Devara – Part 1 has a terrific first half. The lead character is very admirable and instantly, one starts looking up to him. The conflict in the tale is superb and easy to relate to. The action scenes are clapworthy and the film goes on a high during the intermission point. But in the second half, the film goes downhill. There are jumps in the narrative and the goings-on fail to create the same impact. An important twist looks like a copy of a similar twist in another Pan-India film. It ends abruptly with a lot left for the second half. But even in two-part films, the first part needs to give a wholesome experience as it happened in Baahubali: The Beginning, KGF – Chapter 1, Pushpa: The Rise – Part 01 etc. Devara – Part 1, meanwhile, is miles behind these memorable films. Jr NTR, however, is terrific and enhances the mass quotient with his mere presence. Saif Ali Khan is too good and induces fear just through his expressions. Janhvi Kapoor looks stunning but sadly, she is wasted. Prakash Raj (Singappa), Shruti Marathe (Devara’s wife), Talluri Rameswari (Devara’s mother), Srikanth (Rayappa) and Murali Sharma (Muruga) are okay. Songs are poor. All in all, Devara – Part 1 is disappointing.
My rating – ** out of 5!