Review: Bodyguard is strictly a one-time watch

Bodyguard has seen two remakes in Tamil and Hindi after the Malayalam original and all of them have been successful. The third remake in Telugu, starring Venkatesh and Trisha, directed by Gopichand Malineni has been adapted considerably to suit the Telugu audience though it is quite similar to the Hindi version.

But director Malineni stretches the film unnecessarily. It has three songs in the last one hour and even has Venkatesh in a transgender get-up, dancing to Poovai Poovai from Dookudu. The film has enough action scenes, imparting Venkatesh the macho look, while Trisha looks enticing and seductive in saris during numerous songs. But there is nothing really to set the screen on fire.

Varadarajulu (Prakash Raj) saves Venkatadri (Venkatesh) from a car accident along with his mother. Venkatadri is later sent to Varadarjulu as his bodyguard. When Keerthi (Trisha) goes back to college, for her safety, Varadarajulu sends Venkatadri as her bodyguard.

She cannot stand him initially and starts to trouble him on the phone, but slowly falls in love with him. She continues to keep her identity a secret. The film follows the same path as the Hindi version with some minor modifications.

Malineni introduced some changes initially. There are comedians like M S Narayana and Venu Madhav in the picture.  There is not too much humour despite the presence of comedians Ali, Venu Madhav etc.

Venkatesh, who is adept in romance and action, plays his role well. Parts of the film have been modified to suit him.
Trisha is good in her portrayal of Keerthi. Their roles required both the lead actors to showcase a variety of emotions and they do it well.

Saloni lends the necessary support in the role of Swathi (Keerthi's friend). Prakash Raj can sleepwalk through such roles and he is convincing. Subbaraju does not have much to do though he is a good actor. Kota Srinivasa Rao as the antagonist does a good job.

Thaman's music is strictly okay with a song or two sounding melodious. There are far too many songs. Shyam K Naidu's camera work is fine and the production values are fairly glossy.

On the whole, Bodyguard is a fairly good festival release with all the commercial ingredients in place. It is okay for a one-time watch.