‘Shiray shiray rakta, amra Dev-dar bhakta’. If you, as a cinegoer, identify with this slogan, then Dhrubo Banerjee’s latest period drama Raghu Dakat is the go-to big screen film for you this Durga Puja.

Ambitious in scale, the film boasts grand visuals, larger-than-life hero and villain, ornate costumes, and lavish sets. The end result, however, is more of a southern mass entertainer than a film rooted in Bengal.

Raghu Dakat is the name of a legendary bandit leader who terrorised zamindars and the British colonisers in Bengal in the 19th century. Banerjee’s film begins with the disclaimer that he merely borrows the name of the legend for his film. It is more a celebration of the idea of rebelling against oppression, than an adaptation of Raghu Dakat’s lore on screen.

Banerjee sets his film in the decades after the Sepoy Mutiny, when Queen Victoria’s reign had begun in India. Officers of the East India Company, aided by local landlords, had unleashed a reign of terror in Bengal, forcing peasants to give up their land, and pressurising them to grow indigo instead of crops.

To save the oppressed people, a hero rises from the ranks — Raghu Dakat becomes the saviour of the downtrodden. His arch enemy? Zamindar Ahindra Barman (Anirban Bhattacharya) of Rudrapur. The rest of the film follows how Ahindra tries every trick in the book to capture Raghu, and how the rebel bandit manages to outsmart his rival.

Dev delivered one of the most memorable performances of his career in his previous release Dhumketu. But his abs and biceps do the heavy lifting in Raghu Dakat.

Anirban channelises his stage experience to construct Ahindra Barman. But he could deliver this role even in his sleep. The female cast — Sohini Sarkar, Idhika Paul and Roopa Ganguly — are relegated to romantic subplots, barring an action scene or two.

What works in favour of the film is Banerjee’s conviction in his storytelling style. He is unabashedly over-the-top. The writing is melodramatic, background score loud, the dialogues massy. There are several slo-mo shots of the titular hero and his nemesis, turning them into legend-like figures.

But this also works against the film. Unless you are a hardcore Dev fan, it will take a lot of dedication to sit through 150-odd minutes of an unabashed celebration of Dev-ian aura. Every other scene feels eerily similar to a Baahubali, Mohenjodaro or Kantara.