TollywoodRavi Teja plays a killer-cop-turned-calm-cop who used to believe in encounters, that led him to a confrontation with a politician and his gangster scion.Krishna SripadaCourtesy: Touch Chesi Chudu Fb pageTouch Chesi Chudu starts with a scene that demonstrates like a routine Physics experiment how dangerous the antagonist is. Bad omen. The scarier the villain, the funnier his demise at the hands of the hyperactive, testosterone machine that our protagonist will turn out to be. Then cut to the hero – he is the perfect family man. That level of over-action can only mean one thing – there is a flashback. Surprise, surprise! The flashback cannot arrive anytime before the interval bang. So, the genius that is the modern-day moviemaker gets to work – how to kill time until we reach the interval. And lo and behold, the role of the heroine is moulded. Bring in an actor, make her sing a couple of songs, show a couple of emotions in the usual order – indifference, irritation, anger, condescension, realisation and finally, yes we’ll get there, love. By this time the protagonist has moved on to another girl – he is in a hurry to get married – arranged, mind you – because family is ‘devine’ (this is not the spelling I use, it is from a poster in the movie). After conniving cutely (what’s with Telugu movie heroines and the over-dosage of forced cuteness), in a weird twist of her affections, Pushpa (Rashi Khanna) gets Kartikeya (Ravi Teja) to fall for him. A collective sigh of relief mixed with perplexed amazement emanates in the hall. With her purpose achieved, Pushpa disappears from the screenplay – she symbolically appears during the end titles. Oh, the irony! ‘We’ve got to please the feminists,’ a sneaky voice probably whispered during the screenplay writing sessions. Kartikeya was once a cop, a killer cop, who breathed duty to the extent that he forgot his family and his fiancé (Seerat Kapoor). Frustrated with his attitude, she breaks up with him – why she even fell for him in the first place is the million-dollar question; he barely even looks at her at any point. Kartikeya believed in heroic encounters, eventually leading him to a confrontation with a politician from the Old City and his gangster scion. And the movie dangles in front of us cliffhanger questions – will Kartikeya, who took a sabbatical (was it?) from his cop duties for almost half a decade, return? Is Irfan Lala, whom he had once supposedly killed, alive? Imagine three turns of the head, TV serial style. These edge-of-the-seat questions (sarcasm is exhausting) ensure we resist the headache right till the end when Kartikeya, now a changed, balanced man, proposes to Pushpa. But not before he shoots the antagonist. Almost an anti-climax, right? No furniture-breaking, no glass-scattering. No punch dialogues. Count these as a plus. With a shake of the head, amused at how low Pushpa’s standards are and how little she expects from her Main Man Ray – probably bred on Telugu movies from her teenage – we leave the place. The movie was shot in Pondicherry. Ravi Teja looks really slim. Rashi Khanna has improved immensely in the acting department – acting cute, because there is barely any scope beyond that for the heroine in a commercial blockbuster. There, added three positives about the movie too. They are enough, if our standards are the usual. Vikram Sirikonda’s first major outing as a director barely excites considering the standard template he has chosen from Vakkantham Vamsi, who churns out popcorn blockbusters – for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The staid plotline doesn’t really get a lift from the score Pritam (another import) offers. The leading ladies are probably the only ones who can walk away with their heads held high. What was Suhasini even doing in a movie like this? That and many other questions need to be buried for now. Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither Tnm nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film’s producers or any other members of its cast and crew.
