Bodyguard

BodyguardWell known internal bias: Huge fan of SalmanBodyguard is so far the weakest one in the recent run of Salman starrers starting with Wanted ... read more

Bodyguard

Well known internal bias: Huge fan of Salman

Bodyguard is so far the weakest one in the recent run of Salman starrers starting with Wanted and going onto Dabanng and Ready. Of course, Salman plays himself to perfection and gives you your money's worth if it's only him you have come to watch but the movie as a whole disappoints.

Salman plays the straight bodyguard who is assigned to protect Kareena from some goondas who want to kidnap/ kill her to hit back at her dad. Well, she is never in great danger from what we can see and to kill her boredom and get him off her back she pretends to be a girl in love with him and keeps calling him on a phone with the most irritating ring tone ever. Well, he falls in love with a voice and then the twists and turns ensue. Suffice to say, nothing much happens till the interval except for lots of Salman.

Kareena is perky but has the wierdestdress sense here. The rest of the cast is not much to talk about. The songs are quite ok and of course I love to watch him dance.

However, a couple of funny dialogues and some trademark Salluisms like his shirt coming off or a signature dialogue do not make up for some shoddy acting, fat man juvenile jokes and a weak script.

The movie is time pass still, and there are a couple of chillar throwing moments, but just about. I think its time for our man to stop being generous to his relatives and take more care of himself. Watered down versions of himself will not help him maintain his superstardom.
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I had very low expectations before going to watch this movie. The fact that the trailer was so idiotic and that this was going to be another Salman... read more

I had very low expectations before going to watch this movie. The fact that the trailer was so idiotic and that this was going to be another Salman Khan entertainer for 'Salman' fans made me even less anxious to go and watch this film. I thought how bad can it be. But I was proven wrong once again. This movie is so bad, that I am out of words. Ready, Salman's previous outing seems like a Udaan in front of this one. I cant believe that Siddique, who has written and directed this film is the same guy who wrote Hera Pheri.

Maybe I am the odd man out, but I cant understand this stardom that Salman has. Wednesday night, middle of the week, and the theater is full of Salman fans whistling at his every punch. I hear the movie has garnered 20 crores on the first day itself. Another 2-3 movies and Salman will surely overtake Rajni and have his own franchise of jokes. The action is a farce to say the least. The special effects naive and ugly. The character are dumb, dumber and dumbest. The punch lines are even more stupider. The music is stale and boring except for 2 songs. The plot is known to pretty much everyone after reading the title 'Bodyguard'. The big twist in the end just seemed silly and forced.

Salman Khan is the new Rajnikanth. Folklore will tell jokes about how Salman can dodge a bullet and how he can hit bad guys with his eyes closed. His dance moves are getting atrocious by the minute. Kareena looks gorgeous but thats about it. Rajat Rawail eats your brain like no tomorrow. Hazel was a pure breed of a side kick. The best acting was in a 5 minute scene by Aditya Pancholi.

Music by Himesh is lackluster. Only Teri meri prem kahani stands out as a listenable song. I love you by Pritam has his stamp over it and is hummable.

The film's villains are shown very weak and offer no resistance to super Salman. But the film's main villain, Siddique, who has written and directed the movie takes the viewer to the brink. I fail to fathom how he can justify Kareena's introduction scene in this day and age. It looks like a page out of the 90s. Logic was not only thrown out of the window but even all physics laws were burnt on the set.

I refuse to give any stars to this movie, but desimartini wont let me post this review without a rating. So the 1/2 star is for Kareena, because she looks gorgeous in the movie.

Reasons to watch:
1) None !

Reasons to skip:
1) All the reasons in the world.

Repeat Value: Are you kidding me?

Rating Meter : 0.1 / 5.0 view less

Kyunki har ek friend zaroori hota hai says the recent Airtel ad. Kareena Kapoor would disagree. The reason will be revealed by the end of the film.... read more

Kyunki har ek friend zaroori hota hai says the recent Airtel ad. Kareena Kapoor would disagree. The reason will be revealed by the end of the film.

Whats it about? : Like the title says, it is a love story of a Bodyguard who is assigned the task of protecting Kareena Kappor. Like the last 3 Salman films it has comedy, action, songs and romance in doses.

Does it work for me: Yes/No

Why? : A large chunk of Salmans audience are kids so bodyguard has action sequences without a lot of blood being seen on screen. And action is the only thing that worked for me and for my nephew. In fact he rates the action in this above Dabangg. The romance is childish and gets irritating after a point like the ringtone of Lovely Singh aka Salman Khan. There are also some unimaginative product placements for Tupperware, Vaio, Boss banian & Complan. I would rate this film at the bottom of the list post Wanted.

