I am not really an expert on Indian cinema, but after so many years of movie watching, I like to consider myself reasonably well versed. I'm familiar enough with the common tropes that I can generally tell where a noir-tinged hyperviolent South Indian action movie is going, but every now and then I run into a movie like Sketch (2018), a movie which makes me say "Huh?"
Oh, it seems simple enough at first. Sketch (Vikram) is a repo man; if you miss your car payment, he'll steal it back. Sketch is good at his job, but his real genius lies in punching people. Fortunately, his job provides him with plentiful chances to punch, so he leads a simple but fulfilling life.
There are some complications, of course. While repossessing a scooter, Sketch catches sight of college student Ammu (Tamannaah), and is instantly smitten. That night, he boasts to his friends that he can woo her in two days, but in the light of day finds he can't work up the nerve, so he settles for lying to his friends and a little light stalking. The friends see through his lies soon enough, and thanks to a good reputation and a bit of luck, Ammu falls in love with Sketch.
One night Sketch impulsively promises his boss Seth (Hareesh Peradi) that he will retrieve a car from local crime boss Kumar (Baburaj). Kumar loves his car, and happens to be using it to transport drugs when Sketch takes it away from him, so it's not just a personal humiliation, it's a major blow to his professional reputation, and a furious Kumar orders his men to bring in an outside gang to kill Sketch and his friends. And sure enough, Sketch's friends are killed off one by one, leaving Sketch to avenge their deaths. And he does so! There is punching!
So far, it's all pretty typical for a South Indian action movie. The romantic plot is particularly thin (especially because the cut of the movie I watched left out all the songs!) and at times it seems like the narration is just papering over plot holes, but Sketch has the kind of hyper-masculine swagger that you only get with South Indian action heroes; it would be terrible in real life, but it's fun in an action movie. And there is plenty of action. I was not expecting the twist at all. I'm about to spoil it, so turn back now if you don't want to know.
Here's the twist: Kumar's out-of-town killers are are a bunch of idiots who couldn't murder their way out of a paper bag. They keep showing up just after Sketch's friends have been killed, and quietly take the credit. The real killers are a group of teenagers that work at the garage with Sketch; the kids felt that Sketch and his friends were standing in their way, and that they would never be the best at stealing cars with Sketch around. They ambush Sketch and stab him repeatedly while explaining their methods and motivation, but run away when they hear the sound of approaching police sirens. Near death, Sketch does what he can to cover for them, and the movie ends with a stern warning aboutthe dangers of child labor and the importance of education.
To be fair, the twist doesn't quite come out of nowhere. The murderteens are very minor characters, but they do appear in the movie before the big revelation, and Sketch does mention the child labor issue at least once. I don't think the viewer is provided with enough clues to guess the twist beforehand, but but everything does fit together. It's the sudden shift in tone, as the previously invincible hero is brutally attacked by a bunch of kids and the narrator directly addresses the audience about an IMPORTANT SOCIAL ISSUE that I found so jarring. It is a worthy moral that needed a lot more buildup.
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