Actor and politician, Devan stepped in the film industry as a producer with the 1985 Malayalam movie Vellam. After the failure of the movie, he moved on to become an actor and appeared in various movies in supporting roles. However, he was cast in lead roles much later in his career with movies like Oozham, Aaranyakam, Simon Peter, and Ninakku Vendi. His most notable works continue to be Ekalavyan, Baasha, and Indraprastha. In 2016, the actor was cast in Malayalam drama Ore Mukham co-starring Juby Ninan and Pragya Martin. His 2017 release includes the Malayalam language comedy Vishwa Vikyatharaya Payyanmar. Directed by Rajesh Kannankara, the movie stars Deepak Parambol, Aju Varghese, Manoj K. Jayan, and Hareesh Kanaran in the lead. His 2017 venture includes the comedy Hello Dubaikkaran, under the direction of Baburaj Harisri and Harisree Yousuf, starring Adil Ibrahim and Malavika Menon in the lead roles. He is associated with the 2018 Malayalam drama Premanajali directed by Suresh Narayanan and Imaikkaa Nodigal.