Film: Devi 2
Director: AL Vijay
Cast: Prabhudeva, Tamannaah Bhatia, Nandita Swetha and Kovai Sarla
Rating: 1/5
Tamil cinema’s tryst with horror-comedy continues with AL Vijay’s latest offering Devi 2. Like most films in this genre in the recent past, it has nothing working in its favour. The film leaves one wondering as to why a sequel was even commissioned. Everything that worked in the first part, including the horror sub-plot with decent comedy, falls flat in the sequel. This film is mostly unbearable and has absolutely no redeeming moments.
Devi 2 is centred around Krishna (Prabhudeva), who is possessed by two spirits while his wife Devi (Tamannaah) tries to deal with the situation with the help of a friend (Kovai Sarla). In order to save her husband, Devi signs an agreement with the spirits and, in return, is assured of Krishna’s well being and services. On paper, it sounds like wacky idea and could’ve been fun but in reality it barely works.
In the first part, Tamannaah gets possessed by the spirit of a failed actress called Ruby. Devi 2 is set in Mauritius because Krishna is told by a god-man that if he finds a place that’s surrounded by water from all sides, no spirits can bother him or his wife. The idea of a soul with unfulfilled wish taking over a new identity to live her dream was well presented in Devi and so it worked. By flipping the idea on its head and using it on Krishna and expecting the same result is silly and that’s one of the primary reasons why Devi 2 is neither entertaining nor engaging.
Tamannaah, despite her earnest efforts to carry the film on her shoulders, can’t save Devi 2 from going down the drain. If there’s one person who deserves to be blamed for this blunder, then it has to be Vijay whose form is getting worse with each film. It is time he took a break and delved deep into his work to understand what’s going wrong. Prabhudeva plays his part aptly and as the hapless husband possessed by two spirits, he brings out versatility in his performance but at the cost of some dreadful writing. Nandita Swetha has little to contribute as she plays a character that’s mostly seen walking around throughout the film.
Devi 2 is proof to Vijay’s poor form and an inability to write something original and interesting. The mash-up of old scenes from other popular films in the second half of Devi clearly is an indication of dearth of originality. Vijay borrows scenes from Arjun Reddy and Ghajini and these tracks leave no impact whatsoever.
Follow @htshowbiz for more
First Published: May 31, 2019 17:04 IST
