Cast: Karthi, Rakul Preet Singh, Prakash Raj, Ramya Krishna, Amrutha Srinivasan, Vignesh and others
Director: Rajath Ravishankar
Tamil actor Karthi is known to Telugu audiences as his films have done quite well here in the past. Perhaps because of this, Dev, his latest, was dubbed and released at the same time as the Tamil original. Rahul Preet plays the female lead in the film helmed by Rajath Ravishankar.
Adventure-loving Dev’s (Karthi) friends (Amrutha and Vignesh) send a random friend request to Meghana (Rakul Preet Singh) from his Facebook account. Meghana is a businesswoman and hates men as her father left the family when she was a child. Still, she falls for Dev when she sees a viral video showing him rescuing a girl from goons. Both decide to meet, the question is will they overcome their problems.
The film has different shades but director Rajath Ravishankar does not focus on any of them. The protagonist likes adventure but there are only two scenes of his climbing Mount Everest. There are not too many romantic scenes between the lead pair, and no, Dev does not fall in the category of family drama though there are families who are seen only in a couple of scenes.
There is no evidence of a plot. Slow narration, boring scenes and dull dialogues test the patience of the viewer. One wonders how an actor like Karthi could accept such a subject, given his track record. Another big minus is the very artifical chemistry between Karthi and his friends and between the Karthi and Rakul Preet Singh.
Karthi is the only saving grace for this film. He fits the role of an adventure junkie but he cannot do much without strong content to back him up. Rakul Preet is just okay and she doesn’t share any chemistry with Karthi on the screen. Vignesh has a a meaty role, but his jokes don’t get many laughs from the audience.
Prakash Raj and Ramya Krishna are major actors, but the director has completely underplayed them by giving them cameos. The cinematography is good and the music by Harris Jayarj is average. The dialogues are not written well.
‘Dev’ doesn’t have a proper plot and it shows on the narration. There is not a single interesting scene. In fact, it is difficult to slot the film into any genre.
