Totally Filmi

Siddique's Bodyguards 2: Song Comparison

The first full song promo from the Hindi language version of Siddique's Bodyguard is out, and I found it interesting to compare it to the same song setting in the original Malayalam version.

Here's a little bit of background to the setting of the Malayalam song:  Jayakrishnan (Dileep) arrives at the home of Ashokan (Thiagarajan), a businessman who has been reformed from a shady past, wanting to be his bodyguard.  Ashokan feels he has no need for a bodyguard, and sends Jayakrishnana away.  However, a threat to Ashokan and his family suddenly materializes, so Ashokan hires Jayakrishnan on to be the bodyguard for his daughter Ammu (Nayanthara).

Ammu, keen to rid herself of the bodyguard, decides to invent a “secret admirer” for Jayakrishnan, calling him from a private number so she cannot be traced as the source of the calls.  What starts out as a game for Ammu, and an annoyance for Jayakrishnan, slowly blossoms into an actual romance;  Jayakrishnan falls in love with this mystery girl, and Ammu slowly realizes that her bodyguard is a very sweet, shy guy, and she, too, finds herself falling in love.

This sets the stage for the song "Arikathayaro".  At this point in the film, the bodyguard, Jayakrishnan, is clearly in love, but he has no idea who his secret admirer is:

 

 

 

And now, here's the Hindi version, the song "I Love You":

 

 

What I absolutely love about the Malayalam Bodyguard is how Dileep takes this very one-dimensional bodyguard with definite ideas of how he should behave and do his job and peels back the layers to reveal the very sweet, decent man hiding underneath.  And the one thing I find baffling is seeing Salman Khan in that role,  because if Dileep reminds me of anyone in Hindi cinema, it’s Govinda – it’s a role that calls for sweetness, gentleness, the occasional bit of slapstick, and an ability to turn in some pretty serious “dishoom-dishoom” as required (although, of the two, Govinda is far and away the better dancer.  Sadly, he's also too old for a role like this). 

That said, you can see clearly from "I Love You" that the Hindi version knows clearly who the audience for this film is, and what they expect to see from Salman Khan, right down to that little touch of the deflating football.

 

And now, I suppose that I should stop pilfering from my Bodyguard notes and actually put up that post about the film, eh?

wanted vs hadippa

Okay, I know, I'm kind of going through a whole "September 18th Releases" phase here (be grateful, I could go back to Govinda -- he has a release *this* weekend as well as on September 25th.).

But you know, yesterday I became obsessed with watching the "Hadippa Remix" over on the YouTubes.  And today?  I found the promo for another clip from "Wanted" -- the song "Love Me".  And I couldn't help doing a little compare and contrast as I watched both of them again.

First, "Hadippa Remix":

Next, "Love Me":

Both videos are shot on similar kinds of dance clubby kind of sets, with similar lighting.  But the first one manages to be kind of hip and fresh and fun.  I look at Rani Mukherjee and I think, "Oh, my god, look how stunning she looks, I'm so excited to finally see her in a film again."  I look at Shahid Kapoor and think, "Dude.  I am *so* going to dig out your filmography and see every film you've made up to now."

I also think, "Maybe I should see 'Kaminey' this weekend instead of 'Life Partner'?".  Yes, really, I do. Shadid Kapoor is making me forget about Govinda.

And all I can think when I look at the second video?  "No, Salman, no.  No.  Just no."  And, "Poor Ayesha Takia, could they have made her look any more dumpy?"  Because I kind of like Ayesha Takia (confession:  I loved her in "Dor".  Other films, not so much, but I do find her kind of sweet and fresh), and I cannot for the life of me figure out why she's in this film.   But in this video, all I can think is that she and Salman Khan are dancing around like a couple of lumbering elephants, and that makes me a little sad.

And you know, if there *were* really some kind of contest here, "Dil Bole Hadippa" would be running away with it.  Hands down.