35mmrahuls rating:4/5
Cast : Venkatesh, Trisha, Saloni Aswani, Prakash Raj
Director : Gopichand Malineni
Producer : Bellamkonda Suresh
Music : S.S. Thaman
Story:
Varadarajula Naidu (Prakash Raj) saves Venkatadri’s (Venkatesh) life
during his childhood. He is later raised by Thannikela Bharani who
thinks Venkatadri should be sent as the Bodyguard to protect
Varadarajula Naidu. When Venkatadri comes to the village, Varadarajula
Naidu tells him that it is his daughter Keerthi (Trisha) who has threat
from his opponents and needs bodyguard. Venkatadri then falls in love
with a girl in a frequent mobile conversation. Then a series of romantic
and melodrama twists change his life.
Analysis
The script of Venkatesh starrer Bodyguard isn't much innovative except
for few minor changes to suit the nativity. Getting into the reality,
regardless of the title Bodyguard and Venkatesh's biceps, the film is
totally inclined towards a love story than an action entertainer. It
remains lighthearted for the majority of the runtime except when the
villains suddenly surface at times and towards the climax. Venkatesh’s
body guard is totally off guarded and does not look convincing. Surely,
the movie draws comparisons with its counterparts from other industries
and you have to tell that the Telugu version did not do justice to the
original version. Unnecessary songs, routine fights and clumsy
screenplay makes the movie uninteresting.
Venkatesh works more for a surprise element in the climax but it isn't
something that you can't see coming. In fact, you can relate the same
climax to Nagarjuna’s Santosham. And though the climax is predictably
clichéd, he doesn't leave much scope for melodrama. The pacing is not so
quick, music is not peppy, action is stylized and editing towards the
second half should have been better.
final word:
Venkatesh’s Bodyguard review: The movie does not lift the spirits and
reach the expectations of its Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil counterparts.
With festive season, perhaps Bodyguard’s run at the box office would be
interesting!