Movie: Touch Chesi Chudu
Rating: 2/5
Banner: Lakshmi Narasimha Productions
Cast: Ravi Teja, Raashi Khanna, Seerat Kapoor, Murali Sharma, JP, Savaji Shidne, Vennela Kishore, Satyam Rajesh, Pooja Jhaveri and others
Music: JAM8
Story: Vakkantham Vamsi
Screenplay: Deepak Raj
Cinematography: Chota K Naidu
Editor: Gautham Raj
Art: Ramana Vanka
Producers: Nallamalapu Srinivas (Bujji), Vallabhaneni Vamsi
Direction: Vikram Sirikonda
Release date: Feb 02, 2018
Ravi Teja made a successful comeback with “Raja The Great” last year after taking a brief sabbatical. Since he is known for mass entertainers, “Touch Chesi Chudu” made the right buzz.
Let’s find out if Ravi Teja can score another hit on the lines of “Raja The Great”...
Story:
Karthikeya (Ravi Teja), owner of Karthikeya Group of Industries in Pondicherry, loves his family to the core. On his family's insistence he agrees to go for pelli choopulu. He likes Pushpa (Raashi Khanna) at first sight, but his excessive talk offsets her. Later he apologizes and their romantic episodes continue.
One day, his sister watches the murder of a social activist and the murderer is none other than Irrfan who was the reason behind Karthikeya leaving his police job in Andhra Pradesh and settling down in Pondicherry.
What made him leave the job and who is Irrfan?
Artistes’ Performances:
Ravi Teja as the police officer is in his elements. True to his energetic nature, the mass maharaja has pulled off fun romantic episodes in the first half quite well.
Raashi Khanna looks quite glamorous and has done a neat job as Pushpa.
Seerat Kapoor gets typical heroine role in flashback episode but she once again fails to impress.
Vennela Kishore as comic cop, Murali Sharma as honest police are good. Suhasini is seen in a forgettable role.
JP as Ravi Teja’s father is okay. Main villain Freddy Daruwala is good.
Technical Excellence:
Chota K Naidu always shoots masala movies lavishly with ramp shots, slow-motion action shots. He has made the film look bright and his work is first rate in hero-elevating sequences.
Music by Jam8 (Bollywood music composer) is not effective though two songs are catchy. Editing lacks tautness.
Highlights:
Ravi Teja
Raashi Khanna’s glamour
Drawback:
Outdated story and screenplay
Weak narration
Boring second half
Silly climax
Analysis:
Ravi Teja has done many cop stories (like “Vikramarkudu”), and after a gap he has come back to the same genre, but he has lost grip to choose a story that is trendy and relevant to the current times.
The story of “Touch Chesi Chudu” written by Vakkantham Vamsi is totally clichéd from the word go.
A hero hiding in a place to avoid his past and getting drawn into the old life when one of the guys from his past resurfaces in his new place is a beaten-to-death story formula that was used by many writers and directors in the last twenty years.
Tired of doing same movies, Ravi Teja took a gap from movies for a year, yet one wonders what made him pick up this hackneyed storyline.
Formula stories work only when the narration is fresh and taut but unfortunately both the screenplay and direction are unoriginal.
In the first half, nothing much happens except the pelli choopulu scenes and some romantic episodes. Although they are predictable, the romantic thread on Ravi Teja and Raashi Khanna offers some fun thanks to Raashi Khanna who has slimmed down and looks gorgeous. Despite some old jokes like “Navve Muslim ni emantaru? Ismail”, there are couple of fun episodes that make a decent watch compared to its messy second half.
Just before the interval, the romantic thread comes to an end, and hero gets to see Irrfan, who is linked to his past life.
After interval, the movie entirely focuses on the flashback episode that progresses in the most anticipated manner – thread of a sincere cop taking on a politician is seen here.
In the flashback, senior actress Suhasini is introduced in a scene and a build-up is given that the emotional aspect of the movie is hinged on this, but after one scene, the writer and director forget this episode and Suhasini never appears again.
Pushpa aka Raashi Khanna who occupies the entire first half appears only when the end titles roll. There is a scene in the second half which lasts almost 10 minutes in which Ravi Teja goes to a political broker’s office to sip tea to seek information.
The director and writers must have thought this is smart writing, but it is awkwardly bad on screen.
Seerat Kapoor’s romantic angle is also poorly written – she loves him despite knowing that he doesn’t care for relations when he is on duty, yet she breaks up with him for the same reason!
The whole conflict seems too futile to place a story in this. The biggest issue is the poor direction apart from script issues. The director seems to have no idea how to present a commercial movie with Ravi Teja.
The plus points of the movie are Ravi Teja and Raashi Khanna’s episodes and production values. The director has tried to make it glossy with hollow scenes.
On the whole, “Touch Chesi Chudu” is a total let-down from the word go, as the story and packaging both lack appeal. It ranks as one of the badly made movies in recent times. A headache for sure.
Bottom-line: Don’t Touch!