Guru

The beautiful photography of India, superb acting, and realistically told modern historical story make Guru a good choice as an eye-opener for someone who doesn't know Bollywood so well. And though the music is extraordinary, there is also somewhat less of it than sometimes.

Guru is the story of the rise of a man from a village to become the owner of maybe the most successful business in India (a textiles manufacturer), which also benefited its mass of middle-class shareholders in an unprecedented way. It spans 30 years. The film is said to be based closely on the story of a real person. It seems intended to inspire Indians to overcome the obstacles presented by corrupt practices, and it raises the question as to what is the appropriate response to a closed and corrupt system that forecloses legitimate opportunity.

It is a joy to find oneself in the hands of a master like Mani Ratnam.  I'd wondered if I'd find this movie at all dull or slow: I did not.  It moves along - there's a lot of plot going on all the time.  I would guess that we get from Guru's village origins to his years working in Turkey to his arrival in Bombay as an adult ready to go into business in less than 20 minutes.

Abhishek Bachchan gave a lovely performance as the son of a village schoolteacher who isn't much of a student, to his father's dismay. He declares his intention to have his own business, and disregards his harsh father's negative predictions about his prospects.  The character, Gurukant Desai, has a wonderful spirit - doesn't take no for an answer, also can laugh off irritants and obstacles, and the laugh is charming, at once boyish and manly.  He's "big" as a personality, and Abhishek is emotionally and physically up to it - you feel his great reserves of self-regard in the various ways he meets opposition, whether from family or business-world characters.

One of my primary responses to seeing the film today was gratitude to be able to see it on a big screen.  The movie occurs in city and countryside, the 50s through the 80s. Every visual image, and the whole field of the movie - scenes, sets, costumes, ambiance, acting style, music - worked together to tell an appealing story with a strong appreciation for India, as well as a potential inspiration and warning. 

I think a good test of a bio-pic, or pseudo-bio-pic, is whether or not somebody who doesn't know much of anything about the putative subject, which is me (in this case, the reference subject is a super-businessman named Ambani), experiences the story as having integrity, and for me this entirely passes that test.

And it's nice to see a Hindi movie in which parental disapproval is met with a "cut your losses" response rather than the sometimes maudlin kind of pining or carrying on about an "incomplete" life we often run into.  Moreover, this dynamic is not at all irrelevant to other levels of meaning in a story about a man in India who take on large defeatist cultural expectations to achieve success.  How should we respond to Father or principles or rules that are truly not serving our interests? It is also not irrelevant to how he plays his hand in relation to the corruption and cronyism he meets when he goes to Bombay to make his way.

Aishwarya is fine in a wife-from-the-village role who is a partner all the way, and I love her dancing. She also shows a definitely womanly aspect as the movie goes on. I am glad to see her in a role that does not confine her to the vulnerable-verging-on-breakable girl she is sometimes stuck in.

Mithun Chakravorty (of Disco Dancer fame) was  nothing but perfect as a newspaper owner who was a father figure to Gurukant and also significantly opposed some of his decisions.  The presentation of that complex relationship is a giant strength of the movie.  I don't recall running into this before, a scenario where an older generation figure is out to bring down a "son" and the love between them is dramatized as going on nonetheless.  I found it emotionally powerful, and insofar as there is a background allegory about India, excellent, about opposing and maintaining ties.

In a subplot that I couldn't find the rationale for, Vidya Balan as a lame girl and Madhavan as a journalist with high ideals and non-idealistic practices were appealing and romantic.

Beautiful movie. The director ventures into a plot that is seldom touched in India: The plight of Indian Businessmen, the prejudice that the general public has towards them, the disgust with which they are seen. The directions and scrrenplay is very close to some great Hollywood biographies/life-stories like Aviator and Wolf of Wall Street. The director covers a lot of ground in 2.30 hrs and nowhere it feels that the story is getting ahead of itself. And last but not the least, Abhishek Bachchan is exceptional in the movie, from his expressions to his dialogue delivery to his body language he looks like he is in reality Gurukant Desai. I really wish that other directors take a cue from this movie and bring to forefront such stories in breathtaking fashion.

