By Krishna Dua 
The Devil Review: Darshan Shines but Story Falls Short in 2025
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. Darshan’s riveting reincarnation as Karan Shetty, a vengeful architect dismantling a real-estate racket from the shadows, anchored the evening’s energy, his physicality and pathos drawing a standing ovation that drowned out the drizzle outside. Yet, as credits crawled and conversations ignited, the consensus crystallized: a powerhouse performance in a plot that promises thunder but delivers drizzle. “Darshan’s devil is divine—raw, real, redemptive—but the story stumbles in its own shadows,” reflected critic Sunayana Suresh of The Times of India, voicing the mixed murmur that has trailed this controversial comeback. With The Devil storming 1,300 screens across Karnataka on December 10—dubbed in Telugu and Hindi for a pan-South push—the film eyes a Rs 28 crore opening day, per trade trackers, navigating the tightrope between Darshan’s die-hard devotion and the scars of his 2024 Renukaswamy murder conviction.
The premiere, a spectacle of strobe lights and star cameos, featured tributes from Sudeep and Yash, who stood in for the incarcerated Darshan—serving life in Bengaluru Central Prison, granted interim bail for promotional duties—to underscore solidarity. Producer Nuvvu Naaku’s Ravi, navigating the throng, billed The Devil as “Darshan’s defiant diary,” filmed in 2023 amid pre-trial tensions. Protests prickled the perimeter: activists from the Karnataka Women’s Commission unfurled “Accountability Over Applause” banners, clashing with 4,000 fans firing fireworks in fervent defense. Advance bookings surged to Rs 13 crore in Karnataka, with Telugu territories adding Rs 6 crore, hinting at Darshan’s unyielding undercurrent. However, the buzz bifurcates—85 percent positive on BookMyShow previews, but Twitter’s tide splits 60-40, #DarshanDominates dueling #DevilDud in a digital dust-up.
Darshan’s Dominion: A Performance of Primal Power
Darshan Thoogudeepa, the 47-year-old “D Boss” whose box-office bravado has bankrolled 52 films since his 2001 Majestic breakthrough, reclaims the reel with The Devil amid a tempest of trial and triumph. His June 2024 conviction for the fan’s abduction and murder—tied to perceived slights against his private life—imposed a life sentence, a saga that singed his “Challenging Star” sanctity and ignited introspection on idol idolatry. Shot in 2023’s pre-penitentiary peace, The Devil deploys Darshan as Karan Shetty, a grief-gouged guardian avenging his father’s construction-site suicide by infiltrating a builder’s blackmail ring. His portrayal, a primal pulse of pent-up fury, seizes the screen: a sweat-slicked showdown in a skyscraper scaffold, muscles rippling as he dispatches henchmen with hydraulic heft, harks to his Robert (2015) rampage. “Darshan’s duality devastates—tormented titan, tender tragedy,” acclaimed Deccan Herald’s Supraja Prasanna, awarding 4/5 stars for the actor’s “visceral, victorious voyage.”
The buzz, however, bristles with barbs. Darshan’s brooding bravura, once a cinematic salve, now nettles naysayers: his Karan’s “alpha armor”—striding through stakeouts with swagger, seducing suspects with steely stares—feels fraught by the felon’s freight. Social media schisms: #DarshanDevastates racks 2.1 million posts with fan-forged fight montages, while #SkipTheDevil swells at 1.3 million, advocates like Pinki Virani decrying “hero worship of harm.” Telugu trials in Visakhapatnam hail the “mass monarch,” projecting Rs 42 crore Day 1 across AP-TS, but Chennai’s multiplex murmurs question the “questionable chronology,” with Tamil forums flagging Karan’s “possessive protector” persona as passé. Darshan’s dialogue dispatch, gravelly and gripping, lands haymakers—”Revenge isn’t rushed; it’s rebuilt brick by brick”—but off-screen optics overhang, his virtual premiere address from jail a poignant, polarizing punctuation.
Devil’s Draft: Plot’s Promise and Production Pitfalls
The Devil, Karthik Gowda’s fledgling directorial after assisting on Yash’s KGF: Chapter 2, is a 138-minute masala mystery that mashes moral mazes with muscle montages. Co-penned by Pawan Kumar Wadeyar of Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu fame, the tale twists in twilight-tinged Tumkur: Karan Shetty, shattered by paternal passing pinned on project pressures, goes guerrilla against a developer dynasty led by leering landlord Lakshman (Ravi Kale), unmasking a racket of rigged tenders and ruined lives. Darshan’s Karan cores the conundrum—a silent sentinel of simmering scorn, his arc from architect to avenger accented by adrenaline-fueled action: a high-tension heist on a high-rise harness, 18 stuntmen somersaulting in synchronized savagery, a monsoon muddle in a mine where mud mingles with malice.
