Having amazed the audience by portraying the maverick tribal warrior, Komaram Bheem, in Director S.S. Rajamouli’s masterclass, RRR, Telugu superstar NTR Jr. had the world eagerly waiting for his next big release. As the actor returned to the silver screen, playing the titular lead in the much anticipated action spectacle, Devara Part 1, viewers were reminded of the sheer strength of his star power once again, as even with an ambitious yet lackluster script, NTR Jr. pulled off a one-man show. His performance is duly assisted by the cinematography and Anirudh’s banger score, which elevates the overall experience a notch.Â
With the premise of rivalry and power struggle amidst smugglers belonging to the coastal community of Southern India, which receives added depth with a fictionalized history thrown in for context, viewers would have expected slightly more hard-hitting, nuanced, and political treatment of the topic, which is not rare these days even in commercial masala movies. The action-packed, more emotionally charged first half of the feature film stands head and shoulders above the dragged and bloated second half, and the twist reveal is telegraphed long before the ending, but that might not be a dealbreaker for fans of the star, who will be thoroughly entertained with the venture anyway.
Spoilers Ahead
How Did Shivam End Up In The Four Villages Of The Red Sea?
Devara Part 1 begins in 1996 in Mumbai, when, in order to ensure security for the upcoming Cricket World Cup, which is going to be hosted in India, a task force is created with Officer Shivam at its head, who is instructed by the Home Minister to capture two dreaded gangster brothers, Daya and Yethi, by any means. Shivam manages to force one of Yethi’s men to reveal that Yethi has gone to Southern India, in Ratnagiri, where he is smuggling illicit goods directly from the seas with the support of a local politician/smuggler named Muruga. Upon reaching Ratnagiri, Shivam learns Muruga has been killed, and the only source he can count upon is the crooked local DSP, Tulasi, who was in cahoots with the smuggler.Â
Taking the guise of a smuggler, Shivam approaches Tulasi in the hopes of getting intel regarding the smuggling racket, and Tulasi is quick to see through Shivam’s ploy. Anyway, he directs Shivam to the four mountain villages known as Red Sea, where Bhaira, a local village chief, conducts all the smuggling operations. Shivam tries to pressure Bhaira into revealing information about Yethi, but gets himself and his team badly thrashed by Bhaira.
The Legend of Devara
Shivam decides to try a different approach as he decides to question a local elder named Singappa and offers him a diamond ring in the hopes of luring him through greed. Singappa throws the ring into the ocean, and while making a desperate attempt to retrieve it, Shivam gets the shock of a lifetime after seeing skeletons tied with rocks in the seabed. A bewildered Shivam questions Singappa about it, only to learn that the elder has shown him through example why smuggling has stopped around the shores of the Red Sea and begins narrating the legend of Devara to help him get an understanding of the past in order to assess the present.
The villages of the Red Sea were formerly a kingdom and home to a fierce group of warriors who were not bound by any caste or religion; instead, their courage and spirit united them to stand against foreign invaders. The heroics of the warriors are conveyed by the simple fact that the Red Sea was named after their exploits, as they defended their homeland time and again—and during the Colonial era, the descendants of the warriors seized the British loot from the seas to distribute among the people. After independence, the descendants of the warriors lost their purpose, and continued looting foreign consignment ships that illegally trafficked goods through the proximity of the Red Sea. Singappa recalls, twelve years ago, the braveheart, noble Devara, descendent of the warrior clan, used to lead the smuggling operation with Bhaira, his brother in arms, and chief of the neighboring village. Devara, Bhaira, and their group of smugglers assisted Muruga and Tulasi in raiding consignment ships.
A kind, generous soul, Devara stood by his people and helped those in need, but a deep sense of guilt plagued him, as is evident when he narrates the tales of his ancestors to his son, Vara, but refuses to share his story with him. Devara is also revealed to be the most valiant warrior of the Red Sea, as he wins the yearly village festival in honor of the warrior ancestors, Ayudha Puja, by defeating warriors from neighboring villages and brings the ceremonial weapon mount, which is seen as a symbol of prosperity and good luck, to his village. Having such presence and power, Devara felt he was responsible for the welfare of his people, which is why when he learned later on that he was responsible for the misery of the villagers, it shook him to the core.
Why Did Bhaira Betray Devara?
Devara adhered to the tradition and teachings of his ancestors, but at the same time was pragmatic enough to recognize that with changing times, he needed to find better vision and direction to guide the villagers of the Red Sea. The violent ways of the past were adopted by their ancestors to defend their homeland against enemies, something that was no longer needed—a fact that Bhaira was never able to comprehend. Not only he inculcated the negative approach regarding their old ways, he was absolutely apathetic about the plight of the villagers. During smuggling operations, the coast guard finally caught Devara and Bhaira’s group and revealed that the consignments they were smuggling for Muruga carried weapons that were used by the terrorists to kill their fellow villagers. Without knowing, Devara was responsible for the deaths of the people he was supposed to protect, and in the process, he absolutely maligned the legacy of his ancestors. An aggrieved and distraught Devara was wracked with remorse, whereas Bhaira, as violent and heartless as ever, killed the coast guards by rallying his men. Upon returning, Devara decided to stop the smuggling operations altogether to make up for his sins, and any attempt to ignore his warning resulted in bloodshed. Devara was hell bent on redeeming himself and was not willing to let anyone continue the heinous trade that had claimed the lives of his people, even if it meant killing his own comrades. Muruga and Tulasi backed off, fearing Devara’s wrath, which quite obviously didn’t sit well with Bhaira, who planned to eliminate his brother in arms for the sake of his greed and ambition.