Mani Ratnam does it again ... outstanding!! With his vivid dramatization of the Indian business situation of the 1950s-1980s (pre-liberalization period), through the story of an ordinary entrepreneur, he surely aims at igniting the educated Indian minds towards entrepreneurship. Yes! The movie is not for everyone, but a focused audience !! The movie is not one of the eye-candy commercial movies .... but a typical Mani Ratnam product.

But, more than anyone else, the one who turns the heat on is.... Abhishek Bachchan. "Role-of-a-lifetime", as they call it, could not have been better portrayed. And Abhishek Bachchan fits the role, body and soul. The conviction is evident in his dialog delivery at each and every stage of the story.

Aishwarya Rai plays the role of the strong wife who would stand with her husband in all times. This is one of the times when she has proved more than her body. A strong role played with equal strength.

The movie compactly binds the story of a successful entrepreneur and his simple love life. The soul of the movie lies in the final minutes, in a court hearing scene ... the 4 min 30 sec speech by Guru (Abhishek Bachchan). In his speech, Guru summarizes the anomalies of the pre-liberalization Indian business situation...how "Licence Raj", Market Imperfections, Corruption, Excise duties, Import-Export regulations troubled the businessmen and hindered the growth of the economy and nation as a whole.

A feast for Indian intellectuals !!! Salutes to Mani Ratnam, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai !!

Guru starts by dazzling with its starcast, its brilliant director-music director combo and amazing cinematography not necessarily in that order. But retrospect doesn't treat the movie that kindly.

Personally,the high point of the movie was Menon's handling of the camera. Every frame of the movie is desktop-wallpaper friendly. And though that might not be good for every kind of movie, Guru with its semi-period film setting and scope of locations deserved Menon's touch.

Maniratnam as usual handles his subject and his actors with consummate ease though the pace of scenes where he builds his characters too fast or truncated. A.R. Rahman is brilliant by the non-intrusiveness of his music. The Guru chant that follows Gurukant Desai around might be very Bollywoodish but hey! this IS Bollywood.

Abhishek and Mithun Chakraborty deliver the best performances in the movie. If Mithun had been given any more screen space than he was, he could've easily overshadowed Abhishek. Manikdas Gupta has... well...more character than Gurukant Desai.

Aishwarya as usual is a huge letdown and a liability throughout the movie but her saving grace is her reasonable performance during the Trial scene. She manages to put herself in the center of every frame and refuses to look old at 50. When will she realise that acting doesn't mean that every frame needs to look like an Aishwarya Poster or desktop wallpaper? Madhavan and Balan are obviously wasted as characters with Madhavan delivering a sterling performance but summarily dismissed during the movie.

As for the message, the less said the better. There are a few jarring moments when Maniratnam goes over the top trying to project Guru who is obviously a marketplace villain as a person who deserves what he wants. Whoever from India will believe that a Taxi-Driver is so knowledgeable about personal finance that he invests enough to marry off three daughters with "Shakti" shares? Indians who invest in shares (especially during the time the trial is set in) can hardly be the "Aam Aadmi" that Guru claims to love and serve. And on the contrary, IAS/IPS officers who Guru accuses as the self-serving elite are usually the ones who're from middle-class "Aam Aadmi" families.

On the whole an enjoyable movie especially the spine-tingling scenes where Guru triumphs. The movie is all the more enjoyable if you're familiar with the real life story( Irrespective of his claims Guru is definitely based on the tycoon). You go home thinking you'll need to think about the movie but you don't. The movie doesn't deserve THAT much.

First forget that its based on whom and what? thats not needed to see this movie. It has every thing a good movie needs to have. Casting, music ,cinematography, above all a great subject, that is still relevant.

Its a story you may or may not think is great. But its a story that was told in great way. Don't try to judge, you can't judge something practical with something that is theory.

If you want a movie that can project life-spectrum in another angle, here it is.

What I can say is DON'T MISS IT.