Sunday, September 04, 2011

Salman Khan: Bollywood ka "Bodyguard"

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 Khan’s 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 –
Let’s 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 over…She hates him, She loves him, He marries somebody…kuch 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. Can’t say much. If you have money or Salman owes you something, just cash in. Now is the time! He can’t be reviewed, he can’t be rated and as a MBA (finance) will say, he can’t be estimated also.
Kareena – ok, satisfactory…neutral 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 can’t 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

SPEAKing PICtures 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