Web Review: Touch Me Not (Telugu) is a confused narrative

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When you adapt a Korean thriller (He is Psychometric), and change the identity of the killer, you have begun to already mess with your source. Not having watched the original but ‘Wikipedia-ed’ it, so to speak, I fathomed that the original was an edge-of-the-seat drama that ended up (in 16 episodes) with great viewership. And over here, with the change in a core element of the plot, we needed solid reworking. Which does not happen!

On this note, I must mention that the novelty of a man who can touch people and objects and thus “see” what is hidden from all was a novelty I could not resist. An additional allure was that it was a crisp 6-episode Telugu drama dubbed in Hindi (which I must admit is well-done).

What I got to watch, though, despite the short episodes, was a jerky thriller that went into so many confusing directions. Psychometry (in this context defined as the supposed ability to discover facts about an event or person by touching inanimate objects associated with them) is a barely-employed device in suspense or mystery thrillers.

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Let me begin with a major flaw as I see it: the protagonist gifted with this rarely depicted innate skill barely uses it, really speaking, does not even seem to possess it at intervals and is also treated as a nutcase (almost) at some times and requested for help in others. He is Rishi (Dheekshith Shetty), who is a survivor of a fire in a residential society that killed his parents, of whom the father was a cop.

The conflagration was a clear case of arson, following multiple murders by a masked stranger, and the young man who saved Rishi was Raghav (Navdeep), who has since become a top cop—a Superintendent of Police (SP). The top cop is investigating a case where a woman kills fellow inmates in a hospital and then disappears. Her identity coincides with a woman who has died a few years before this incident!

And then we have the watchman of the building in which the fire raged (Devi Prasad), who has been falsely implicated and placed in jail. His traumatized young girl has grown up again to be an ambitious policewoman, Megha (Komalee Prasad), who happens to be a college-mate of Rishi.

And Raghav has mentored both Megha and Rishi, who he treats like a younger brother. Raghav has a devoted assistant in Devika (Sanchitha Poonacha), who is in unreciprocated love with him. The SP has always been a bit of a recluse, seemingly unemotional even though he cares for both Rishi and Megha.

Other characters and extraneous happenings come in and the series takes time to come into the plotline that matters. And then we have a culmination that invites Season 2.

The performances are decent with Komalee Prasad stealing the show as Megha. Sanchitha Poonacha as Devika is rightly intense. As Raghav, Navdeep has an author-backed role and impresses as the strong and silent type. Devi Prasad as Megha’s father who is languishing in jail is effective and his expressions are excellent. But as the psychometry expert, Dheekshith Shetty is just alright and after a while, his all-too-frequent mutters, “Uhh!” “Umm!” “Aaahh!” and more begin to grate. His character too is erratically written.

The technical values including the music are alright, though Anwar Ali’s editing could have been sharper. The direction is fair but, as I mentioned earlier, uneven and erratic—too fast in places, too placid in others.

Overall, this thriller needed great improvement to make an impact.

Rating: **1/2

Jio Hotstar presents Guru Films’ Touch me Not  Produced by: Sunitha Tati, Vamsi Bandaru & Yuvraj Kartikeyan  Directed by: Ramana Teja Written by: Jin-Ah-Yang & Chaarvi Murari  Music: Mahati Swara Sagar  Starring: Komalee Prasad, Dheekshith Shetty, Navdeep, Sanchitha Poonacha, Tiala, Pramodini, Anish Ram, Srinivas Bhogireddy, Devi Prasad & others

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