Bodyguard (Hindi) - Movie Review

I finally chanced to watch Bodyguard in Hindi by Siddiqe starring Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor in the lead roles. I really wanted to watch this one after watching the Malayalam one. Really wanted to see what mainstream bollywood brought to the table.  

Though the story by-and-large remains the same, certain details undergo a change from the original one – some for good and some for not so good. The film starts off with a narration of a love story being read from a diary by a child in a train aka Kuch Kuch Hota Hai style. The story in the diary narrates the birth of Lovely Singh, son of bodyguard Balwant Singh and only born alive because of Sartaj Rana, his father’s boss. Lovely grows up to be a DEDICATED bodyguard just like his father, overtly indebted to Rana for his life itself. So when Rana’s soon-to-be-married daughter Divya requires a bodyguard owing to impending danger on her life because of revenge directed towards her father, Lovely is assigned as her bodyguard. He is expected to be with her ALWAYS, and Lovely being Lovely takes the task very seriously, which irks Divya and her friend Maya unboundedly. Irritatibly for them, he wears safari suits and aviators always, lives life on a clock, sleeps, eats and drinks his duty. The girls are embarrassed and frustrated owing to all this and decide to play a prank on him to divert his attention. Divya, who has a restricted number, starts calling him in a changed voice and thus begins a phone love affair. Lovely falls for this person on the phone who speaks to him under a pseudo name and being the simpleton he is falls in love with the girl on the phone. In the mean while what began as a prank turns serious for Divya as she too falls in love with the simple and honest Lovely. But dilemma’s have no end for her as – her father will never agree to her marrying her bodyguard and Lovely will also never accept her against her father’s wish as she is Madam to him and her father god to him. In the meanwhile Rana discovers amidst a lot of misunderstandings that Lovely is planning to elope with Divya while Lovely thinks that he is eloping with his phone lover. After all the confusions and complications the film’s story takes a 8 years leap where we see a High profiled Lovely Singh, Lovely’s son, a bedridden Rana and a still not married Divya eventually leading to final clarifications once and for all.

The story has a lot of loopholes and leaves the audience unconvinced and feeling silly. The film has an assemble feel to it and seems like an assorted dish – an Indian Chinese noodles sans the tadka. Salman Khan does what he does best i.e. entertain his fans with antics that are so much his signature style but consistency seemed marred. Kareena Kapoor disappoints in this one. An actress of her calibre was just a pretty face in this one. Manish Malhotra does a fabulous job with her styling but the emote output from Bebo was next to nil here. Hazel Keech as Maya impresses while Mahesh Majrekar is wasted. Over all a very mediocre effort. A film that completely relied on Salman’s Daabang acquired estyle and made to just entertain his fan base.

iVerdict: Average. May be a one-time watch. Keeps brains locked. 

Rating: 2/5    

Bodyguard (Malayalam) - Movie Review

At the time that Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor starrer ‘Bodyguard’ released I was in Kerala and though the film had a release here, I would not really watch it in a theatre as I was nowhere near the cities where it released (was busy exploring rural Kerala.) Twitter told me that the film was doing really well and that it was originally made in Malayalam. So during my visit to Thrissur, when I found a DVD of Bodyguard in Malayalam directed by Siddique starring Dileep and Nayantara I was tempted to give it a go. I wanted to watch the original before the remake unlike what happened with Gajjani or Wanted (I got a chance to watch the Hindi versions first and then the Tamil ones, which were the originals.)

The title role in ‘Bodyguard’ is that of Jaikrishnan who has an obsessive angle to his personality - his adoration for any person takes obsessive leaps always and ends up in him moving in and around that person like a bodyguard. The plot starts with Jaikrishnan developing adoration for a Business Tycoon, Ashokan, and becoming his bodyguard turns into Jaikrishnan’s life ambition. He somehow manages to get a reference letter from a person whose request Ashokan cannot refuse. Though Ashokan has no requirement of a bodyguard, Jaikrishnan manages to become a bodyguard in the Ashokan’s house after some heroic attempts. But though he wanted to become Ashokan’s bodyguard, he is made his daughter, Ammu’s, bodyguard and out of adoration for Ashokan, Jaikrishnan agrees. Jaikrishnan follows Ammu and her friend Sethulakshmi everywhere they go – college, classroom, canteen, loo, just about everywhere – in typical Bodyguard attire: safari suits, aviators et al. The girls grow tried of this embarrassing scenario and to divert Jaikrishnan’s attention Ammu starts calling him as a ‘fake lover’ from her number, which is a Private Number. Their scheme of diverting his attention works as Jaikrishnan starts falling in love with this mysterious girl and is constantly looking to find her. What started as a joke turns serious as Ammu falls for Jaikrishnan, realising the good heart in him through the phone conversations they have been having as - the fake lover and the bodyguard. Finally as the fake lover Ammu tells Jaikrishnan that they should elope the day their college closes but Ashokan comes to know of their plan. Asokan comes to know that Jaikrishnan is running away with Ammu; while Jaikrishnan knows that he is running away with ‘fake lover’. This whole story is a flashback read by Jaikrishnan’s son in a diary left to him by his mother Sethulakshmi. The climax is the present day situation where widower Jaikrishnan and his son visit an ailing Ashokan and find Ammu still unmarried at her house.

This movie by far, amongst the recent Malayalam films that I watched, barring Salt & Pepper, had the most interesting storyline. Though there was an angle from Karan Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, the climax is what worked for me. Performances were strictly ok. Dileep could have infused much more life into the character. I am definitely watching the Hindi one, can clearly see Salman Khan rocking the character of Jaikrishnan as Lovely Singh. Tightly edited, well directed, compact entertainer though performances could have spiced the script up more.

Hope bollywood had spiced up things more and if I get a chance want to watch the Tamil remake Kaavalan starring Vijay too. Would be an interesting case study  - same story, same director, different actors and the outcomes!!

iVerdict: Good

Rating: 3.5/ 5