Kareena Kapoor has nothing much to do in the film which she hasnt done before. For her the agenda is clearly to associate with a probable blockbuster film. The twist in the tale is laugh out loud funny. I think the audience in my hall laughed their loudest at this twist. It is so bad that its good and is the high point of unintentional entertainment in the film. Salman is like that king who could touch anything and it would turn into gold. His presence worked for Arbaaz Khan with Dabangg. This one is for Atul Agnihotri who couldnt make it as an actor and director. The next one is for Sohail and for the countless number of people who are probably in a queue to be touched by Salman Babas hit mantra.

Final few words : Stars dont matter for this star called Salman Khan and Bodyguard might prove that again the 4th time in a row.

Rating : **

Ticket Meter: Worth a 100/- buck if you are not a Salman Khan fan.

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'mujhe par ek ehsaan karna ki mujh par koi ehsaan na karna' (favour me one thing that do not do any favour to me). Cheesy masala chichoori one-line... read more

'mujhe par ek ehsaan karna ki mujh par koi ehsaan na karna' (favour me one thing that do not do any favour to me).
Cheesy masala chichoori one-liners. That is what we want and Salman Khan movies are providing that in (dangerously) higher frequencies. The first time I heard about Bodyguard, I was expecting something really macho and for-a-change a serious action movie (Salman Khans Garv). But the trailer while watching an even more item movie Singham proved me wrong. Movie makers of Bollywood, after the grand successes of Wanted, Dabang, Ready, presents another Salman Khan starrer Bodyguard with same style and show.
My past ratings for Dabang, Ready were around 3 but this has tested my patience and my precious dearest money. Rating hence given 2/5

Story
Lets talk Salman as much as we can. So in Karan Arjun, he did a i-am-all-yours act as a return favour. Here too is a similar set up.
Salman is named as Lovely Singh (sounded for Sunny Deol) in the movie. He becomes a bodyguard for Sartaj Rana (Raj Babbar) in return of previous gestures. As a bodyguard, his role is to protect Divya (Kareena), daughter of Rana sahib. As a bodyguard, he is professional and can go to any limits to protect her (even in ladies loo). Divya is naturally irritated with his over-protective working style and decides to fool him with the help of her friend Chaya (Rose Dawn). Element of confusion is created. Typical Hindi cinema takes overShe hates him, She loves him, He marries somebodykuch kuch hota hai (but still Shahrukh, you are not missed).

Cast
Salman Khan: as THE actor in demand you post him anywhere people will glance. Looks, acceptable acting and great body. All is there, everything is clicking. Cant say much. If you have money or Salman owes you something, just cash in. Now is the time! He cant be reviewed, he cant be rated and as a MBA (finance) will say, he cant be estimated also.
Kareena : ok, satisfactoryneutral stand (na main dost, na main dushman)
Rose Dawn: awesome looks. She is not meant for acting.
There is one character called Tsunami Singh. Do you really find the name funny? I cant believe the story writer Siddique was one of writers for Hera Pheri, cult comedy by all standards.
Anyways, moving on to Music by Himesh and Pritam. Two songs stand out title track and I LOVE YOU. The latter is a nice sweet addictive one, the one to expect from these huge blockbusters.

As a student of MBA (marketing) from one of the best institutes of management in India whose forte is marketing, I can forecast these trends through numerous bookish models. But somehow my movie watching experience says we will see either of the two ways either Salman Khan will be stereotyped as Hindi movies ka Rajini or will fall like Akshay Kumar.

What works: Salman and front row whistling fans
What not: concept/script repeated, overdone comedy, a sense of fatigue

AG verdict: festival time release (Eid/Ganesh Puja), can go iff Salman Khan fan else no

ps: fantastic marketing techniques like co-marketing adopted by Bodyguard. Superb view less

Wanted 2009, Dabangg 2010 and Bodyguard 2011. Salman Khan completes his trilogy of Eid releases. Lovely Singh (Salman Khan, Dabangg, Ready) is the ... read more

