nivygal24

I think most people have accepted that the Bhool Bhulaiyaa franchise has evolved into a purely comedic one, and this iteration entirely fails at that comedic purpose - there are a handful of one-liners that Kartik Aryan struggles to deliver with comedic timing, and the rest of the jokes that relate to the plot either make no sense or drag the plot on in a way that makes this terribly un-engaging and difficult to keep watching.

This 3 hour snooze fest also lacks any buildup, character development, or real suspense. The reveals are thrown in randomly so they come off as really unsatisfying. They try to throw in a big twist at the end but it is unrewarding as you have just sat through 3 hours of an unintelligible plot line. Everything from the love story to the ghost reveal has zero plot development.

Agni makes a commendable attempt at highlighting otherwise ignored firefighters, and brings an audience - otherwise unaware of the challenges faced by firefighters - into this world. That alone makes the movie interesting, but its attempt at stringing together a plot is forced at best and illogical at worst.

The plot centers on a father who leads his firefighting unit but is unappreciated for his work by his son. He encounters a series of mysterious fires across Mumbai, investigating them for arson. The nature of the final reveal to the audience is not very subtle or suspense-inducing, and in the end, it does not make much sense.

The firefighting scenes are done quite well, however, and make it moderately entertaining.

The plot and style is, expectedly, almost identical to Bahubali, but Devara feels much more immature in its screenplay, pace, and suspense. The plot itself lacks the grandeur of Bahubali, but the plot development and screenplay failed to make up for that shortcoming.

It is full of action scenes and tension, but the only real entertaining suspense/twist comes at the end of the movie - otherwise there is limited suspense throughout. The characters - played by NTR, Janhvi, and Saif - also offer far less depth than those in Bahubali.

Overall - mildly entertaining watch but not a stellar movie/must watch by any means.