GURU... Gem of a Movie

Guru… A Mani Ratnam Film…

This statement itself was enough to make the movie a must watch. And no surprises this time. The movie is truly a must watch one… and that to at least more than once. There was enough of hype created around the movie from quite some time and with raw speculations of the movie being based on the story of one of the noted industrialists which India has ever seen, and more so his growth from a villager to a visionary, from rags to riches, from working for an MNC to running an MNC and more importantly from being part of the political system to almost running it… virtually.

The story starts where the lead character GuruKant Desai, son of a school teacher in a small village in Gujarat dreaming big about going out of his village and his country to earn money and much more defying the wishes of his father who felt it embarrassing that his son can’t even pass the school exams. And very much like the industrialist portrayed, he goes to the Gulf to work as delivery boy for Burma Shell.

And from there on, there is no stopping his dreams except that he has no money to invest to cultivate his dreams of being a big industrialist. And guess what… he actually marries his friend’s sister just for the sake of getting the prized amount in the form of dowry. And then, as and when there were hurdles to stop him, he knew just one thing… You have to get them out of your way at any cost. And he had his wife rallying with him with the necessary support all the time.

However, cloudy times come when Guru is charged of violating ‘n’ number of laws and regulations, taming the political system and the judiciary to make his company grow. And in those testing times even the million of shareholders of the company who treated him no less than God do ask him some questions. And this time he justifies his acts to open the tales of the system which is full of bureaucracy and red tapism and how he built his empire to make the nation grow in-spite of all that.

This is probably the biggest role for Abhishek Bacchhan and he does tremendous justice to it by actually living the role to the hilt. This might actually prove to be the right kind of push he required in his already soaring career. And at many times during the movie, especially in the second part you will notice the class and the charm of Amitabh Bachhan coming out in his acting. There is hardly anything though which Aishwarya Rai and Vidya Balan can take from the movie due to their small and immaterial roles. However, there was absolutely no point in getting a great icon from the south in Madhavan to do such a petty and non-worthy role in the movie.

The Music of the movie by A. R. Rahman is superb to say the least and the songs are quite hummable for quite some time to come. However the timing of the songs in the movie or the necessity of the same in the first place can be debated. And less said about the choreography, the better it is. The direction and the screenplay of the movie is nothing less than what you would always expect from Mani Ratnam.

Verdict: The movie is definitely a must watch for two reasons. One, the movie itself. Two, to get to know the growth of a man who transformed India and Indian industry to a great extent and the ploys he used to get there… it was not an easy road as it seems after all…!!!


Photo Courtesy: IndiaFM