Dev - Film Review

Dev is a film about Meghna. Actually. There’s more “Meghna” in the film than Dev himself. Meghna is a young successful lady raised by a single mother. She doesn’t trust men due to her unsavoury childhood memories when her father deserted her. A classic case of rags to riches story, Meghna’s life is full of grit, determination and hard work for which she’s rewarded across the world while she runs a successful firm in the USA. That’s when she gets noticed by Dev, whose friends send her a Facebook request which she eventually doesn’t accept. After all, she has over 4,000 friend requests pending on her profile which she informs Dev when they meet for the first time. Dev impresses her over the course of time and they agree to live together all their life. For a frivolous reason, they get separated only to get back together on top of Mt. Everest, of all places.

The film starts with Dev, a young man who’s fond of adventures trying to scale up the tallest peak on earth even as his is friend is narrating the story through a stand-up comedy show (sic). Dev is swept off an avalanche and the Everest crew is trying to find him and then the film revolves around his flashback. Karthi and Rahul join together after the much acclaimed Dheeren Adhigaram Ondru (2017) where she played a cameo, Their screen presence as a pair is fantastic and they look nice together, though the Director Rajath Ravishankar has simply packed too much screenplay in the movie. There are many instances where one feels that a particular scene or even dialogues are just not needed. And there are a lot many times one would feel so.

Meghna’s friend finally nails it when she asks him if she’s unreasonable and selfish to which he responds in the affirmative. She rushes back to Dev with an air-ambulance only to rescue him from Mt. Everest where Dev is trying his mental stamina staying away from her. All is well that ends well.

The film didn’t do well at the screens and I finally managed to catch it on a plane up and down to Bangalore this week, Thanks to SunNxt App where it’s now available to watch. With Bose earplugs, I could get a great sense of Harris Jayaraj’s re-recording and dialogues in crisp audio. The songs were a hit as always with Harris and the visualisation is equally good. The story of Meghana & Dev is atypical of boy/girl next door and many of us would be able to relate to their tantrums. However, there is a hue disconnect somewhere – the Director misses to portray the plot. Perhaps he’s too outspoken about today’s generation which decides relationship goals in a jiffy. Or he’s trying to be preachy. Whichever way, the film lacks the punch even as Karthi, Rahul, Ramya Krishnan & Prakashraj give their best. Amrutha Srinivasan as Dev's friend and RJ Vignesh who plays a pivotal role all through the film has made a good debut with Dev and looks like he has a great future ahead.

Catch up Dev on the OTT this weekend.