Video Songs Reviews Wallpapers Events Gallery Trailers Exclusive Contact Us
		Home > Bollywood Movie Reviews > Guru Memorable Performances, Good Music APK | January 13, 2007 Rating: ***.5 (***** Very Good, **** Good, *** Fair, ** Average, * Bad) Cast: Mithun Chakraborty, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Mallika Sherawat, Arya Babbar, Madhavan, Roshan Seth, Vidya Balan, Sachin Khedekar, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Arjan Bajwa, Darshan Jariwala, Manoj Joshi, Rajendra Gupta, Sarita Joshi, Neena Kulkarni, Sanjay Swaraj, Sudhir Pandey, Laxmi Rattan, Murad Ali, Mukesh Bhatt (II), Pratap Pothen, Master Sunny, Baby Simran, Baby Ashoi, Baby Anoushka and Others. Action: Vikram Dharma. Art: Samir Chanda. Audiography: H. Sridhar. Choreography: Brinda & Saroj Khan. Cinematography: Rajiv Menon. Dialogues: Vijay Krishna Acharya. Editing: Sreekar Prasad. Lyrics Gulzar. Music: AR Rahman. Story, Screenplay & Director: Mani Ratnam. Producer(s): Mani Ratnam & G. Srinivasan. Banner: Madras Talkies. Release Date: 12th January, 2007. Mani Ratnam's Guru is finally here, after many rumours, controversies and delays. Needless to say, it is one of the most awaited movies of 2007, starting the Film Year with a bang. Mani's movies are always eagerly awaited, and the Abhi-Ash wedding rumours along with the talk that Guru is based on Reliance Bigwig Dhirubhai Ambani's life made it highly anticipated. What's it about A young and ambitious Gujarathi boy with many dreams and a spark to make it big (Bachchan) quits his well-paying job in Istanbul to come to Bombay to start his own business. He marries his best friend's sister, Sujatha (Rai) for the dowry, as the investment for the business. Many characters come into his life, from the publisher of The Independent, who loves and hates Guru at once and challenges his unethical business values. Guru calls himself a 'Baniya' and someone who wants to do business-corruption, tax exemption and other tactics are all a part of it, according to him. He rises and grows into an iconic character, but controversy can never be far behind in the form of Madhavan, a reporter of The Independent. How is it? 'Villager, Visionary, Winner'-sure, Gurukanth Desai is all this, but some of his business dealings are not totally straight. At some places, it looks like the director endorses these vices. Well, it is a story about a common villager, highly ambitious and a man in a million. His journey from teenage to old age is covered, and the narrative is flawless. The fact that Guru is based on Dhirubhai is quite obvious. From his first job at SHELL in Turkey (Ambani's was in Yemen), to his mannerisms, and certain intimate aspects of his life are all evident. The pout, the walk and the talk-Abhishek's performance is par excellence. The plus point of this movie is the casting-be it Gurukanth, Sujatha, Ghansyam, Guru and Sujatha's parents (especially Sachin Khedekar in a brief but well-written role) and Mithun's deadly comeback. Half of the director's job is done with the right casting, and all that was left to do was to extract their best performances. There seems to be a lot of research gone into the script, be it for the parallels with Ambani's life or the contradictions to evade questions on similarities. For instance, Mani cleverly gave Guru Twin daughters. Though the movie is all about one man, it never gets boring. It has a grip that one would expect out of Ratnam, and a pace that neither gallops nor slackens. In three hours, we cover decades of Guru's life, know minute details about the character. Ratnam's attention to detail is commendable. There are some dialogues that are totally filmy, but accentuate Guru's grey persona: "Mujhe naa sunai nahi deta", "Chalna kaun chahata hai, main toh douda chahata hoon", "Gurubhai se ladna hai toh Gurubhai banke lado..lekin sirf ek hi Gurubhai hai". Defeated, hospitalized and stuck in number of cases, he says in the court that one cannot take away his courage, and that basically defines Guru (or Ambani too, or any other big businessman for that matter). This tale is not original-we've seen too many stories of commoners making it big in Hindi cinema, but Mani adds his touches to tell a tale his own way. The movie is more commercial than real, and is meant to elevate the protagonist. Performances Abhishek Bachchan: He's bagged a role actors dream of, and put in all his efforts for this one. Bachchan seems to flower under an able director-Yuva being proof of that. He is perfect for the role, and has worked really hard on making Guru come alive, and manages to pull off the task with élan. More often than not, AB makes it a one-man show, if it wasn't for equally competent character artistes casted alongside him. Aishwarya Rai: Love her, hate her, but you cannot ignore her. She makes more news off than on-screen, but this time around, she will be appreciated for playing Sujatha. She falters here and there, and Aishwarya comes into the picture sometimes, instead of Sujatha. But overall, one of her better performances. Sometimes she's simply Guru's aide, his shadow-but she pulls it off, and doesn't let AB overshadow her. Mithun Chakraborty: Mithunda, where were you all this time? Finally a director who gave the disco dancer what he deserved-a character outside a B grade flick. His role is that of a man full of ideals, but with great affection for the man he is set against, i.e., Guru. It was a difficult role to essay, but Mithun looks so natural, one doesn't even see him, and only associates with the character he portrays. Vidya Balan is wasted, though he holds her own. Madhavan is good and has fab screen presence. The actor who played Ghansyam is a really good actor, and does a great job alongside the protagonist. Songs The songs are good-typical Rahman. Mallika Sherawat is reduced to an item number in the movie, but she casts her spell and sizzles before she goes. Ash's introduction song-'Barso Re' and 'Tere Bina' are the best numbers of the album and picturized true Mani style. Last Word In Guru's speech in the courtroom he says he did whatever he did for the people and for his own benefit. Somewhere he justifies corruption, avoiding tax among other 'business' minded things Guru does, apparently for the sake of the people. All that is glorified, and that is one point where the movie stagnates. Other than that, Guru is a good watch, and narrates the rags to riches story effectively, without dragging and holding the attention of the viewer throughout. It is a regular commercial movie, a story told well with good music. The glorification curbs the potential of the film down, but for a watch it is not bad.