Bodyguard
2012
4/5 stars
When his daughter (Keerthi, played by Trisha) is threatened by his enemies, Varadarajula Naidu (Prakash Raj) assigns bodyguard Venkatadri (played by Venkatesh) to protect her at college. Chaffing under Venky's constant presence, Keerthi plans a scheme to distract him: she will begin calling him, pretending to be an infatuated college student, Bangaram. The plan works well, with Venky falling in love with the imaginary Bangaram, but it also has an unforeseen consequence for Keerthi.
(Saloni Aswani, Venu Madhav, and Ali also feature in this film.)
Bodyguard (a remake of the 2010 Malayalam movie of the same name) is an enjoyable masala movie. While the music was sadly bland, the story is well-plotted and nicely filmed, containing a few surprises. Though Venkatesh is not fully convincing either as a character 20 years younger or as an action hero, he plays his part with such sweetness and charm that it's easy to care for Venky. Prakash Raj (a firm favorite of mine) doesn't give as strong a performance as usual, but Saloni Aswani and Trisha both do well, and the supporting cast is solid. On the whole, while I prefer the 2011 Hindi version (my review here), this is a film that is both fun and touching, and certainly worth watching.
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| Trisha and Venkatesh |
