Sketch - Languid mix of action and romance

Its almost a year and a half since Chiyaan Vikram's crowd pleaser 'Iru Mugan' released and his fans would sure be making a beeline for his latest outing 'Sketch' directed by 'Vaalu' helmer Vijay Chander. Will this languid mix of action and romance satisfy "the Vikram" fans remains to be seen.

Sketch (Vikram) is your local Royapuram rowdy with a golden heart whose job is to cease vehicles of loan defaulters of a financier Sait (Hareesh Peradi). His friends and colleagues are Sriman, 'Kabali' Vishwanth and Chitti and the foursome cease a vehicle of a college girl (Sri Priyanka) which irks her friend Ammu (Tamannaah) who argues with them on her behalf and walks straight in to the heart of Sketch. Meanwhile there is a subplot involving Sketch's rivalry with other gang leaders Ravi (R.K. Suresh) and Kumar (Baburaj) who swear to bring him down when the time comes. Meanwhile Sketch stalks Ammu and after many contrived situation gets her to fall for him when an incident gets the two gangs and the police come after him. Did the hero escape from the sketch of his enemies and live happily ever after with his girl forms the rest of the story.

Vikram as Sketch tries his best to infuse energy and swagger into a character written on thin ice. His fans get to cheer for him only in the dance and fight sequences and those expecting an emotional display are denied that right till the very end. Tamannaah as the Brahmin girl Ammu is easy on the eyes and excepting the two songs in which she sizzles has nothing more to do in the screenplay. She keeps telling the hero that she would like to prove her love for him by living with him, which is unconvincing as there is absolutely nothing written in the scenes she can see in him to fall for him, not even by means of the blandest commercial cliches. Kalloori Vinod as Chitti, one of Vikram's friends scores with his comedy timing while Sri Priyanka and Soori are wasted in inconsequential roles. Hareesh Peradi, Sriman, 'Kabali' Vishwanath, Baburaj and Velaramamurthy are the other known faces in the cast.

In the climax there is a strong message to the audiences regarding the evils of child labour and how a society can help eradicate it which is the sole high point in the screenplay of  'Sketch'.

On the downside at rock bottom, one wonders how a star actor of Vikram's stature could ever visualise himself in such a pointless character. The romance portions are juvenile and pedestrian including the watch gift used as a motif. Scenes like the heroine taking the hero to the house of her prospective groom is passable the first time but when the same is repeated again a migraine sets in. The scarcity of comedy is compensated by the age old cliches and a pathos song by Vikram after Tamannaah leaves him that evokes ripples of unintentional laughs. Lack of imagination in the execution strips the audiences off emotions.

Thaman's music is the saving grace of 'Sketch' with the songs 'Atchi Putchi', 'Kanave Kanave', 'Chillalae' and 'Dhadhikara' all being enjoyable on screen too. His peppy background score is the reason one can sit through till the end. Sukumar has taken care of the cinematography with no dents to his career graph. The wayward narration and inconsistent pacing makes one wonder if editor Ruban could have put in much more effort. Writer director Vijay Chander had obviously set his message as the center point and wove a screenplay of crime, suspense and romance to reach to it. However the regressive approach he chose to tell his story dilutes his goal and in the end he has to resort to voice over to spell out his message as the screenplay fails to do it. Time for filmmakers to realise that Tamil audiences are ready to lap up complex and intricate concepts such as 'Vikram Vedha' and 'Aruvi'.

Verdict : Go for it if you are a fan of Vikram and you are undemanding in your expectations.