Bhaira eventually got the chance to force Devara into a troubling situation after putting his trusted accomplice, Rayappa, in a vice grip—threatening his sister’s life in exchange for giving up Devara. Getting Devara drunk during Rayappa’s sister’s wedding, Bhaira managed to coerce Rayappa to send Devara to the seashore, where he was attacked by hordes of Bhaira’s smugglers. Devara managed to kill all of them, and left the village behind, not being seen ever since. However, he left a warning written in blood—prohibiting villagers from ever venturing to the seas with the intention of carrying on Muruga’s dirty trade. In the following years, Bhaira ignored Devara’s warning and sent his men to brave the seas to continue their smuggling operations—only to have all the smugglers killed as a result. Fearing Devara’s legend, Muruga once again backs off. Villagers of Red Sea choose fishing as their trade instead, and Bhaira continues to gather strength through the following years as he manages to raise a private armada of his own. The combat tradition of Ayudha Puja is stopped after Bhaira uses it as an excuse to kill Devara’s followers to lure him out of hiding—but his efforts go in vain.
Like Father, Like Son
Devara’s son Vara, who grows up to be exactly like him, turns out to be a shadow of his fierce, brave father, whom he detests for abandoning their family. While Devara’s wife and mother continue to hope for his eventual return, Vara is of the opinion that a person who couldn’t prioritize their family should be left forgotten. Singappa, Rayappa, and other close associates of Devara—even Vara’s lover, Thangam—are disappointed with Vara and consider him to be a blemish on his father’s legacy. However, people start to believe that Vara has the mettle after a long-time combat ritual in Ayudha Puja resumes, and Vara wins by beating the rest of the contenders through deceit.
Bhaira remains this deadly, oppressive presence to his people, who refuses to move on with changing times, which is shown in the way he orchestrates the killing of one of his own accomplices who simply wanted to let go of their past way of life to secure a government job. Bhaira approaches Muruga with the proposal to continue their partnership, but realizes that as long as Devara is watching over the seas, the deal is off. Bhaira spreads a rumor of Devara’s death, which results in Devara’s mother getting ill. Bhaira had hoped that Devara would pay a visit to his home at long last to check up on his mother, and Devara does so as well, but Bhaira’s men fail to capture him.
Bhaira hatches upon a dastardly plan as he sends his men to threaten Devara’s daughter, and in retaliation, Vara beats up some of Bhaira’s men. However, Bhaira kills his own men in secret to pin the blame on Vara, and in fear of Bhaira’s wrath, the villagers persuade Vara to make peace with him. As Vara approaches Bhaira to mitigate the unprecedented trouble, the dreaded smuggler forces him to join his crew in their first smuggling operation in exchange for peace. Going against the directives of his father, Vara agrees to accompany Bhaira’s men, much to the despair of his mother, who fears the headstrong, upstanding Devara will not even spare his own son if his principle is maligned by him. Bhaira planned to send Vara on their mission with the hopes that his presence might offer protection from Devara, but the reality turns out to be much different than expected.
In a desperate attempt to save her son, Devara’s wife turns to Singappa and other associates of Devara and pleads with them to ask Vara to return—but finding them nonchalant, she assumes betrayal on their part. This is when Singappa reveals the sordid truth: Devara passed away all those years ago during the ambush after killing Bhaira’s men, and it was none other than Vara himself who had created the godlike image of his father as a watchful protector of the Red Sea and killed anyone who attempted to ignore his father’s directive. Vara created the myth of Devara, and by expertly hiding his true self, pretending to be a meek, docile individual, he avoided the possibility of Bhaira suspecting him. After all, instead of a mortal made of flesh and blood, a myth endures the brunt of time much longer, and Devara’s myth worked much more effectively to put fear in the hearts of the smugglers than Vara as a person could have ever achieved. Vara ends up killing Bhaira’s new crew one by one, riding a shark, fashioning ancestral weapons, and whatnot. As Singappa and co. reach the seashore, Vara brings the bodies of smugglers, and in honor of his father’s directive, even goes on to maim himself with the weapons. The cycle of bloodshed will end when the legend of Devara becomes everlasting, and to do that, Vara needs to inflict punishment on himself as well for partaking in Bhaira’s operation.
Did Vara Kill His Own Father, Devara?
At present, Shivam was intently listening to Singappa’s account and couldn’t help but question who killed Devara in the first place, and as Singappa answers him, the movie ends by showing a young, distraught Vara plunging a knife in his father’s body on the fateful night. While the ending seems like a callback to the Bahubali-Katappa situation, I think the answer is not as perplexing on this occasion. Devara blamed himself for creating a situation that put his villagers, who looked upon him as their savior, in peril, and was aware that, as a mere mortal, his presence could have been ignored, destroyed, or forgotten. Additionally, he sustained injuries grievous enough they could have resulted in him being unable to stop Bhaira from thereon. Devara chose to sacrifice his life and entrusted his son to carry the legacy of their ancestors, but instead of foreign invaders, Vara was assigned by his father to protect the village from enemies within.
This was the first part of a planned duology, which means in the second part, Bhaira and Vara’s clash will gain narrative focus from the get-go. With the major twist revealed in this part, I wonder how the makers plan to make the sequel an interesting one. Anyway, at this point I am more interested to see whether the sequel allows NTR Jr. to ride more aquatic creatures while thrashing bad guys—a whale this time perhaps?
