Devil Cast: Nandamuri Kalyanram, Samyuktha Menon, Malavika Nair, Shafi, Mark Bennington, Edward Sonnenblick, Jahid D’cruz
Crew:
Written by Srikanth Vissa
Edited by Tammiraju
Cinematography by Soundarajan
Music Director: Harshavardhan Rameshwar
Producer & Director: Abhishek Nama
Devil Movie Rating: 2/5
As the year 2023 comes to an end, we have been through a rollercoaster ride with films. Nandamuri Kalyanram has decided to come up with an interesting film, where he plays a British Secret Agent, Devil. Kalyanram has been coming up with different scripts and this one looks promising. Popular Producer and distributor Abhishek Nama has turned into a director with this film. Let’s discuss about it in detail.
Plot:
British Officer Kenneth Bracken appoints Secret Agent Devil(Nandamuri Kalyanram) to solve a murder case in Rasapadu. He intercepts a secret coded message about Subhash Chandra Bose and decides to use Devil to unravel this murder mystery, that is, connected to Bose’s arrival in India, in 1945. In Rasapadu, Zamindar’s daughter Vijaya(Ammu Abhirami) is murdered and Devil has to investigate about her and also unravel secrets of Nyshada(Samyuktha Menon). Why? What connects this small village with INA and Bose? Watch the movie to know.
Analysis:
Nandamuri Kalyanram has developed a good screen presence over the years and he is able to bring that into play as Devil. But the character’s limited ability to emote did not give him enough chances to explore different shades in the film while the story goes through them. May be a better mix of slightly emotive and mostly mysterious personality might have worked better in his favour. Samyuktha Menon, English actors, Malavika Nair, Shafi all got good makeovers to fit the bill but did not get enough to mark their presence.
Abhishek Nama as a director did not impress much with a strong script in his hand. The beats seem to have been laid out to explore and exploit the mystery and emotion behind it. The movie ends up being neither patriotic historical fiction nor a neo-noir or noir mystery that keeps growing on you with each detail unraveling. It just becomes predictable with each scene and you’re left wondering why they are taking so much time to reveal the obvious.
Harshavardhan Rameshwar Background score is good and production values are great, too. Cinematography by Soundarajan adds to the visual texture of the film. Editing by Tammiraju could have been better and the cuts seemed a bit random, at places. Script by Srikanth Vissa has too many elements compressed into one and we feel the weight pulling it down. It could have easily been a mystery drama that grows into a patriotic tale but trying to be both at the same time takes the essence of either away. On the whole, Devil acts as it’s own enemy with too huge ambition that crushes it without a trace.
Positives:
Nandamuri Kalyanram Performance
Production Values
Novel ideas
Harshavardhan Rameshwar’s BGM
Negatives:
Over ambitious screenplay
Lackluster Narrative
Predictability
Forgettable Conclusion
Devil Movie Bottom-line: Neither Mysterious nor Patriotic!
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