Wanted 2009, Dabangg 2010 and Bodyguard 2011. Salman Khan completes his trilogy of Eid releases.
Lovely Singh (Salman Khan, Dabangg, Ready) is the son of bodyguard Balwant Singh, who died whilst in the service of Sartaj Singh (Raj Babbar), the local justice choudhary. Sartaj Singh gives Lovely the assignment of rescuing some girls kidnapped to be sold in the flesh trade in Thailand by Mhatre brothers, Aditya Pancholi (Dum Maaro Dum), Mahesh Manjrekar (Wanted, Dabangg, Ready) and Chetan Hansraj. Now fearing the Mhatre brothers, Sartaj appoints Lovely to safeguard his daughter Divya (Kareena Kapoor, We Are Family, Golmaal 3). Divya and her best friend, Maya (Hazel Keech) are pretty upset about the suited booted bodyguard following them around. In order to get rid of him, (since they do not know the danger Divya is in) they play a prank on him, via a mysterious Chhaya, who claims to be in love with Lovely, while talking to him through a private number, whilst he performs his duties towards Divya Madam. During the first attack on Divya, she realizes Lovelys true intentions and falls in love with him, through her alter ego / fictitious character Chhaya). Now you have the pair in love, but not with still not in love, you get?
Realizing the fate of her doomed love story, Divya decides to break up with Lovely, by calling him to a summer park, where Divya also decides to go along. After a phone break up with Lovely standing on the bridge, broken hearted and Divya hiding behind the bushes.
At this point, the Mhatre brothers emerge again, kidnap Divya and leave a note with Sartaj Singh, all the time whilst Lovely is still waiting on the bridge. Sartaj confronts Lovely and reprimands him for failing in his duties. At this point, Maya tells Lovely the truth behind Chhaya / Divya. Lovely now realizes the truth and goes for the Mhatre brothers, for duty. He along with Sartaj, who is giving Lovely one chance to redeem himself, attack and in a high voltage action sequence kill Chetan but Manjrekar manages to attack Lovely, killing Sartaj in the bargain. Sartaj takes a dying promise from Lovely, to take care of Divya, whilst the Mhatre duo are on the run.
Now Lovely is out to seek and destroy, FOR LOVE! In yet another well orchestrated fight sequence by Vijayan, he tears the villains and rescues the girl and after the moralistic talk about duty before self and the value of promise to Sartaj, the couple live happily ever after, with their son being named after his grandfather, Sartaj!
This would have been an ideal story and a befitting Eid bonanza and an excellent hat trick for Salman. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. This is The Y Factors version of how the film should have panned out post interval. But unfortunately, the last 2 paras is not the way Siddique played it. He stuck to the original concept wherein the love story continues listlessly and after a CGI inflicted climax in an old fort, the film takes an unexpected turn (which I presume was supposed to be the highlight of the earlier versions) and ends in a very moronic fashion, reminding us of the blockbuster debut of a 1998 film by a director / producer known for making larger than life, family movies with a fondness towards a particular Khan.

Bodyguard suffers from exactly the 2 points I had feared, 1st being the law of averages catching up with Salman and 2nd being the luck of producer Atul Agnihotri. Every family member of Salman now has benefitted commercially from his success, but whenever poor Atul tries, he has always failed (Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha, Hello his directorial ventures).

Add to that, the chemistry between the lead couple is technically jinxed. Their earlier films (Kyon Ki, 2005; Main Aurr Mrs. Khanna, 2009). Also, although both of them look beautiful individually, together there is a certain amount of awkwardness on screen with them.

The lack of a strong supporting cast also fails the film. Unlike Dabangg and Ready, where there were Vinod Khanna, Dimple Kapadia, Arbaaz Khan, Paresh Rawal, Mahesh Manjrekar, Manoj Joshi, Manoj Pahwa, Akhilendra Mishra, Sharat Saxena to help, Bodyguard revolves around the couple only. Rajat Rawail as Tsunami Singh, is the supposed comic relief and Hazel as the best friend, a mere good looking sounding board. Besides Raj Babbar, who is personality personified in his role, there is an Asrani & Vidya Sinha lending whatever support they can to this flick.

Again, unlike Wanted and Dabangg, wherein Gani Bhai (Prakash Raju) and Chhedi Singh (Sonu Sood) were there to challenge Salman, here all the 3 villains are only an extended special appearance. Trying, uncomfortably, to mouth dialogues so that Salman can retort with mujh pe ek ehsaan karna, ke mujh pe koi ehsaan na karna

Siddique fails where Prabhudeva scored with Wanted. Siddique does not adapt the original to the sensitivities of the Hindi speaking audience.

Salman is brilliant in the film, as always. Post interval, he does not resort to the zany silliness of Ready or Dabangg, but underplays his character to perfection, since this is basically a love story at heart.

With the Eid and Ganesh Chaturthi holidays, the lack of any good release since Singham and Salmans euphoria, the film will get a resounding opening and it will definitely cover its costs. But this aint this years Dabangg, nor is it even Ready.

Sadly for a Salman fan, am thoroughly disappointed.


Does it have The Factor:No

Rating:4 / 10 (3 for Salman, 1 for Kareena)
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