Reviews & Ratings for
ദേവാസുരം (1993)

Devasuram [The God Demon] was recommended as a classic must watch Malayalam film from 1993 -- one of the best of Mohanlal's career. It's also considered one of the finest of director I. V. Sasi. The film was written by Ranjith who based the character of Mangalassery Neelakantan (Mohanlal) on his friend Mullasserry Rajagopal. Rajagopal, bedridden for years, had a passion for music, and his wife was devoted to him. He evidently joked that "Ranjith had not managed to show even half of what he did in his life." Mohanlal is Neelan, running through his inheritance from his father, a bit of a rowdy and a womanizer, but known for his love for music and the arts. He has a devoted land manager/servant who is really a father figure to him, and a small group of rowdy friends. The rowdy friends try to be loyal to him, but end up getting him into touchy situations. This film really has it all. Mohanlal is this macho manly figure, not afraid to leap into a fight, but who has the soul of an artist. He has a feud with a rival family that is revenge after revenge back and forth. There's a fantastic hate-to-love romance with Revathi, a young woman who is ready to start a career in professional classical dance. (And we have established how much I LOVE the hate-to-love trope.) Revathi is off the charts amazing as Bhanumathi, daughter of a feckless drunkard father. She is so arrogant and proud, and she explodes at Mohanlal's rowdies, who have come to ask her to dance at a temple event Mohanlal is sponsoring and help her fall down drunk father home they find outside the house. She assumes they are the ones who got him drunk in the first place, and yells at them to leave her property. That sets up the whole course of events to follow. Read the rest of my review here: https://moviemavengal.com/2016/09/16/devasuram-a-malayalam-classic-with-masterful-performances-by-mohanlal-and-revathi/