Dhruv Sarja’s KD: The Devil attempts to deliver a grounded action experience but ultimately succumbs to a loud, generic gangster narrative, muddled storytelling, and excessive theatrics, sighs Arjun Menon.
Key Points
- KD: The Devil is a loud, generic gangster saga that fails to break new ground, relying on bloodshed and action set pieces.
- The film’s narrative is scattered, aiming for momentary doses of action, silly humour, and old-school plotting, but ultimately veers into ‘vile, loud theatrics’.
- Despite the presence of big-name actors like Sanjay Dutt and Shilpa Shetty, the film suffers from verbose screenwriting, ‘gimmicky’ editing, and a lack of character interiority.
- Director Prem’s excessive handholding and over-the-top style contribute to a tiring viewing experience, with performances aligned to the madcap tone.
KD: The Devil is Dhruv Sarja’s attempt at redeeming his star image after the abysmal brain rot action vehicle Martin which tested audience endurances levels for its sheer ludicrousness. This time, the action is much more grounded and visceral as opposed to the chest-thumping vulgarity that was sold off as action choreography in Martin.
KD: The Devil is a local gangster saga that is self-aware enough of its generic material to make for a passable action vehicle for its leading man.
The Plot and Rehashed Tropes
The film traces the life of Kalidas (Dhruv Sarja), a ruffian gangster, who makes a living, holding on to any and all work coming his way. He is not particularly different from any of the gangster stereotypes we have seen umpteen times played out on the silver screen. The film traces his journey up the world of underworld crime gangs and follows Kalidas on his fight to secure power by playing the system to his tunes.
KD: The Devil is a dull, slightly generic gangster saga that does not have any new ground to break and is comfortable being a futile exercise in bloodshed and action set pieces.
The director Prem, adept at churning out action films in the past, fails to prevent KD from veering into vile, loud theatrics of some recent wannabe ‘Pan Indian’ misfires.
KD: The Devil is loud, and one of the nastier theatre releases to have come out from south cinema this year. The violence, though never fully gratuitous, is always omnipresent and gory enough to elicit genuine disgust from the viewer.
Excessive Filmmaking and Awkward Relationships
Stars like Sanjay Dutt, Shilpa Shetty and Ramesh Aravind are thrown into an already chaotic world where the loudness is only met by the verbose screenwriting that prioritises dialoguebaazi to visual flourishes.
The characters talk and talk and talk to no end. The never-ending barrage of auditory information is supplemented with a ‘gimmicky’ editing style that makes the film restless in its very conception. It randomly cuts back to scenes, and inserts montages and filler scenes with an ‘Instagram reel’ like aesthetic.
No moments are allowed to breathe, and every line of dialogue ends up being a proclamation.
Director Prem’s handholding is excessive, and he is clearly in love with the promise of the jaded material, so much so that sometimes that gets the better of his filmmaking control.
The eccentricity is not limited to the visual scheme of the movie but the central relationship between Kalidasa and Macchlakshmi (Reeshma Naniah), both of whom indulge in a virtual shouting match for the entirety of the movie. These are supposed to be ‘cute’, courting scenes, aimed at making their encounters feel hyper energised. But the tonality of the performances and loud theatrics are pitched all wrong.
It’s tiring to sit through after a point.
The cinematography by William David oscillates between slick grandeur and unintentionally flat imagery at others.
Arjun Janya’s unconventional score is loud and awkward in its integration.
Performances and Final Verdict
The performances are aligned with the madcap style Dhurv Sarja is comfortable playing the rooted, Karnataka local boy, whose slippers get as much screen time as him. The actor finds ways to make the overwhelming action and slimy world-building work with his presence. There is only so much that can be done with such empty material, and Dhruv compensates with some goofball charm.
Sanjay Dutt has become a staple of South Indian action cinema of late, and he effortlessly hijacks passages in the film that might otherwise be unbearable. Veterans like Sanjay Dutt, Ravi Chandra and Shilpa Shetty lend some credibility to the vicious, unfiltered world of KD: The Devil. They make the broad, one-note writing land with their presence.
Ramesh Aravind is also well cast in a supporting role that steals some of the better moments in the film.
Spilling any of the plot points seems incidental as the overbearing formal loudness is the point. The generic gangster rising the ranks and intergang conflicts are painted with the broadest strokes. The focus is entirely on the overzealous filmmaking that hopes to turn the most mundane, cringe-inducing cinematic moment into a vignette of ‘heroic’ cinema.
There is a surprise towards the end that might work for some viewers as a welcome decision in an otherwise unending and infuriating series of questionable creative choices.
KD: The Devil is not a film by stretches of imagination and pretty much is satisfied being a showreel for its makers in mounting a spectacle. Unfortunately, the spectacle never arrives.
KD: The Devil Review Rediff Rating:
