Nine years after SS Rajamoulis Baahubali – The Beginning Viewers were curious as to why Kattappa killed Baahubali. A number of films have been ambitiously shot and have room for sequels. This turns out to be a double-edged sword. While filmmakers are given the opportunity to present detailed character descriptions and shape the world in which the story unfolds, there is also a tendency to overstretch the narrative. A few questions remain unanswered in the hope that audiences are eagerly awaiting a sequel. Director Koratala Siva’s Telugu film Devarastarring NTR Jr, Saif Ali Khan and Janhvi Kapoor, is the latest to follow suit. The film, which has also been dubbed and released in multiple languages, has some impressive segments backed by Anirudh Ravichander’s lively music, only to ultimately leave us wondering whether a sequel is warranted.

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The term dEvara alludes to male gods worshiped by coastal communities. Jr NTR plays Devara, a mysterious character in a fictional coastal region next to the mountains. The story begins in 1996 as India prepares to host the Cricket World Cup and goes back in time to tell the story of Devara, who is said to rule the high seas. Koratala Siva wastes no time. A police officer (Ajay) witnesses something underwater that shocks him, setting the stage for a village elder, Singappa (Prakash Raj), to tell the story of Devara.

We are taken to the coastal region where four clans live and learn more about them Erra Samudram (Red Sea). The narrative examines human behavior in the context of courage and fear. This film moves away from the oft-explored stories of an oppressed village and turns to a savior to find courage. He explores the possibility of what some people can do when they are completely free of fear. As Devara tries to differentiate between the courage required to live and the raw courage that can kill, the moral significance of his statement is lost on several people around him, including Bhaira (Saif Ali Khan).

A still from “Devara: Part 1”

A captivatingly staged sequence on a ship loaded with containers illustrates the stealth with which the men, led by Devara and Bhaira, operate on the high seas. Devara is aware that he is no saint, although it is only a short time later that he has an inkling of the effects of his cover operations. He tells his young son Vara (NTR in the dual role of adult son) that he is insignificant unlike their ancestors who fought for freedom. Devara’s moral stance becomes the main reason why the rifts within the four clans deepen.

The film does not go into detail about how Devara and Bhaira from different clans became friends and collaborators, but gradually shows how different their moral attitudes are. The others around her, like the characters played by Kalaiarasan and Tom Shine Chacko, deepen the rift between Bhaira and Devara. An elaborate Ayudha Pooja sequence explains the significance of the festival and the traditional weapons of these clans. The Telugu title is created by assembling weapons of different shapes. The view of a fish-shaped knife also fits the coastal communities in the film.

Several scenes and segments – such as the container sequence and the Ayudha Pooja celebrations – which have resonance throughout the story and are not stand-alone moments. Even the smaller moments, like Vara casually talking about hair dye and Devara and Vara sitting on a stone hedge, pay off later, although some twists can be seen from far away.

The narrative runs at full speed for more than an hour and is captivating until it creates the world of Devara and its complexity. In the later parts, the intensity is traded for a banal love story between Vara and Thangam (Janhvi Kapoor) and the brooding Bhaira’s many movements, which become increasingly boring and tiring. Towards the end, when the film ends with a Baahubali-like question, it doesn’t have the required impact and also feels incomplete.

A still from “Devara: Part 1”

What holds the film together when the text falters is the technical department. Rathnavelu’s cinematography cleverly presents the depicted sequences against the black-blue sea at night and contrasts them with oil lamps and bonfires in the villages. Sabu Cyril’s production design gives the coastal region a mix of beauty and mysterious quality. However, Anirudh Ravichander had the most fun. Sometimes with a rock-inspired score and sometimes using the tradition dol And dappuHis music gives energy to the proceedings.

In the male-driven action drama, several other characters are lost, such as Zarina Wahab, the mother who has already experienced enough deaths in her life, and another woman who hopes that education will be the way out for her son. Some supporting characters like those played by Prakash Raj and Srikanth get a chance to make an impact, while Murali Sharma, Kalaiarasan and Tom Shine Chacko get lost in the shuffle. It wouldn’t have hurt to delve deeper into Bhaira’s characterization. Saif Ali Khan ponders the film, nothing more. Janhvi is wasted in a character that can be described as silly to say the least.

In a way, the fact that Jr. NTR is riding the waves and headlining a story set in a coastal town can be seen as an extension of the metaphor to his character Bheem in RRRwho was characterized as water, in contrast to the fire of Ram (Ram Charan). As Devara, Jr. NTR is in his element and conveys the moral dilemmas succinctly. As Vara, he tries to make a sloppily written character seem better than she is.

Devara: Part 1 is partly captivating and partly tiring. If it was just a one-part movie, it might have been a lot healthier.

Devara: Part 1 is currently in theaters