With this new EID release of another SALMAN KHAN movie, I would rather like to go for its review in a different mode.
First of all let me tell you that as far as the economics of Film Business goes, this has "A New Blockbuster" written all over it without any doubt. Releasing on a national EID holiday (on Wednesday), with more than 2,500 prints and 10-15 shows in a multiplex, plus full houses in the single screen theaters too, How can such a film can ever flop, irrespective of its content or quality? Considering the phenomenal fan following of the STAR, it is bound to become a success in any case before even the week starts on Monday. So, if you want to know the box office result of the film, then in all possibilities this should make a hat-trick of Hits for Salman, unless the Indian viewers wake up miraculously from their media created sleep.
Now secondly coming to the content of the film, what can one think of the story of a film, with the title BODYGUARD? Obviously it has to be the love story between the Bodyguard and the owner of the body he is guarding. Hence in that respect the film has got nothing new and it remains completely predictable from the first frame itself where the viewer very well knows what he is going to see in the next reels.
So it all comes down to the treatment of the film, which sadly is again below the mark and not at all impressive as expected. Salman's magic is there for sure, but he is not given the perfect action or entertaining sequences which can win over the viewers as compared to his WANTED or DABANGG. The humor is pretty lifeless and sounds outdated with all 80s kind of jokes which fail to create the required impact. However, it seems that the writers were very much aware of its boring plot and therefore they thought of adding an unexpected twist towards its climax. But, believe me, this last reel addition is one of the most bizarre climaxes I have ever seen, written very poorly without any kind of sane, real life vision.
In few words, it's a big disappointment in almost all its departments ranging from the story, script, direction and execution. Though the stars acts convincingly putting best of their efforts, but they alone are not capable of giving you a good time in the theater. Honestly speaking, I enjoyed only the first opening song when SALMAN enters the screen in the entire film and was really thinking why this was chosen to be re-made in Hindi since it had nothing to rave about in its script and content.
Nevertheless, SALMAN is there with all his trademark moves in the film, along with doing another kind hearted gesture for his own real life bodyguard, Tiger. Very sportingly Salman wears the uniform of Tiger's own Security Agency and also makes Tiger dance standing next to him in the opening song. I guess that's one of the reason, why SALLU BHAI is loved all over the world for his numerous similar kind of humble, friendly acts.
To end the review, I would like to tell you that why I almost walked out of the theater while watching BODYGUARD.
The film is directed by the same director, for the third time in a different language. Now who would have done it to satisfy his creative urge? Clearly this was a project undertaken for money and money alone, otherwise what is the charm of directing the same script for the third time? As a real creatively concerned person, the director should have given the project to another talented upcoming director and he could have been the Creative Visualiser of the project to keep an overall look on it.
But coming to the main point of my distress, there is a scene in the film, where people are standing around a pyre on which the dead body is lying covered in white. To be precise, this is a sequence in which they all have gathered to burn one of the main villains of the film, killed by Salman. Now, to my shocking surprise, the scene has been shot by the talented director in HEAVY RAINS. The water is pouring heavily from the sky, the pile of wood is all wet, the body is all wet and here come a person holding a burning mashaal to set the pyre on fire. And as filmy it can get, he also successfully puts the pyre on fire and then we are shown the body burning calmly just in the middle of a heavy rainfall.
If this is what you call direction then Sorry, I am not interested in writing about this film anymore. For me its just like playing with the innocent loyalty of your millions of fans. And all the BIG STARS like SALMAN really need to give it a serious thought.
