It has been a long since we saw Shahid Kapoor as a lead in a massy, Bollywood thriller. He is at his best when it comes to serious roles with lots of character development. Deva is one such movie where we see him come all guns blazing. Directed by Rosshan Andrrews, Deva is a crime & action-thriller based on the Malayalam film Mumbai Police, but with a twist in the climax. While the movie has been creating a lot of buzz, I was eager to see how this film would balance its high-octane action with a compelling narrative. With a strong supporting cast of Pooja Hegde and Pavail Gulati, the movie promised to be an edge-of-the-seat thriller.
The film follows the storyline of Dev Ambre played by Shahid Kapoor, a rebellious police officer, who has got himself into a tragic accident where he actually loses his memory. That adds a complexity to the mystery that unfolds as he tries to find the mystery behind the death of his close friend Rohan D’Silva. During the course of the movie, our hero struggles to piece together different events surrounding the murder of his best friend. The corrupt and polluted police department and the politics of the city make his job more difficult. Dev has to choose between the people he can trust and the people who he can’t. We are treated with a climax worth waiting for, as the events and Dev’s poor memory lead us to a tragic revelation.
While I loved the concept and the narrative the director has tried to present, the execution could have been a lot better. There are a lot of loose ends that are neglected. While the entire focus remains on unfolding the climax, the plot starts to get predictable. The film struggles a lot with pacing. It starts slow and we have to wait until the start of the second half to grasp what is happening. The film then steadily picks up pace till the climax. I wanted the characters to have more screen time and development. Diya(Pooja Hegde) and Kubbra Sait’s roles are important to the storyline, but I did not feel connected to them. From the characters’ point of view, the film leaves you unsatisfied.
However, the movie had a lot of standout moments which did not make me regret going to the theatres. Mainly, it is Shahid’s acting that steals the show. His character development is amazing, and the actor craftfully adapts to different requirements. His scenes where he struggles with his memory and the end scene with a drastic realization are shot superbly. The cinematography is top-notch and the high-intensity scenes are given proper justice. The background music does its job well, and the action choreography is unlike mainstream Bollywood movies. I loved the realistic fight scenes.
All-in-all, it is a good movie to watch on the weekends and enjoy Shahid’s acting. The idea of the film is amazing, but the pacing will disappoint most audiences. There is very little to look forward to apart from the climax. I would call the film ambitious. It has been long since Bollywood had a thriller movie of this caliber. With proper execution and planning, this could have been one of the best thrillers of recent times. The story is on par with movies like Drishyam, but storytelling is where the real secret lies. And Deva could have done better.