Deva Movie Cast/Actors: Shahid Kapoor, Pooja Hegde, Pavail Gulati, Pravesh Rana, Girish Kulkarni, Kubbra Sait & Others
Deva Movie Director: Rosshan Andrrews
Deva Movie Production House: Roy Kapur Films & Zee Studios
Deva Movie Release Date: 31st January, 2025
Deva Movie Available On: Theatrical Release and (likely to be released on Netflix OTT Platform)
Deva Movie Released/Available In Languages: Hindi
Deva Movie Runtime: 2h 36m
Deva Movie Critic Review:
There’s an instruction from Deputy Commissioner of Police Farhan Khan (Pravesh Rana) to junior Dev Ambre (Shahid Kapoor) that goes, “Get answers to three questions: who, how and why.” He is referring to the assassination of ACP Rohan D’silva (Paval Gulati) who was shot dead on an open ground at a Mumbai Police event where he was receiving a gallantry award.
The viewer feels like asking the same three questions.
Who made this film? A director from Malayalam cinema called Rosshan Andrrews, making his Hindi debut with a remake of his own 2013 film Mumbai Police.
How? By putting together this messy story:
Fahan-Dev-Rohan from the Mumbai Police are not just colleagues in uniform but consider themselves brothers.
Deva has just cracked the case and found Rohan’s killer when his bike meets with an accident. He wakes up in a hospital bed with his memory gone kaput.
In an elaborate and enervating flashback with inputs from Farhan, Deva tracks the case. Assorted gangsters and politicians pepper the screen with intermittent fights where Deva A (before memory loss) is exactly like Deva B (after memory loss), his fighting skills intact. Rosshan Andrrews who is anything but subtle even has a doctor explain that personality traits will surface, muscle memory will bring back skills and training, zzzzzz.
In between pops up Divya Sathye (Pooja Hegde) for a kissing scene and romance in only a long white shirt. It doesn’t jog Deva’s memory who goes ahead with her anyway.
One takeaway he gets: there was a mole in the police force he was supposed to have ferreted out.
Meandering uninterestingly, the strenuously narrated investigation by Deva has repeated revisits to Rohan’s last acceptance speech on stage when he was shot midway, topped with repeated attempts on the hero’s life.
Revealing the mole and Rohan’s killer are the big turning points in the climax.
With half-a-dozen names in the writing department including Sumit Arora, Abbas Dalal, Bobby, Husain Dalal and Arshad Syed, there isn’t one standout scene where either a dialogue or some wit or anything refreshingly new can be applauded. A weak attempt at humour is made by a sharpshooter who tries hard to be witty in a grim sequence. Long verbose flashback sequences between Deva and Rohan and Deva’s long acceptance speech that was mercifully cut short by a bullet, make it even more weary.
Shahid Kapoor can dance (he does in the opening scene to ‘Aa la re aa la Deva aa la’) and he’s as fit, as agile and as energetic as he always has been. The problem is, we’ve seen this Shahid several times before, with and without the aggro.
Rosshan Andrrews tries hard to fit Amar, Akbar and Anthony into the main roles though he does show his hand when the bad neta must have a saffron flag fluttering on his car.
Finally, the third question will remain unanswered. Why? Why was this film made?
Deva Watch Or Not?: As unaligned as the fonts used in the opening credits, save yourself from two-and-a-half hours that don’t cover the Mumbai Police with glory.
Deva Review Score Rating: 2 out of 5 (i.e. 2/5)
Deva Movie Official Trailer:
Must Read: Sky Force Movie Review: Valour & Honour, Well Piloted