Shahid Kapoor’s bad-good cop can’t arrest the slide – Beyond Bollywood

Director Rosshan Andrrews adds a strong motive for the crime in the Hindi remake of his Malayalam film Mumbai Police (2013), but can years of loyalty dissipate in a moment?

Rating: ⭐️⭐️ (2 / 5)

By Mayur Lookhar

The first month of 2025 comes to a close. January saw cinephiles embrace two good, righteous cops—Hathi Ram Chaudhary of Paatal Lok S2 and young Zahan Kapoor, who received much love for his portrayal of jailer Sunil Kumar Gupta in the Netflix series Black Warrant. From the good cops, fans will now welcome two badass cops—Deva, released today (31 January), and Himesh Reshammiya’s Badass Ravi Kumar, arriving next week.

Deva is the Hindi adaptation of Prithviraj Sukumaran’s Malayalam film Mumbai Police (2013). Director Rosshan Andrrews rightly helms the remake, with the Dalal brothers—Hussain, Abbas crafting the Hindi screenplay. Arshad Syed and Sumit Arora, too, have contributed to the writing.  We chose not to watch the Malayalam film, but reading about it, Andrrews and his Hindi remake writers appears to have made few tweaks.

Deva (Shahid Kapoor) is a badass Mumbai cop who has scant regard for rules and regulations. You don’t see him in uniform—he has his reasons. “When you do dirty things, you don’t insult the vardi (uniform) by wearing it.”

His brother-in-law, Farhan Khan (Pravessh Rana), is the Deputy Commissioner of Police. This connection doesn’t mean Khan condones Deva’s actions, but without stating it, he’s certainly saved Deva’s skin on a few occasions. Their lives change, though, when their colleague Rohan DeSilva (Pavail Gulatie) is shot dead while delivering his speech moments before receiving a bravery medal.

The film opens with a pensive-looking Deva riding his bike. He calls Farhan to tell him he has solved the case, but before he can say anything, he loses control and suffers a serious head injury in an accident. When he wakes up in the hospital, he has lost his memory. Farhan conceals this, believing Deva is the only one who can unravel the mystery again.

Viewers must decipher that themselves, but a protagonist losing his memory and navigating a thrilling, suspenseful crime trail is a tried-and-tested formula. Matt Damon’s Bourne trilogy is a modern classic in this regard. Though the two worlds are poles apart, Deva carries a slight Bourne nostalgia. 

Andrrews makes the right tweaks without altering the core story. As opposed to the original, the remake perhaps has a stronger crime motive, however, one is intrigued by how two incidents trigger a shift in loyalties for Deva and DeSilva, respectively. Any more detail here would be a reveal.

After a promising start, Deva struggles to maintain consistent engagement. Blame the dull screenplay. The inconsistent performances add to viewer frustration. 

Shahid Kapoor’s Deva is an intriguing case study. It is said he didn’t hesitate to bring his criminal father to justice. Deva and his team fail to nab notorious criminal Prashant Jadhav (Manish Wadhwa), who repeatedly escapes, fueling suspicion of a mole within the department. Surprisingly, it isn’t a cop but Deva’s journalist girlfriend, Diya Sathaye (Pooja Hegde), who first suggests this plausible theory.

Deva’s journey is such that he is a bad cop before the accident, while the good in him emerges after losing his memory. Can one blow to the head trigger such a shift in morality? That’s for medical experts to decide. 

As a bad cop, Deva smokes, drinks, flirts with women, and even has an affair with a married woman. He follows his own rules, lacks discipline, and is visibly uncomfortable of having awoman cop, Dipti (Kubbra Sait), in deadly combat situations. Jeez, Deva almost feels like a cousin to Kapoor’s toxic character in Kabir Singh (2019). But isn’t this the age of the swag-filled anti-hero? The hairdo and certain mannerisms also bring back memories of Haider (2014).  

The film’s poster perhaps hinted that Andrrews’ Deva is inspired by Amitabh Bachchan’s Angry Young Man avatar from the 70s-80s. Though a tribute, Deva isn’t anywhere close to Bachchan’s iconic characters from that era. The film, however, deserves credit for presenting a realistic picture of current policing, its ethics, and the political pressures.

Shahid Kapoor’s career has been marked by inconsistencies, and the same can be said of his performance in Deva. He is more natural in the bad cop avatar. The partial memory loss changes Deva completely—he now wears the uniform, is clean-shaven, speaks gently, and even respects his colleagues. At times, though, his body language mirrors Johnny Bravo. The banal screenplay and lack of support from other actors also weigh him down. However, if you dominate 95% of the screen time, the onus is on you to carry the film forward.

Pavail Gulatie’s Roshan DeSilva is likable for his impeccable honesty, but there is nothing else to the character. For a while, it feels like Pooja Hegde’s journalist character, Diya, has more to her than meets the eye, but eventually, she comes across as having more of an academic presence. As a journalist, it’s never pleasing to watch a cop rough up a humble receptionist at a newspaper office. Pravessh Rana tries hard to convince as an actor, and for once, he is watchable. Animal (2023) actor Upendra Limaye delights in his small cameo as a criminal sniper, whose services play a key role in solving the DeSilva murder mystery.

Deva (2025) has its creative flaws, but it scores high on cinematography and BGM. It has a couple of decent playback tracks. Jake Bejoy’s Marji Cha Maalik, with its Marathi lyrics, is an electrifying song, while Bhasad stands out for Shahid Kapoor’s riveting dancing. We’ve said it umpteen times, Kapoor’s dance skills are still largely underutilised in Bollywood. These aspects, however, can’t lift a dull screenplay.

Roy Kapur Films have generally invested in serious, real cinema, but this is perhaps an attempt to win over the masses. Deva, though, is unlikely to do that for Siddharth Roy Kapur. 

Though a remake, Deva had a promising plot, but the feeble screenplay and average performances will leave most audiences frustrated. 

Watch the video review below.