The film Deva, a remake of the Malayalam flick Mumbai Police released way back in 2013, features the tale of Kochi City ACP Antony Moses, who is infamously known as Rascal Moses due to his chauvinistic character. Basically, the film is about a rebellious and abrasive cop who sets out to investigate a murder case but suffers memory loss after a major accident. As he retraces his past, he discovers some unsettling truths about his department and himself.
Sadly, the film drains you of whatever energy you have when you start watching the film over the course of 156 minutes, as the screenplay team—Bobby–Sanjay, Abbas Dalal, Hussain Dalal, Arshad Syed, and Sumit Arora—takes you through the various layers and shades of Dev, and the unravelling the mystery on and on.
The mystery does thicken in the second half, when the whole tonality shifts from action to dark and intense emotions and mood. Dev struggles to navigate his world while dealing with memory loss, turning the movie into a slow burn. What the well-maintained suspense ensures is that you stay invested, though the film has an extremely slow pace.
As far as the performance of the actors is concerned, Shahid Kapoor sets out to deliver a brilliant performance in the main lead after a long time as Dev Ambre, in the role essayed by Prithviraj Sukumaran in the Malayalam original, effectively striking simultaneously the right balance between menace and vulnerability. He brings a certain indefinable raw energy into the narrative, as an unabashed, arrogant man who can make smoke rings while smoking
Pooja Hegde, as a journalist, though in full form and fettle, does not contribute much to the film except appearing in just a long shirt and indulging in smooching her boyfriend Dev. Pavail Gulati and Pravessh Rana succeed in lending able support though Kubra Sait, who delivers a powerful performance in her brief role as a cop, Deepti, is frustratingly underutilised, and is not in her full usual form.
On the flipside, I should say that the genre’s usual tropes remain — power-packed dialogues, gravity-defying stunts, and female characters who, unfortunately, exist solely to orbit the hero’s journey rather than shaping their own individual journeys to fruition with finesse. Deva has a run time of 156 minutes.
– Review by Jyothi Venkatesh
Cast of Devaa
Shahid Kapoor as ACP Dev Ambre
Pooja Hegde as Diya Sathaye (Journalist)
Pavail Gulati as ACP Rohan D’Silva
Pravesh Rana as DCP Farhan Khan
Kubbra Sait as Dipti Singh
Girish Kulkarni as Jairaj Apte
Manish Wadhwa as Prabhat Jadhav
Gaurav More as Nagesh
Abhilash Chaudhary as Jigar
Pravin Patil as JCP Abhay Rana
Aditi Sharma as Bhavna
Credits of Devaa:
Based on the 2013 film Mumbai Police by Bobby–Sanjay
Production companies – Zee Studios, Roy Kapur Films
Produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur, Umesh KR Bansal
Directed by Rosshan Andrrews
Screenplay by Bobby–Sanjay, Abbas Dalal, Hussain Dalal, Arshad Syed, Sumit Arora
Dialogues by Hussain Dalal, Abbas Dalal
Cinematography Amit Roy
Edited by A. Sreekar Prasad
Music – Jakes Bejoy
Songs: Vishal Mishra, Jakes Bejoy