Deva movie review: Shahid Kapoor-starrer is a predictable cop thriller that struggles to escape its roots in the Malayalam film Mumbai Police.
Last Updated: 03.13 PM, Jan 31, 2025
The story of Deva, starring Shahid Kapoor, revolves around Dev Ambre, a hot-headed cop who takes on a high-profile case and finds himself entangled in a treacherous web of lies and betrayal.
Since the announcement of Rosshan Andrrews making his Bollywood debut came about two years back, there was a lot of chatter about the film being a remake of the Malayalam blockbuster Mumbai Police, released in 2013. Even after the trailer came out and several scenes seemed to be comfortably taken from the Prithviraj Sukumaran-starring thriller, the makers maintained that Deva is not a remake. Now that the film has been watched, all I want to ask is, will Farhan Akhtar claim that his version of Don (2006) is not a remake of the adapted screenplay by Salim Javed just because he changed the climax?
Remake is a word that is very much looked down upon when used by celluloid, even though there's no shame in taking up something apart from being original. Thus, the makers love to use a stylised version of the word and call it an "adaptation."
So, Deva is a covert adaptation of Mumbai Police, in which Shahid Kapoor portrays the title character, a cop grappling with anger management and daddy issues that led him to become a cop, only to end up putting his own father in prison. Well, that's the backstory mentioned verbally about the leading character. Thus, the story juggles between the past and the present as Dev Ambre suffers from retrograde amnesia after meeting with an accident. Wear your helmet, guys; you could have saved a film!
In no time, a flashback transports us to a world where Deva, a notorious cop, views police brutality as the ultimate solution to all problems. We see that he leaves no stone unturned in taking "panga" with hooligans turned politicians and also the most wanted criminal of Mumbai city, who just gets away before the raid is struck in his premises by killing cops with bombs.
Thus, the film introduces a woman with a profession, Diya Sathye (Pooja Hegde), a crime journalist, who believes that there's a mole in the police and she wants to be the one to break the news to the world. This is a line I think she mouths twice or thrice in the film and that's all about her character and presence in a larger narrative.
The film, drawing inspiration from Mumbai Police, is a suspenseful action thriller that culminates in the third act. To be honest, that's what worked for the Malayalam original, as the whole film gets its due, owing to the gripping climax. Obviously, you can't reuse that, as it may lose its intended impact after a decade or so. However, once you set a benchmark, shoot two or three climaxes, but they won't be as fruitful as you aspire to be.
Deva shuffles the whole screenplay by showing what really happened until the death of a cop, which is the crux and makes up for the whole plot. However, the screenplay takes such a sluggish turn that we know it's showing us through the lens of a man who doesn't remember anything after forgetting to wear a helmet during a bike ride, which leads to him hitting his head after meeting with an accident.
I am sorry if I am repeating what happened in the beginning of the film, because the scene is repeated throughout during the middle as well as the end of the film. So what I was saying was that when a man is trying to get back his memory, everything becomes hazy and quite slow, as every piece of information is important. Thus, they also make viewers show every piece of information as if they are also suffering from amnesia. Deva will undoubtedly fade from memory after this film.
Meanwhile, whenever there's an "adaptation," course correction is something very important and it needs to be ended with no loops. However, in Deva, there are so many tangled loose ends that separating and tying them is too difficult for the already long film. Where was the goon who vowed to exact revenge on his wife, whom Deva had pointed a gun at? Where was the politician who also openly threatened Deva that him getting insulted in front of the whole world will not be spared? How did they all leave the leading character all alone conveniently while he suffered from a memory loss?
All these fabrications would have worked well as per the intentions of the leading character but that's what happens with "Dev-A." However, as the doctor points out, after the accident, he becomes "Dev-B," who has his muscle memory at full throttle but has psychologically forgotten many things, and it looks like his enemies did too.
Deva heavily relies on the what and why of the story, which, to be honest, can be easily understood in the first half itself. How? All due to the performance by Shahid Kapoor, who makes things so predictable that you just wait for the movie to end to confirm what you thought was absolutely right.
The actor does the part of being unhinged and unapologetic quite well, and also of a puzzled man who is forced to solve a case while suffering from memory loss and getting instantly back to work after meeting with an accident. However, his powerful performance hints at the eventual conclusion of the film.
To be honest, Rosshan Andrrews, who reunited with his Mumbai Police writers Bobby–Sanjay for Deva, has an additional screenplay penned by Arshad Syed and Sumit Arora with dialogues written by Hussain Dalal and Abbas Dalal. The deliberate Mumbai-yya touch given to Kapoor gets nailed well by the actor. However, the lack of twists in the tale, making the "adaptation" quite woozy, doesn't work well.
The other supporting characters, including Pravessh Rana, Pavail Gulatie, and Kubbra Sait, do their parts well with what little is offered. But if only course correction was done here, instead of concentrating on making Shahid, the towering, massy hero that the film heavily relies on. Having Amitabh Bachchan's mural from Deewaar constantly on the backdrop makes Shahid's "angry young man" aspiration just have an effect and doesn't prove it all along.
Meanwhile, Pooja Hegde, who is the new addition who wasn't there in the original, shows why she was not needed here either. Her search for a mole fails miserably, proving that her journalistic talent couldn't be used well, just like her character in its entirety.
Bhasad Macha, the song, sets up a maniac cop, which I did want to see more of in the film, but only that one dance had an impact. However, the background score by Jakes Bejoy does a little wonder in uplifting the film.
But Deva once again demonstrates that a predictable twist doesn't alter the fact that it's a remake!
Deva, the so-called "adaptation", tries to outrun its source material but ends up chasing its own shadow. While Shahid Kapoor’s performance flexes its muscle memory, the film itself suffers from amnesia, forgetting to tighten its loose ends.