Opening Doorz

By Martin D’Souza | Opening Doorz Editorial | February 03, 2025

Rating: 4/5

The Essence: Deva, is a must-watch for fans of slick action movies that avoid excessive violence. If you’re a Shahid Kapoor fan, don’t hesitate. The touch of madness in his performance makes it even more delightful.

Deva Movie Review: Shahid Kapoor’s Electrifying Comeback

Shahid Kapoor has excelled after a long break. The beloved characters Guddu and Charlie from Kaminey return as Dev Ambre in Roshan Andrews’ Deva. This film is a remake of the 2013 Malayalam film Mumbai Police, also directed by Andrews. Deva is one movie that will surely draw audiences back to theaters. Despite a sparse crowd at Miraj IMAX in Wadala, Shahid Kapoor’s commanding presence and performance evoke cheers and applause in the final scene.

Such has been his performance that the question ‘After the Khans, who’ seems to be answered. Shahid appears poised to take the ‘one-man-army on the screen’ action hero forward. He delivers a compelling performance in this action-packed, plot-driven storyline, showcasing a character that embodies intent, intelligence, and intrigue. Shahid skillfully portrays this multi-layered character, dishing it out with chutzpah. There’s nothing ambiguous about his depiction of the hot-blooded, no-nonsense cop with a heart of gold. He fully owns each scene without going over the top.

And credit for that has to also go to the crisp direction and tight editing. Even though a few scenes go back and forth in timelines, the flow is seamless. It is so perfect that suddenly you realise Dev had to meet Rebecca (Meenal Sahu), the girlfriend of murdered ACP Rohan D’Silva (Pavail Gulati). The miss in the scene is smart, which makes you involved with Dev, who is trying to figure out the murder of his friend Rohan D’Silva. It is as though you too are having a memory loss!

Whodunnit with a Twist

The beginning scene shows Dev heading back to the police station speaking on the phone, informing DCP Farhan Khan (Pravesh Rana) that he has solved the murder. Immediately, his bike meets with an accident and he is in hospital with a nasty head injury.

Suffering a memory loss, after having solved the case, Dev is now in a fix as he has to resolve his friend’s murder. ‘Who’, ‘How’, and ‘Why’ of the murder has to be unearthed yet again. Farhan is patient knowing that Dev will get to the bottom of the murder and round off the investigation, yet again. There was a mole in the police force and Dev had unearthed his identity. As a viewer, you try to figure out who that mole is in the police force who had been giving tip-offs to gangster Prabhat Jadhav (Manish Chawla) before every police raid.

The two suspects I deciphered as the mole in the police force turned out to be incorrect. That’s how sharp the direction and storytelling are. The ending, when Dev reveals the killer’s identity to Farhan, is phenomenal.

The Dev Before and After

At first, you wonder whether Dev has lost his memory or if he is playing along to nab the killer. But then you realise, he is struggling to join the dots again. The beauty of re-solving the crime is how the scenes are stitched together, and edited beautifully to make it a seamless whodunnit.

There’s Dev A before the accident and Dev B after the accident. Shahid is terrific in both the roles. Hence the reference to Guddu and Charlie from Kaminey in my introduction. There’s also the genius and madness of Haider in Shahid Kapoor’s Dev of Deva. This film is a total paisa vasool performance worthy of the ceetis and taalis at the end.

Pavail Gulati who shone in Thappad delivers another riveting performance. He matches Shahid scene for scene and his Rohan is an important cog in the film’s narrative. The little that Roshan Andrews keeps revealing in gaps laced with tight story-telling, keeps the narrative interesting. Pravesh Rana, Kubra Sait, and Pooja Hegde all pitch in to make Deva a compelling and entertaining watch.

Deva Movie Review: Slick Execution, Tight Storytelling

Credit also goes to the writers Sumit Arora, Bobby, and Abbas Dalal who ensure the story-telling is smooth without being adventurous, and with lovely loops to trace back.

Methinks, Deva will be the first hit of the year. The song after the accident gets you into the groove. Andrews ensures he never lets go of the director’s baton… not even once!

Deva is a must-watch for fans of slick action movies that avoid excessive violence. If you’re a Shahid Kapoor fan, don’t hesitate. The touch of madness in his performance makes it even more delightful.

CREDITS
Movie: Deva
Producers: Siddharth Roy Kapur, Shariq Patel, Umesh Bansal
Director: Rosshan Andrrews
Star Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Pavail Gulati, Pravesh Rana, Kubra Sait, Pooja Hegde.
Writers: Sumit Arora, Bobby, Abbas Dalal

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