Bodyguard Hindi Movie Review

Our cinema is often structured around the persona of a star. A lot of concrete has been invested around the glitter of Salman Khan. The filmmaker’s challenge is to fill as much gas as he can into the balloon and then gleefully watch the soaring of the product. Script, story, credibility and the like are alien to the grammar and style of this cinema.  It revolves in the energy of its own unique inertia.

When you arrive at the theatre to watch Bodyguard you have already taken the unpretentious route and have declared a certain resignation to a particular format and form. No surprises. Ever since Salman decided to perpetuate the brawn image, it has been at the cost of the brain.

Bodyguard is about this unabashedly devout Lucky Singh (Salman Khan) who owes a cart load of gratitude to Sartaj Rana (Raj Babbar). So he comes to protect his daughter after flexing muscle and aborting a mass flesh trade exodus under the guidance of Matre (Manoj Manjrekar).

Matre, one would think is out to get the destroyer.  Not true. For reasons not known, not addressed, he decides to attack the damsel Divya (Kareena Kapoor) who is out from her palatial home at Jaisinghpur to a college of no academics in Pune with her friend Maya (Hazel Keech). Papa (Raj Babbar) and Mom (Vidya Sinha) have a reporting network that works with the predictability of an Indian monsoon.

So with a Bodyguard inspired by Mary’s Little Lamb, Divya decides to play a practical joke. She makes crank calls under the pseudonym – Chaya (voice by Karishma Kapoor in a come back of sorts!!). Bodyguard Lucky is blissfully unaware of the brewing romance. Even a moron could see that Divya’s in love. Not Lucky. Simply because we are unlucky!!!  Resultantly the entire romance is only in the dream sequences.  Also given Salman bhai’s  image romance is only secondary. It is on because the film maker is to justify the presence of Kareena, her put, her dresses and the locales.  So they dream(or imagine). Their dreams Our nightmares. Even this is alright till Director Siddique runs us through a contrive import of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai  an ill suited fitting to the thus far all brawl and song sage. Just too laborious and a clear after thought to a meandering story line.

To be fair, a good part of the script functions on the physics of Salman.  The star is no actor- never really been one even when all shirted for Sooraj Bharjatiya.  The script is an excuse for some shirt tearing ,muscle flexing ( even literally to the tune of a song) and stunt making.  The film in that context should belong more to the stunt in charge Vijayan, who seems to handle more of the megaphone than Siddique.

Body guard is for the die hard Salman fan, for the rest it is to be guarded against.

L.Ravichander.