Bodyguard (2012 film)

Bodyguard
Movie Poster
Directed by	Gopichand Malineni
Produced by	Bellamkonda Suresh
Written by	Kona Venkat Gopichand Malineni K. S. Ravindra
Story by	Siddique
Based on	Bodyguard   by Siddique
Starring	Venkatesh Trisha Krishnan Saloni Aswani
Music by	S. Thaman
Cinematography	Shyam K. Naidu
Editing by	Gautham Raju
Distributed by	WalkerIBC Studios
Release dates	14 January 2012 (2012-01-14)
Country	India
Language	Telugu
Budget	30 crore (US$4.8 million)[1]
Box office	55 crore (US$8.8 million)[2]

Bodyguard is a 2012 Telugu film directed by Gopichand Malineni and produced by Bellamkonda Suresh. The film features Venkatesh and Trisha Krishnan in the lead roles, with Saloni Aswani and Prakash Raj in other pivotal roles. It was the remake of Malayalam film Bodyguard directed by Siddique where Dileep and Nayantara played the lead role. The film, which has music scored by S. Thaman, released on 14 January 2012. Bodyguard was declared a financial success with it entering into profit-zone in the second week itself.

Plot

Venkatadri (Venkatesh) is a tough bodyguard who is assigned to protect the family of Varadarajula Naidu (Prakash Raj). Keerthi (Trisha Krishnan) is the college going daughter of Naidu and Venkatadri accompanies her to the college to keep a watch. Fed up with the close scrutiny maintained by Venkatadri, Keerthi hatches a plan with her friend Swathi (Saloni Aswani) to divert Venkatadri’s attention. Keerthi tries to distance herself from Venkatedri by calling him from a private number, Venkatadri falls in love with the girl without knowing that it is Keerthi herself. At one point, Keerthi too feels herself becoming attracted to Venkatadri and expresses her desire to meet him in person. However due to circumstances they are not able to accomplish this until at the climax when she tells Venkatadri to meet at a railway station and elope with her. Venkatadri agrees, unaware it is Keerthi.

Varadarajula Naidu comes to think that Venkatadri and Keerthi are going to run away. In order to save Venkatadri's life from the anger of Varadarajula Naidu, Keerthi lies that Venkatadri is meeting another girl at the train station. Varadarajula Naidu lets Venkatadri leave as he is desperate, but tells his henchmen to kill Venkatadri if a girl does not come there at the station (which implies that Keerthi loves Venkatadri). Terrified, Keerthi sends Swathi to the station and tells her to tell Venkatadri that she is the lover and that she won't be able to make it to the station. Swathi, seeing Venkatadri, falls in love after all that has happened, and pretends that she is the lover. Keerthi calls her, but Swathi throws the cellphone away, hoping to erase Keerthi from his life completely.

Many years later, after Venkatadri and Swathi's marriage, they have a son. Swathi passes away shortly after. However before her death, she leaves a diary for her son that outlines the whole story between the phone calls of Venkatadri and Keerthi and their love. The son later goes to Keerthi's house with Venkatadri to visit an old Varadarajula Naidu. Venkatadri is shocked that Keerthi hasn't married. The son asks Keerthi to come with him and become his mother and Venkatadri is angry at his son for saying something so blunt and rude. But Varadarajula Naidu begs Venkatadri to take Keerthi as his wife. So they go onto the train together but the son runs away before leaving and throws the diary into a trashcan nearby. Venkatadri finds the diary and realises soon that his real lover, the girl who had waited for him for so many years faithfully, was Keerthi. He calls Keerthi on her cellphone and addresses her as Bangaram. Keerthi is overwhelmed with joy and happiness realising that Venkatadri has come to know of the truth and her identity. She runs toward Venkatadri and they both hug each other while his son is happily watching them.

Cast

• Venkatesh as Venkatadri
• Trisha Krishnan as Keerthi
• Saloni Aswani as Swathi
• Ali as Bapatla
• Prakash Raj as Varadarajula Naidu
• Venu Madhav as 'Cash' Reddy
• Subbaraju as Shankaram
• Dharmavarapu Subramanyam as Subrahmanyam
• M. S. Narayana as Maths Lecturer
• Kota Srinivasa Rao as the antagonist
• Tanikella Bharani as Venkatadri's uncle
• ‘Adhurs’ Raghu as Cash Reddy's friend
• Jaya Prakash Reddy as College Principal
• Praveen as Cash Reddy's friend
• Ping Pong as Cash Reddy's friend
• Pragathi as Keerthi's mother
• Sravan as the antagonist's son
• Sana as Venkatadri's mother^[3]

Character map of Bodyguard and its remakes

Production

After finalising on the remake, producer Bellamkonda Suresh and actor Venkatesh approached Siddique, the director of the original Malayalam version to direct the Telugu version; but he declined the offer.^[4] Later, Gopichand Malineni was roped in as the director. The first look of the film was revealed in August 2011 through a poster.^[5] Soon after action scenes were shot at an aluminium factory at Gachibowli in Hyderabad.^[6]

Reception

General response

Timesofap.com claimed that Bodyguard opened decently on Day 1 with 10 crore (US$1.6 million) with as per netted collections worldwide in the state but has surprisingly improved from then on. The film has earned a worldwide 1st week opening of around 50 crore (US$8.0 million).The film has done exceedingly well in Andhra and ceded territories where it has fetched best grosses world wide.

Critical response

Bodyguard received generally positive reviews from critics. Hindustan Times rated it 3 out of 5, calling it a "perfect family entertainer".^[7] SuperGoodMovies.com predicted that it will do well at the box office "as it has the right mix of commercial elements for the festive audience", rating it 3 out of 5.^[8]

Film critic Hemanth Kumar of Postnoon also said that Bodyguard comes with a good package of comedy, drama and romance, and that you could watch it if you haven't watched the original.^[9] fullhyd.com's Deepa Garimella rated the film 7/10, calling it "a film with the right ingredients in the right mix".^[10] Cinegoer.com's Y Sunita Chowdary also recommended the film, noting that "Venky's films don't make noise but move silently stealthily towards the goal".^[11]

StudentLive, a student magazine from Hyderabad, gave this 3/5 saying “It is a decent family entertainer. At the end of the day, it’s a remake and you can watch if you have the stomach for such typical Tollywood stuff."^[12][13]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film, composed by S. Thaman, was released worldwide on 13 December 2011. Lyrics were provided by Ramajogayya Sastry, Anantha Sreeram, Sri Mani and Bhaskarbhatla. The music was launched on 13 December 2011 at Shilpakala Vedika.^[14]

Awards

References

13.^ http://popcorn.oneindia.in/title/5713/bodyguard.html