Koratala Siva is the writer and director of the upcoming Telugu-language action movie Devara: Part 1 (transl. God: Part 1). Under the production companies Yuvasudha Arts and N. T. R. Arts, Sudhakar Mikkilineni and Kosaraju Harikrishna produced the movie, which stars N. T. Rama Rao Jr. in the lead role. Saif Ali Khan, Janhvi Kapoor, and Shruti Marathe, who are all making Telugu debuts, also star. Prakash Raj, Srikanth, Shine Tom Chacko, and Narain round out the cast.
This is the first of two parts in the movie. Since it is Rama Rao’s thirty-first film in which he plays the lead, the movie was first publicly announced in April 2021 under the working title NTR 30, while the real title was revealed in May 2023. In Hyderabad, principal photography started in April 2023.
Devara is scheduled for a theatrical release on 27 September 2024
Cast
- N. T. Rama Rao Jr. as Devaraju “Devara”
- Saif Ali Khan as Bhaira
- Janhvi Kapoor as Thangam
- Shruti Marathe as Devara’s wife
- Prakash Raj
- Srikanth
- Shine Tom Chacko
- Narain
- Kalaiyarasan
- Murali Sharma
- Ajay
- Abhimanyu Singh
Production
Development
It was announced in April 2021 that Rama Rao and Siva would work together on NTR30, their second joint project following Janatha Garage (2016).The movie was announced on Ugadi, April 13, 2021, and is being produced by Yuvasudha Arts and N. T. R. Arts. But Siva’s obligations to Acharya and Rama Rao’s to RRR had caused a delay in the production’s commencement.
Compared to his first film, Mirchi (2013), Siva called it a “large-scale project that has more commercial appeal”. Filming has been postponed until late 2022 because Siva wanted to make the necessary revisions to the script before submitting it as a draft, in response to Acharya’s box office flop. Siva began the pre-production work for the by November.
Production was originally scheduled to start on February 24, 2023, but it was postponed because of Taraka Ratna’s passing and Rama Rao’s involvement in the RRR Academy Awards campaign. On March 23, 2023, the movie was formally released with a puja ceremony in Hyderabad that was attended by S. S. Rajamouli, the actors, crew, and before the muhurat shooting. Official announcements of the movie’s title, Devara, were made on May 19, 2023. Siva revealed on October 4th that the movie would be divided into two sections.
Casting
Anirudh Ravichander, musician; R. Rathnavelu, cinematographer; A. Sreekar Prasad, editor; Sabu Cyril, production designer; Kenny Bates, stunt choreographer; and Brad Minnich and Yugandhar T., supervisors of visual effects.
Rashmika Mandanna, Mrunal Thakur, Alia Bhatt, and Shraddha Kapoor were all considered for the female lead role, but all declined it. It has been confirmed that Janhvi Kapoor will play the major role in her first South Indian film.Speaking at the India Today Conclave, Janhvi referred to working with Rama Rao as a “dream come true” experience, recalling how, in previous interviews, the actor’s film helped her make her breakthrough in the South Indian industry. It was announced in February 2023 that Saif Ali Khan, Vijay Sethupathi, and Chiyaan Vikram would portray the antagonists. Given the previous
By attending the premiere, Prakash Raj and Meera Jasmine became involved with the movie. Additional supporting cast members, Tarak Ponnappa and Mani Chandana, joined the picture in May 2023. The casting of Shine Tom Chacko in the movie was revealed in June 2023.After a few preliminary scenes were filmed, Kalaiyarasan Harikrishnan, Narain Kumar, Murali Sharma, and Abhimanyu Singh joined the cast as well. According to rumors that first arose in February 2024, Marathi actress Shruti Marathe had been selected to co-star with Jr. NTR. In an interview with the Marathi Star Media portal, Shruti affirmed this.
Filming
With Rama Rao present, principal photography in Hyderabad began on April 1, 2023. Janhvi and Khan joined the sets in the middle of April.The team took a two-week break in mid-May after Rama Rao left for a family trip. On June 7, 2023, filming got back underway. Over the next 14 days, a few key scenes with Rama Rao, Khan, and other cast members were shot there.This program included the filming of multiple action scenes, one of which was shot in extremely low light.After a quick month-long hiatus, the team returned to film an underwater action scene on July 31, 2023.Rama Rao prepared for this specific program by training with Mumbai-based professional swimmers.Some of the scenes were filmed in September at a specially built beach.
The creators shot the underwater action scene in Hyderabad on October 4, 2023, which will wrap up the schedule after it was finished. The group thereafter relocated to Goa in order to record the parallel schedule for Dusshera on October 24, 2023. Janhvi wrapped up filming her scenes on November 1st. After celebrating Diwali (12 November 2023), the crew took a break and returned to work two days later for a second, quick schedule. After finishing the Goa schedule on November 20th, the team went back to Hyderabad for a short schedule that was shot in the middle of December. According to Kalyan Ram, by late December 2023, 80% of the film’s shooting had been finished, and by January 2024, it would be finished.
Music
Anirudh Ravichander, who previously composed the soundtrack album and background score for Agnyaathavaasi (2018), Jersey (2019), and Nani’s Gang Leader (2019), is working on his fourth Telugu film. In addition, this is Siva’s second collaboration with a music director other than Devi Sri Prasad, who he works with frequently. November 2022 marked Anirudh’s beginning of the film’s musical compositions.
First track “Fear Song” was made available on May 19, 2024.
Release
Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada theatrical releases of Devara: Part 1 are planned for September 27, 2024.The movie’s original release date of April 5, 2024 was eventually rescheduled.
domestic media
Netflix purchased the film’s digital distribution rights.