'Dev', starring Karthi and Rakul Preet Singh in lead roles, hit the screens this Thursday.  Here is our review of the latest box-office release.

Story:

Dev (Karthi) is an adventure-loving richie rich guy who loves to 'live' rather than just exist, and leads a happy life, traveling around the world with his friends, and capturing moments.

Enters Meghna (Rakul Preet Singh), a career-oriented, independent-minded entrepreneur who doesn't believe in relationships with men, but the journey Dev takes slowly makes her fall in love.

However, a conflict arises in their love and what happens next in Dev's life and love is what the movie is all about.

Analysis:

The first half of Dev moves at a leisurely pace, establishing the adventurous, "Live the moment" character of Dev, and the contrasting, diametrically opposite Meghna who isn't confident of choosing love due to her childhood struggles. With sequences presenting his bonding with his two friends (played by Amrutha Srinivasan and Vignesh Kanth), and songs at regular intervals, the movie never really gets into the plot nor does it have any conflict point established in the first half.

The second half adds to the audience's woes with its cliched moments.  In these portions, the scenes are so rudimentary that they should have been there in the first half itself.  The anti-climax phase should have been the film's interval point perhaps.  

Director Rajath Ravishankar narrates the second half thinking that he can be a Gautham Menon.  Conversations and jaded conversations dot the eventless story-telling.  Karthi starts acting super-cute while Rakul's characterization plumbs to lowest depths.  It's as if the enterprising, talented woman has seen everything in the world except the little joys that our jobless hero has to offer.  

The conflict point is forced, and the song placements add to the woes. The screenplay wanders from the paper-thin conflict to a hurried journey of self-discovery and realization, culminating in a fairytale ending.  

It's near-stupid that the second half treats the two friends of Dev in a step-motherly way.  And what were Ramya Krishna (as the heroine's mother) and Prakash Raj (as the hero's boring father) doing?  They practically get nothing to do.  

Karthi oozes energy and breathes life into the central character Dev, as he is instantly likeable and connects with the audience.  He fits the bill and gets most of the things right.  Rakul gets an inconsistently-etched character.  Yet, her performance is reasonably good.  The male sidekick of the hero fails to evoke laughter (his character has something to offer, though).  Ramya Krishna is underutilized in a role that offers her very limited screen space.

Harris Jayaraj's background score elevates several sequences.  The SPB-rendered song is beautiful.  Velraj's stunning cinematography captures the exotic locations.  The action sequences are a big turn-off, especially because they are force-fit into the narration.  Ruben's editing should have been better.  

Verdict:

'Dev' is a wafer-thin story that gets its story-telling all wrong.  The conflict is ineffective and the way the heroine's character falls apart is a travesty.  Karthi's characterization slides into ineptness once the rom-com track begins.  The comedy has a heavy Kollywood flavour.  Sluggish pace and forced moments add to the woes.