- 2/2/2018
- by Editor
- The News Minute
EntertainmentRavi Teja has a unique sense of humour that has enthralled audiences for several years now, and he shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.Hemanth Kumar C RImage: Facebook/Touch Chesi ChuduRavi Teja is a ball of energy, but a man of few words. It might sound like a paradox, but it couldn’t be more true, every time he begins talking about his work. Sample this; At a recent interaction with the media when he was asked about the difference between his style of humour today compared to what he done a decade ago, his reply is terse at best. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m sure you know it,” he says. The awkward pause following his statement is broken by a wide grin from the actor, who moves on to the next question. Yet, you can’t get over his unique sense of humour that has enthralled the audience for several years now. And he shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. In his upcoming film Touch Chesi Choodu, the actor plays a cop for the umpteenth time in his career. He had done it earlier in Venky, Vikramarkudu, Power, and also played an undercover cop in Mirapakay, Khatarnak to name a few. In his recent film, Raja The Great, in which he played a visually-challenged person, his character (Raja) aspires to become a police officer. This obsession with playing a cop doesn’t seem to end anytime soon. What more, Ravi Teja confesses that he hasn’t grown tired of it. “Most of the roles that I’ve played so far (as a cop) have been kind of serious in nature. But in ‘Touch Chesi Choodu’, I’m playing someone who’s very witty and sarcastic. Although it’s also a serious character who’s duty-minded, there will be lots of fun,” he assures. Having said that, the actor abides by a simple rule that has been, sort of, a guiding force in his career. “I don’t think about the past. I only try to focus on what I’ve at the moment. Besides, I don’t believe in planning. You just have to do what you feel is right,” he opines. Ask him if anything has changed in his career over the years, the actor confesses, “In the beginning, I don’t think I took my career so seriously. Now, the stakes are high and naturally, I have a lot more responsibility on my shoulders.” Interestingly, he also says that he fears nothing and he has nothing to lose now. Yet, there’s always a catch, which explains why his range of choices, at least in recent times, haven’t been so bold so to speak. “Whatever (film) I choose, I make sure that it’s entertaining because that’s what is working for me. There was a time when I did some really good films like ‘Autograph’ and ‘Nenithe’; however, none of them worked at the box-office. Maybe they would have worked well (at the box-office), if they had released now. That’s the reason why I give so much importance to humour in all my films.” Talking about humour, Ravi Teja opines that his films, even though he plays similar hyper-energetic roles, vary depending on the director’s sensibilities. “Anil Ravipudi’s sensibilities are different from those of Vikram Sirikonda; Harish Shankar has a different approach compared to Sampath Nandi. All of them understand what my style of humour is like and it’s a collaborative effort. Thankfully, I haven’t gotten bored of what I do because the young directors today are coming with some really cool ideas. It’s an encouraging sign for the industry.” The actor is all praise for Touch Chesi Choodu director Vikram Sirikonda, who was a former associate of Vv Vinayak, and had also worked as a screenwriter for Ravi Teja starrer Mirapakay. “Vikram came to the industry to become a director and he worked with the likes of Vv Vinayak and Raghava Lawrence. I was supposed to work with him for another story; however, that didn’t work out. Thankfully, he took up a script written by ‘Vakkantham Vamsi’ and he approached the story in his own way. You’ll see a different side of my acting persona with this film and full credit to Vikram. Both my co-star Raashi Khanna and Seerat Kapoor have done a wonderful job.” Interestingly, Ravi Teja is one of the most popular Telugu actors in the hinterlands of North India. Nearly all his films that released in the past few years were dubbed in Hindi, and thanks to multiple telecasts on Set Max, Sony TV network and other TV channels, the actor has found a new legion of fans in places as far as Darjeeling. Recalling a funny incident when he was filming for Raja The Great, Ravi Teja says, “I was stunned when several people in Darjeeling recognised me while I was filming there. That’s when I realised the reach that Telugu films (dubbed in Hindi) had in all these markets. They seem to be loving our brand of commercial entertainers.” On the contrary, the actor admits that he has no specific plans to cater to this market in near future. “The market for Telugu films has increased, thanks to Rajamouli and his films like ‘Eega’ and ‘Baahubali’. If I get an offer to act in a Hindi film, I will consider it, but at the moment, I’ve lot of work to focus on in Telugu,” he says. It goes without saying that no one has ever been able to emulate his style of dialogue delivery or comic timing. Be it his style in Venky or Mirapakay, Ravi Teja’s brand of comedy has been one of the most popular phenomena for close to 18 years now. “You know what? No matter what the script is or dialogues are, a lot of things are improvised on the set because comedy is all about getting the timing right. If you liked some of the stuff that I have done, then it’s the result of that last-minute improvisation,” he quips. The wide grin is proof enough of a popular belief when it comes to Ravi Teja - There’s absolutely no difference between his onscreen and off-screen persona.
- 2/2/2018
- by Nitin
- The News Minute
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