Bodyguard starring Salman and Kareena in lead roles was one of the most awaited movies of recent times. Awaited not because of its content. But more because of the fact that it stars the “Rajnikanth of Bollywood” Salman Khan who had 3 back to back hits in Wanted, Dabangg and Ready. Interestingly all have been South remakes and this one is no different. It seems the director Siddique has built his career on remakes having made this first in Malayalam and then in Tamil. And now he has come up with the Hindi version. Another director is in the process of launching the Telugu version. I am sure all of you must be wondering if a movie is made in 4 languages, it would be a sure shot hit, ain’t it?

The story is as cliche as you could imagine. Salman’s Khan’s father was a bodyguard who took care of Raj Babbar. But when he had a car accident, Babbar was able to save his wife and her unborn child. Now in true filmy style Salman has to come to help Babbar as you know what – A BODYGUARD! As Sharat Saxena puts it, you don’t need 10 bodyguard when one Salman is enough. Babbar assigns Salman to take care of his daughter Kareena and friend Hazel even when they go to college.

The rest of the movie deals with how Kareena plays a prank on Salman by calling him from a private number and acting like his girlfriend and instead falling for him later on. Obviously there is a twist which though sadly seems a bit forced and there’s quite a while taken before the climax comes upon us.

The script is pretty wafer thin, hackenyed and cliched in most parts. A bodyguard who has a tough exterior but mild interior which is enough for the heroine to sneak through? Anything too great about it? Not really I would say.

Among the songs, “I Love you” and “Teri Meri” stand out as the best of the lot. Katrina Kaif’s appearance in the Bodyguard title track was pretty much a waste.

But then its a Salman movie and he pretty much carries it ably on his broad shoulders. Whether it is jumping from the train going to Mumbai East to the one going West just so that he can reach the West faster or the entire wooden box breaking over his head but him not getting hurt, he has slowly but surely become the “Rajnikanth of Bollywood”. Whether it is his usual shirt tearing sequence, fight sequence or the restrained lover boy parts, he is in pretty good form much to the delight of his fans.

Kareena looks a million bucks and plays her part with simplicity without going much over the top. Rajat Rawail as Tsunami Singh is a total disaster. Raj Babbar and Hazel don’t get too much scope.

It was nice to see my alma-mater Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune make its Bollywood debut. And moreover seeing some of my college friends make their onscreen debuts was the icing on the cake!

Final verdict – If you are a hardcore Sallu fan, you should go for it! “Kyunki agar aapne commitment kar di toh apni bhi mat sunna”

Rating – 2.5/5