Bengaluru’s Forum Mall multiplex crackled with a volatile mix of adulation and unease on December 9, 2025, as the premiere of The Devil thrust Darshan Thoogudeepa back into the unforgiving glare of Kannada cinema’s spotlight. The action thriller, directed by rising filmmaker Karthik Gowda and produced by Nuvvu Naaku under a Rs 110 crore banner, unspooled its 2-hour-18-minute reel before a 1,800-strong crowd of fans, filmmakers, and feminists, eliciting roars for the star’s screen dominance and ripples of reservation over its narrative lapses