Packed with relentless action and sweeping visual spectacle but devoid of genuine emotion, Devara: Part 1 (Hindi) is strictly for fans of movies that, in the absence of a solidly original concept, seek to thrive on their epic scale, the star power at their disposal and an array of swords, scythes and short-blade scimitars. The film, set in the last two decades of the twentieth century, seeks to make up for what it lacks by way of storytelling sharpness with its technical flourish. But, barring a scene here or a shot there, it does not exactly soar to the heights one would expect from a production of this magnitude.
Apart from its stilted, even corny, dialogues, the film's biggest undoing is its rather tame, done-to-death good-versus-evil construct created around four villages nestled in a mountain that overlooks a shark-infested sea. The region has a history of violence and its inhabitants treat their weapons as God. The villagers inhabit a vast, fevered and bloody landscape in which men perpetrate unspeakable violence until the titular hero, who leads a band of hardy men who have no fear of the sea, has a change of heart and decides to stamp out evil from the face of the ocean and the settlements around it.
The lawless area is home to descendants of brave warriors who once fought the British rulers and triumphed. They now serve as sea pirates at the beck and call of arms dealers who spirit away their illegal consignments from sailing ships. One long sequence features a raid .