Prajwal, Raghu deserved a better cop drama

Irrespective of the box-office fate of ‘Inspector Vikram’, the film will get a significant mention in discussion on Prajwal Devaraj’s career that’s blown hot and cold for over a decade now. The actor has looked out of place in most of his films post success of ‘Gelaya’ (2007). He was earnest in ‘Chowka’ but the 2017 blockbuster was a multi-starrer. It is only in ‘Gentleman’ (2020) that the actor has come close to understanding what works best for him.

Prajwal, seen in three shades in ‘Inspector Vikram’, performs well in two of them. The cop-drama tries to provide a ‘mass’ image to Prajwal with little success. Its dialogues and action-sequences are crowd-pleasing only on paper and lack the organic feel of enjoyable ‘masala’ entertainers. That said, Prajwal hits the target as a playful police officer, who turns intense later.

One wishes the film had an ambitious writer to offer a sensible story. Strong warning: don’t watch this flick expecting a gripping suspense thriller. The manner in which two police officers (Prajwal and Bhavana) bust a drug racket is juvenile. Even a high-profile murder case is solved as if it’s as easy as drinking a glass of water.

To an extent, the actors, the riotous dialogues and Naveen Kumar’s cinematography, which offers a classy tone to the movie make the film watchable. Dharmanna Kadur is hilarious as inspector Vikram’s (Prajwal) deputy. Raghu Mukherjee, with his bass-baritone, is a revelation and the film is bound to get him more villainous roles. Bhavana is the only miscast. She is too soft for a character that wants to be gutsy.

The film is a treat for ‘Challenging Star’ Darshan fans. It’s surprising that the actor, who is supposed to be essaying a cameo, gets a good chunk of screen time. Whether his role helps to elevate the plot is debatable. ‘Inspector Vikram’ should have focused on one genre. The likes of Prajwal and Raghu deserve an engaging whodunit soon.