Devadas Brothers movie review: Despite a run time of less than 100 minutes, sitting through this film is an uphill task

1.5/5

Story: Four youngsters decide to take revenge against their girlfriends for dumping them without an explanation. After a point, they lose control over themselves and indulge in serious crimes. Will they be caught? 

Review: Janakiraman's Devadas Brothers begins with an aerial shot of a railway track on which four youngsters, played by Dhruvva, Hari Krishnan, Ajay Prasath and Bala Saravanan, are seen lying to commit suicide. They all have one thing in common which unites them - frustration over having dumped by their girlfriends. The film then switches to flashback mode and we are introduced to each of them, belonging to different walks of life, falling for four girls (played by Sanchita Shetty, Shilpa Manjunath, Deepthi Manne and Aara) in an unconvincing manner. 

At a certain point, their girlfriends leave them citing lame reasons. Heartbroken and quite disturbed by their lovers' sudden change in behaviour, they decide to end their lives. However, the jilted men reconsider their decision, plan to take revenge against their lovers and resort to wayward ways. Will they get back together?              

The only positive aspect of the film is its duration. Despite a run time of less than 100 minutes, it is an uphill task to sit through the movie, thanks to weak characterizations, generic staging of sequences and cringeworthy dialogues. Though the plot revolves around the four protagonists setting out to take revenge against their lovers, we hardly empathize with them because of the lack of an engaging screenplay. 

It's true that the girls dumped them for no reason, leaving them shattered. But their relationships appeared fragile from the beginning, and hence, the revenge angle falls flat. Moreover, the four of them come up with insensitive and cruel ideas to deal with their breakups, leaving the viewers furious. 

The unapologetic misogynistic portrayals and sexist dialogues make things worse as the story progresses. The irony is one of the heroes, who saves a girl from getting attacked from a bunch of rogues, ends up becoming one, indirectly justifying the attack on women. Though the director comes up with an abrupt climax, in which the revenge-seeking men realize their mistake, the damage has already been done, thanks to the sequences in which they intrude their privacy and plan to attack them with acid. The transformation, too, appears forced. 

Robo Shankar's cameo and Mayilsamy's appearance in crucial scenes leave no impact. Ganesh Chandra's cinematography is okay while Dharan Kumar's songs which appear every 10-15 minutes test our patience. Needless to say, actors have no scope to perform in a poorly written screenplay. 

Verdict: Devadas Brothers is a hotchpotch of regressive ideas and underdeveloped characters. With hardly any aspect of the film deserving appreciation, it is better to avoid the film.

Devadas Brothers is streaming on Netflix.