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Sunday, January 24, 2010

Body Guard

Medium : Malayalam
Starring : Dileep, Nayantara, Mithra Kuriyan, Thyagarajan, Harisree Asokan

Director : Siddique

Music : Ouseppachan


Director Siddique is enjoying a very long gap of 6-7years after his previous film, 'Chronic Bachelor'. Though he has done a tamil film ('Saadhu Mirandaa' with Prasanna, Kavya Madhavan) and a telugu film ('Satyam Sivam Sundaram' with Nithin, Nila), his presence in malayalam was not there. Now he is back with a film named 'Body Guard' casting Dileep for
the first time. The heroine is none other than Nayantara, who is a sensation in the south indian film industry. Though she got her debut and her first few films in malayalam, she is busy these days in other languages. In between, she did a song in malayalam film 'Twenty 20' also.


The film 'Body Guard' has been in the news for a long time. The shooting of the film, happened more
than 400days. It is produced by Johny Sagariga. As the producer was doing another Dileep film ('Mose and Cat') in the same time with Fazil, the dates got clashed and Siddique had to keep adjustments for his senior director. 'Mose and Cat' bombed in the box office, the producer was having some liabilities. Also the release date of 'Body Guard' was postponed, as the director's previous partner Lal's film 'To Harihar Nagar' was also releasing at the same time. Before the release, we heard that tamil super star Vijay heard this story and he is willing to do the film in tamil soon. Now, after the grand success of 'Keralavarma Pazhassi Raja', producer Gokulam Gopalan has shown interest in distributing 'Body Guard' and it happened. Cameraman S.Kumar and music director Ouseppachan came to the Siddique camp for the first time through this film.


The title role done by the hero is shown as a different character from his childhood days. Jayakrishnan (Dileep) is a person having no fear and his ambition was to become a rowdy. When grown up, he became an assistant (body guard) to a business man. He helped his master to do his illegal activities by giving a physical support. At this time, he heard about Asokan (Thyagarajan), who is a notable millionaire in another village. He wished to work as Asokan's body guard and he reached there with a recommendation. Asokan didn't like the attitude of Jayakrishnan, but later he got a chance to impress the rich man by saving his life. He is appointed as the bodyguard of his daughter Ammu (Nayantara) and he also joined her college as a student as a part of his duty. She was not allowed to move freely, as he always accompanies her. Being frustrated, she decided to play a trick. She is giving anonymous calls to Jayakrishnan's mobile by changing her voice. He is not able to identify her. This game later became serious and a set of incidents happens in both of their life.


'Body Guard' has got a good story with an excellent twist in the climax. But the main problem happened in the way in which the script writer / director conceived it. The characterization of the hero, heroine and her father needs more stability and depth. The presentation of the film is too ordinary and it is suitable for a film in the late 90's. You can't see any colorful visua
ls here. The director is "notorious' for handling humor, which is evident in his previous films. But the comedy used here is not up to the standard. Only a few occasions created natural laughing. The characterization of Harisree Asokan and Janardhanan is repetitive and we have seen it in director's previous films like 'Chronic Bachelor' and 'Friends' also. The phone scenes between the hero and heroine which covers the maximum length of the movie creates lagging. The only benefit from such sequences will be the producer and the new mobile service provider which has been launched last year, as their theme song is being used as the ring tone by the hero.

The director should have given importance to some other situations associated with the hero and the heroine's characters. Too much of scenes regarding phone call should have been avoided. The reason told by the hero through the phone regarding his respect for the heroine felt childish and created negative response from the crowd. People also don't want to see the hero studying at this age and getting a rank in the examination to see his unknown lover. All such situations cannot have a postitive effect as the controversial girl, Nayantara also participates in it. Ouseppachan had given 5 songs, most of them very below average only ("perilla rajyathe..." is a rememberable one), which can also be the reason for demoting the film. Hence, the choreography (done by Prabhudeva, Vishnude
va, Vinod, Poppy) has also not felt the best. Stunt master Malaysia Bhasker, which is seen after a long gap, gave some good punches. Dileep, Guiness Pakru, Nayantara and Mithra Kurian ('Gulumaal' fame) have done their roles well.


It is very sad to see the outcome of the movie which created great expectation and good pre-release reports. Even after getting a good theme, the director had failed on the scripting area. The molding the central characters and its presentation should have been more serious. In these days of advanced technology, we can't allow the viewers to become restless. You should keep in mind that, he is here after watching films like 'Nadodikal', '3 Idiots' and 'Avatar'. Even if, you are having the experienced S.Kumar (camera) and Gowrishankar (editor) behind the scenes, the dryness in the visuals are clearly noticeable.


It is up to you to decide, whether you want to watch 'Body Guard', as the attraction lies only in the story with a good climax. In between, the film is having problems in its presentation side (The fact is that even if the basement of a house is extra ordinary, you can't enjoy your life in it, when it is not neatly built...!!!)


Rating : 5.5 / 10
(revised)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

even i felt the same thing when i watch the movie last day.. but i hve another opinion abt sons.. "arikathayaro " s gd... i think.. n perilla rajyathe was captured by amal neerad. thatsy u felt it like bettr one.. the screen was filled . though only two were there....