heist, only for Devara to swing into action as a means to prevent further bloodshed.
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