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Release Date: August 31st 2011
Genre: Action/Romance
Director: Siddique
Star Cast: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Hazel Keech, Rajat Rawail
Rating: ** 1/2 out of 5
Having been King of the box office with his past two Eid blockbusters, Wanted (2009), Dabangg (2010) and recent hit Ready, one has to wonder whether Salman Khan can continue to keep the audience mesmerized. But if the box office reports are anything to go by, then boy do the audiences love him!
Now I usually hate to give my own personal account of going to the cinema in a film review, but I just have to tell you that when I went to watch Bodyguard there was such a long queue going right outside the main cinema doors. The massive cinema screen was completely sold out prompting my particular cinema in Leicester to add on an extra show at the same time, which is something I’ve never seen before!
Back to the movie! “Bodyguard” revolves around a bodyguard named Lovely Singh (Salman Khan), who believes he owes his life to wealthy businessman Sartaj Rana (Raj Babbar,) whom his father risked his life to save and who in return saved Lovely and his mothers life. As fate would have it Sartaj calls upon Lovely to protect his one and only daughter Divya (Kareena Kapoor) at her college campus in Pune away from home, as he fears someone is after her life.
So Lovely with his over protective ways takes the command and doesn’t let Divya and her best friend Maya out of his sight. Becoming irritated with this, Divya conjures up a plan to trap her bodyguard in a fake telephone love affair, believing it will distract him from his job, hence allowing her to be free of him. And here the story begins…
When watching the film it becomes obvious that like with many Bollywood films it’s best to leave any common sense outside the cinema hall. The over-the-top, but very slickly shot action scenes and the naive nature of Lovely’s character to fall in love with someone he’s never met, make us think twice about the reality of it all.
Nevertheless the film is largely light-hearted and rather sweet in the first half. It moves on in the second half with a somewhat unexpected plot towards the end keeping the viewer interested. The action scenes are executed well especially the one with Salman and Aditya Pancholi in the water.
Salman does well to play down his role for most of the part. We get to see him in the avatar I like him in best; a sweet, innocent, kind-hearted guy who falls deeply in love. Of course none of his films would be complete without us getting a view of his well toned chest.
Kareena looks beautiful and acts her part well. Her costume and look is slightly reminiscent of that in Jab We Met and surprisingly despite maturing, she easily plays the role of a college going girl. Hazel as her best friend Maaya does well too and Rajat does well to give the audiences a few laughs (though I have no idea what his character actually did in the film apart from the obvious comedy).
Music by Himesh is spot on with ‘Teri Meri’ being the pick of his tracks, whilst my personal favourite ‘I love you’ by Ash King (composed by Pritam) still continues to be on repeat on my iPod. The picturisation of ‘Teri Meri’ was a little disappointing however and looked a little cheap considering the hype it has been receiving.
Overall the film was a decent entertainer, yet the plot felt a little too thin for me. And though the twist at the end kept the audience interested it felt as if it was pulled out of thin air. Nevertheless the masses still seem to be pouring into the cinema and it doesn’t look like they’re ready to stop anytime soon!
