KD: The Devil (Kannada)
In Jogi (2005), filmmaker Prem explored the theme of rural youth encountering startling disillusionment in big cities like Bengaluru. The naive, wide-eyed protagonist of that film falls prey to the immoral underworld of the city and ends up wielding the axe, triggering a life of bloodshed. Taking the young man to a point of no return, Prem, with his own hyperbolic syntax, professed that such journeys conclude on tragic notes, despite any intervention.
The same premise returns more than two decades later in the writer-director’s latest, KD: The Devil, albeit in a different setting. The rural-to-urban migration is discarded, but the essence of the protagonist remains the same, with Prem cranking up the budget for what he believes to be (yet another) pan-Indian spectacle. The timeline is shifted to 1970s Bengaluru, with a highly exaggerated and barely believable gangster milieu serving as the story’s canvas. Dhruva Sarja plays the gullible, cloyingly innocent protagonist, Kaali. Ramesh Aravind plays his righteous older brother, Sanjay Dutt predictably plays a ruthless don (named Deva), and Shilpa Shetty returns to Kannada cinema as his trophy wife. The violence, too, is dialled up under the latest delusion that this is exactly what today’s desensitised generation expects from a big-ticket movie.
However, despite all the embellishments, KD: The Devil comes across as an unfocused saga that doesn’t know what to do with its central idea. On the one hand, Prem, in an apparent pursuit to justify his superstar leading man’s mass appeal and the project’s bloated budget, resorts to a kind of sensationalism that never really lands or feels authentic. The performances of the majority of the cast — particularly of the two leads, Dhruva Sarja and Reeshma Nanaiah — border comfortably on the self-parodic, while the overall look and texture of the film carry a strong dose of artifice. The production design is rife with facade-like set pieces that don’t give the viewer any sense of geography or time period, and the cinematography is appropriately synthetic-looking. Simultaneously, the writing remains defiantly distracted, meandering across sentimentality, humour, and action without a clear purpose. “Cacophonous” would be the operative word to describe the experience that KD: The Devil is, but not the kind that is intentional or stylistic.
This brazenly titled film was mired in controversy very recently over the lyrics of one of its songs, a dance ‘item’ number (which has thankfully been removed from the final film), that were almost unanimously declared crass and distasteful by its listeners. The collective recent form of director Prem and actor Dhruva Sarja, too, does not necessarily inspire confidence, causing the bar of expectations to be set fairly low. Yet, where some credit is due, KD: The Devil does boast a storyline that is both promising and resonating. You have Kaali, who is forced to choose between a morally upright brother and a gangster he has grown up admiring. You have a world of crime and politics that brims with exciting opportunities and characters. You also have a narrative with scope for ample originality, but none of them is of any avail if the very intent is misguided.
The underlying reason for all the shortcomings would be the director’s extremely archaic approach. The brand of humour here is either offensive or a little too silly. Songs and background score are employed for no strong reason except to maintain high-decibel energy. Continuity issues, a screenplay without any sense of staging, and a flamboyance in style that quickly turns into unchecked excess all hamper what could and should have been a much more worthwhile viewing. It almost becomes an act of self-sabotage for Prem, who refuses to acknowledge the emotional heft of his story and instead goes through a banal checklist of supposedly mandatory ingredients. The same inattentiveness may also explain why he leaves the meat of the story uncooked, seemingly for a proposed sequel (titled KD: Evil’s Kingdom).
Nevertheless, a few moments work in the film. P Ravishankar’s character as the cop trying to apprehend Deva briefly elevates the narrative. The dynamic between Ramesh Aravind and Dhruva Sarja’s characters has a spark of its own as well, with some of the action blocks (such as the one taking place inside a movie theatre) showing off neat choreography and execution.
That said, KD: The Devil is ultimately tiresome. It has an energy that never strikes a chord, and its sensibilities certainly do not align with what you expect from a major studio production. Could better, more bearable performances have saved the day? Quite possibly. Could it have benefited from an economical screenplay that is aware of what it is doing? Yes again. But this all feels like wishful thinking, given how lacklustre the film is to begin with. For now, it only marks a marginal improvement for its marquee names compared with their previous efforts, which, in the end, is hardly much to celebrate.
Swaroop Kodur is a freelance film writer, critic, and fledgling filmmaker.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film’s producers or any other members of its cast and crew.