Nandamuri Kalyan Ram has made it a point to try out something new with his films. After Bimbisara, he is back at trying period drama subject with Devil which released today. Let us see whether the film has what it takes to keep the audience engaged/

Story: Devil(Kalyan Ram) is a British secret agent who is deployed to work on a sequence of mysterious murders in a remote rural heartland in India. He then falls in the trap of love, deception and backstabbing. The story has something to do with Indian army headed by Subhash Chandra Bose as well. Will Devil be able to track down the mystery behind the deaths?

How did the actors perform?

Kalyan Ram is fitting in the role of a British secret agent and he has the right demeanor for it. Samyuktha Menon plays an elongated role and she does a fine job at it. Vashistha Simha, Satya, Shafi, Ester, Ajay and Malavika Nair play other important roles and they are alright in the same. The focus is almost entirely on Kalyan Ram though. 

What about the technical finesse?

The film was initially directed by Naveen Medaram who was later replaced by the producer, Abhishek Nama himself. Anyways, the direction is of mediocre quality. The story, in itself had decent dose of twists and turns. It needed compelling visual storytelling and this is where the film has shortcomings as both halves have lag-ridden set of sequences. 

Background score by Harshavardhan Rameswhar is of elite quality. The cinematography and making values complement each other very well. The film looks rich. The editing should have been better as there is a fair bit of lag in either halves. 

Analysis: 

Devil is an investigative thriller that has a period set up and dates back to the British era. At the heart of it, the story deals with a British secret agent who is designated with the job of unearthing a series of mysterious deaths. Other track like Chandra Bose, Indian army, and others are added as subplots.

The issue with the film is that it keeps losing the steam more often than not. After a decent protagonist introduction sequence and related scenes, the pace of the narration drops big time till the pre-interval twist where the film takes a new turn. The interval bang is the saving grace of the otherwise weak first half. 

The investigative action drama starts in the latter half and it deal with Devil solving the mystery behind the murders. There are enough twists her but due to uneasy staging, some of them look forced and the climax looks farfetched with over the top action. With better handling and more novel narration towards the end, the film could have made for a far more better watch. 

Verdict: Devil is a middling investigative thriller that has shortcomings in terms of flow of proceedings. It has a few twists and turns that work in its favor. More tightly packed and compelling screenplay could have done a world of good for the film.

Rating:2.5/5