Gowda’s greenhorn gusto gushes in action orchestration by Anbariv, the stunt savants from Beast, delivering Darshan-devised duels fusing Jason Statham stamina with Salaar’s spectacle. The soundtrack, a savage serenade by Charan Raj, pounds with percussive pummels underscoring Karan’s clashes. Cinematography by A.S. Ravi Kumar Shankar seizes Karnataka’s contrasts—from Coorg’s clouded canopies to Cubbon Park’s concrete canyons—with 4K ferocity. Twists tease: a mid-film mole maneuver flips fidelities, the climax’s courtroom clash—Karan cross-examining the cabal in a crumbling courthouse—tugs at Telugu tears.
Supporting surges: Rachita Ram as Karan’s kindred, a kickboxing kin with kicks that kindle, crackles with chemistry. Ravi Kale crunches the scenery as the cackling contractor, his villainy a vaudeville of vices offsetting Darshan’s depth. Vinod Kumar as Karan’s crusty confidant grounds the grit with gravitas. At 2 hours 18 minutes, The Devil dithers in its damsel detour—a romantic subplot lagging like a lost ledger—but barrels to a bang.
Buzz Bifurcated: Fans’ Fireworks Versus Critics’ Caution
The Devil’s dawn draws a dichotomous dawn. Sandalwood superfans, 7,000 strong at Orion Mall’s FDFS (first day first show), detonated for Darshan’s dagger dances, advances hitting Rs 16 crore in Karnataka. “D Boss demolishes detractors—haters hibernate,” hooted a fan vlog with 1 million views, splicing Karan’s knuckle-cracking with Allu Arjun’s alaap. Telugu territories teem: Vijayawada’s Sudigali Sudheer dubbed “mass mayhem,” projecting Rs 48 crore Day 1 across AP-TS. Hindi heartlands hum: Pune’s PVR previews pull whoops for Darshan’s “Dabangg daring,” eyeing Rs 14 crore northern nett.
Critics carve cautions. Deccan Herald’s Supraja Prasanna penned 3/5: “Darshan’s dominance dazzles, but the script stutters—vigilante vibes feel vintage.” The Hindu’s Sangeetha Devi Dundoo noted “potent punches in a pulpy plot,” 3.5/5, lauding the lead’s “raw resurgence” but lamenting “lazy l’amour.” Social sentiment skews 78 percent positive on Twitter—#TheDevilDestroys with 2.8 million mentions—but boycott brigades bark, women’s groups picketing 30 theaters with “Justice Before Jubilation” placards. OTT onramps: Netflix eyes a April 2026 stream, post-theatrical tally tipped at Rs 240 crore worldwide.
Comeback Conundrum: Darshan’s Divide and Deliverance
Darshan’s Devil dive is a daring dance on a dynamite fuse. Post-2024 verdict—life for the lurid lynching, out on Rs 28 lakh bail for shoots—his screen silence spawned sympathy surges and scorn storms. The film, frozen in 2023’s pre-prison purity, sidesteps scandal with Karan’s “kinship crusade” hook, a homage to Darshan’s “family fortress” fable. Box office barometer: Karnataka’s 1,200 screens signal sanctuary, but pan-India probe—Telugu with Nani’s narration, Hindi with Akshay Kumar cameo growl—tests tainted tides.
Producer Naaku vows “unfettered unspooling,” dubbing deadlines despite Darshan’s December 20 hearing. Fans fortify: “DBoss’s devil is deliverance,” croons a viral video with 1.5 million likes. Skeptics skewer: “Artistic amnesty?” queries a Filmfare feature, ethics etched at 2/5.
Verdict Vortex: Devil’s Due or Darshan’s Doom?
The Devil dazzles in darts—Darshan’s dark dynamo drives the delirium, a comeback cocktail of catharsis and controversy that captivates and cleaves. In Sandalwood’s savage surf, Karthik’s fledgling flick delivers daggers, but Darshan’s divide dictates destiny. Verdict: 3.5/5—devilishly diverting, daringly divisive. As screens ignite December 10, Darshan’s devil dances on—fans flock, foes flee?