Shahid Kapoor and Pooja Hegde's 'Deva' movie review: A thriller salvaged by its leading man

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Pooja Hegde, Pavail Gulati, Pravessh Rana, Kubbra Sait

Director: Rosshan Andrrews

Language: Hindi

The opening credits of Deva try to capture the spirit of Mumbai and the stardom of Amitabh Bachchan. Our hero is introduced in an awkwardly shot scene obviously shot on a green screen where he meets with an accident and loses his memory. Shah Rukh Khan and Jab Tak Hai Jaan quickly come to mind. Director Rosshan Andrrews treats the narrative like a whodunnit. He dismantles a puzzle and assembles the pieces with each passing scene. Fair enough! But the first half is an absolute snooze fest. There are abrupt introductory shots, especially those of Pooja Hegde and Kubbra Sait (both severely underutilized). At one point, I actually wanted to ask them “Tum Kab Aaye?” Paresh Rawal and Welcome come to mind. The action scenes are far more inconsistent. A key character is easily eliminated in an ambush. Yudhra and Siddhant Chaturvedi come to mind.

I blame the current and frustrating fetish of the audience to watch ‘Mass’ cinema that we glorify flawed people and their perverted understanding of machoism. Shahid Kapoor, an always earnest performer, overdoes his ‘intense’ and vacant gazes that we mistake for heroism. In your conversations with him, there are no replies, there are quips and cheeky one liners for clap trap. Hegde describes this character like this- “I like your Sadupan, your anger issues, but tumhare andar ek bachcha hai.” He even makes out with a married lady, for fun you know. Kabir Singh comes to mind. And it’s understandable as it was his biggest hit. But most of them reek of hollowness. Deva, both the film and its eponymous character, are so hell bent on being crowd pleasing entertainers that we barely get to the emotional core of the story. When Hegde’s father is brutally injured in a blast, the camera quickly cuts to a scene in the hospital before we can see her reaction.

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The makers have been claiming that this IS NOT a remake of the Malayalam thriller Mumbai Police. The body is definitely different but the soul is almost the same. A man is investigating the murder of his officer friend after coming back to duty post an accident. What actually sets the film apart is the milieu and the language. Repeatedly during the promos and promotions, we were told about Bachchan and how Deva is a fan. But barring two close ups of the actor’s poster in his iconic Deewar pose, we get absolutely nothing. It’s also appalling that a film that showed promise to pay homage to Mumbai falters in its cinematography. It’s obvious most of the scenes were shot on a green screen. The only time I cracked a smile in the first half was when our hero interrogates an aged lady hard of hearing. Shakti Kapoor and Coolie No. 1 come to mind.

But why have the makers titled the movie Deva? Kapoor’s doctor says in one scene ‘You were Dev-A before your accident, and now you’re Dev-B.’ Hmmmm! The second half is marginally better when things begin to speed up. But unfortunately, it happens to be a sprint towards dead end. The biggest downer is the climatic twist where the vulnerability of the central character from the original is replaced by a clichéd sermon by Dev-A. There could be two reasons why the makers decided to change the finale. They wanted to be firm that this was not a remake of the Malayalam thriller. Or maybe the leading man wasn’t comfortable in essaying a queer. Maybe the makers wanted to give a more stylized and bronzed look to Dev-A. Style hai babu Bhaiyaa makers ka style. No points for guessing which film comes to mind.

Rating: 3 (out of 5 stars)

Deva is currently playing in cinemas