Movie: Bodyguard

During his childhood, Jayakrishnan steals a snake from a snake charmer. He then creates a panic in his school when he tries to charm the snake. As a result, the snake is killed and Jayakrishnan is caned by his father. This event makes him learn the importance of fear. Gradually, he admires the people in the society who generates this fear. As a result, he respects cops as they generate fear in people. But, when he sees cops fear the notorious dons, he is disillusioned and eventually starts respecting the dons.

Now, an young Jayakrishnan(Dileep) works as a bodyguard for the local don Shanmugham after abandoning studies. On seeing the fearful look on Shanmugham’s face while being threatened by Ashokan(Thyagarajan), Jayakrishnan decides to work for Ashokan. He sets out to find Ashokan with a recommendation letter from Warrier, a common friend. While travelling to Ashokan’s house, Jayakrishnan meets Dhanapalan(Harisree Asokan). The bumbling idiot Dhanapalan soon spins misguides everyone to think Ashokan’s life is in danger and Warrier had sent Jayakrishnan to save Ashokan.

While waiting for Ashokan’s arrival from Dubai, Jayakrishnan saves the household help Ammu(Nayanthara) from Rajeevan. After getting beaten up, Rajeevan becomes unconscious. Then, Ammu requests Jayakrishanan to escape after telling him the truth. Ammu and Rajeevan are Ashokan’s children. Jayakrishnan had mistaken Rajeevan’s playful intentions and attacked the latter to save Ammu. After confessing the truth to Ashokan, Jayakrishnan is retained after seeing Warrier’s letter of recommendation. Everyone in the house thinks Jayakrishnan is an idiot. But when Jayakrishnan saves Ashokan’s family from Shanmughan’s hired men, Ashokan begins to trust him.

After the attack, Shanmugham flees to Malyasia. Being careful, Ashokan appoints Jayakrishnan as a bodyguard when Ammu returns to the final year in college. Ashokan also arranges Jayakrishnan to study in the same class as Ammu. Ammu is accompanied by a friend Sethulakshmi(Mithra Kurien) and two household helps, Dhanapalan and a lady, while studying in the college. Very soon, Jayakrishnan becomes an embarrassment for Ammu and Sethu due to his attire and mannerisms. After Ammu knocks at all doors to bring Jayakrishnan to tow the line, she takes matters into her hands. What follows is a love story where Jayakrishnan gets attracted to a person whom he has never seen.

Siddique comes out of hibernation to direct this love story, scripted again by himself, which is emotional and humorous. This time around, he has kept the dose of humor lesser than his previous outings. But he has maintained the emotional quotient like his previous movies. The director-writer shows his command on the medium in several sequences. The director excels in the fight inside the temple where Jayakrishnan saves the Ashokan family. The writer excels in etching out Ammu’s weakening resistance after she decides not to talk to Jayakrishnan. The climax, which was hastily done, was a brilliant stroke from a writer’s point of view which is not as impactful when translated to screen. The climax, if stretched out in pace, would have given audience a better understanding of the movie. During the initial scenes of the movie when Jayakrishnan’s character is built up, the audience mistakes this to be an action or a comedy movie. This works against the movie.

Dileep is perfect as Jayakrishnan, portraying him sensitively while adding a pinch of humor. He plays the sensitive and innocent Jayakrishnan without going over the top. Jayakrishnan is serious while his antics might not be. Even while shaking a leg(and the upper body) to Prabhu Deva’s choreography, Dileep’s mannerisms come to the forefront instead of the choreographer’s. Imitating Prabhu Deva would have been disastrous!

Nayanthara, after the makeover, is a dream. The same cannot be said about her portrayal of Ammu. It is a difficult role and she has not let us down completely. Her Ammu is confused and torn between her feelings for Jayakrishnan and what has been decided by her family.

Mithra Kurien springs a surprise. Thyagarajan stares without emotions. Luckily for him, that is all needed as Ashokan. Harisree Asokan is okay as Dhanapalan which is a new addition to his enactments as the idiot. Guiness Pakru evokes laughter by constantly referring to his physical stature and also using the same to create comedy. Janardhanan is wasted as there is nothing to do as Sethulakshmi’s dad and Ashokan’s caretaker.

S Kumar’s camerawork makes the mundane surroundings look more colorful. Even Ootty looks different through his lens. Ouseppachan’s music is pleasing to the ear and the song are pictured elegantly with S Kumar’s camera, beautifully choreographed steps and Siddique’s direction.

Believe it or not, Siddique has not lost his style. See it for him as he may not direct another movie for years.

Language: Malayalam

Genre: Romance

Rating: ***

Picture Courtesy: www.nowrunning.com

Tags: Movies,Dileep,Thyagarajan,Harisree Asokan,Nayanthara,Mithra Kurien,Siddique,Guiness Pakru,Prabhu Deva,S Kumar,Ouseppachan,Romance