Bollywood Review (founded/created by Ronak Rathod) provides reviews of Bollywood Movies. Its mantra is Camera, action, cut: See what the camera sees, write the action, cut the hype. Reviews are drawn from movies watched entirely; if a movie watching is abandoned due to any reason (typically if the movie is a drag/bore/no-sense), it will be mentioned thus falling into the "Miss It" category. Movie Ratings are noted alongside the movie title as A - Adult, PG - Parental Guidance, U - Universal.

Review of Guru
Starring - Mithun Chakraborty Abhishek Bachan Aishwarya Rai Madhavan Vidya Balan Mallika Sherawat
Music By - A. R. Rehman
Directed By - Mani Ratnam

Mood of Reviewer - By the time I watched the movie, news of Abhishek Bachan and Aishwarya Rai getting engaged has become Abhishek Bachan. Keeping in mind the real life chemistry, I was curious to see the latest on-screen comedy of Abhiwarya as they are being fondly called in the Indian Press.

The movie opened to a Black & White scene of a Child (Guru) coming to his Father with the news his failing in exams but getting a job in Turkey. By completion of the scene, the director Mani Ratnam has successfully embellished it on your heart and mind the notion that Guru may not be good academically, but surely is streetsmart and more than confident of shaping his own destiny. Such is his grit determination, that his Step-Mother and Brother back him in all respects.

In Turkey Guru's job is to sell Cans of Petrol to the locals. His street smartness earns him the recognition of the people around him, and he lands a handsome salary and promotion. Here again, Mani very easily conveys to the audience the confidence that Guru has in himself when he says "Everyone says that they like my work and that I do a good job, if I can make them a profit, I can do it for myself too. I will work for myself. I will start a Businesss of my own", or as Guru says in his Gujarati accent Bijness.

Guru comes back to his village and tries to sell his idea to his Father, who pessimistically shoots it down. Guru finds a partner in his childhood friend, who also happens to be Brother of Sujata - Aishwarya Rai. Guru convinces his friend to let him marry his Sister, and in doing so he could get the dowry money that her Father would give. Guru's character definitely looks very selfish at this point, as he seems to put money before everything else. But Mani has cleverly used a Sepia tone for most of these scenes to convey the backdrop of 1960's/70's when marriages were still mostly arranged and love happened after marriage.

Guru lands up in Bombay and tries to trade for cloth in the local cloth exchange. But is quickly shown the door since he does not have a license to trade. Guru again uses his street smartness to earn the license and start trading only to discover that the Government has banned the trading ring constituting it as illegal. By now, Guru has already invest all his money and bought the cloth that he wanted to sell. He then dumps all the cloth at the IAS Officer's (who deemed the ring illegal) house. The IAS officer is shown as being overwhelmed by all the Cloth shipments delivered to his house. Perhaps not knowing how to get rid of the big shipment in his own house, decides to revert his decision and allows reopening of the trading ring. Here Mani flaws in showing the IAS Officer as taking the decision for his own self rather than the Country. But then the idea was to show that Guru was street smart and pushy to the extent of getting his way.

Guru is now titled GURUBHAI (Guru Brother), and thus begins his Business expansion. His profits expand and triples in a very short time. He quickly makes plans to open his own factory with the help of money lent by public in form of public shares of his company. He quickly expands from one to two and three to 6 factories. His growth is shown with a good background score of A. R. Rehman's music that sounds like the weaving sound of cloth making.

From here on, GuruBhai uses all his wit and charm to climb the ladder of success at a pace that leaves everyone astonished. He uses all possible loopholes in the system - show non-existent exports causing losses to balance out the profit, thereby avoiding taxes; importing 6 machines with spare parts disguised as breakdown servicing parts and building 12 machines instead - to become a Super Industrialist.

What happens from here on is best untold, since if you decide to watch the movie, it would be giving away too much of the story that would invoke any anticipation in watching the movie.

If you have any apprehension towards the character of Guru, it is sure to go away upon listening to the climatic speech that Guru makes. Such is the power of the dialogues in the speech, that you cannot help but admire the Village Man who became a Powerhouse of an industrialist.

Mani does a fantastic job in making the character believable and liked inspite of the gray shades.
A. R. Rehman's background score is spot on, but the songs in the movie leaves much to be desired. Only two songs are even remotely hummable, Mayya Mayya and Mangal Mangal. Do watch out for a sensual Mallika Sherawat in the song Mayya Mayya.

As in an Mani Ratnam movie, the cinematography is outstanding, so are the locations. The Gujarat locations do look very non-Gujarat though as is evident from the Temples and many green pastures with fat rivers flowing through them - Very South Indianish.

All the comparisons of the character Guru being made to Legendary Industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani seem entirely plausible. It is a case of Real Life inspiring Reel Life.

If you wonder where Mithun Chakraborty, Madhavan, Vidya Balan fit into the story, rest assured they are there through the story as well portrayed interesting characters. But mentioning their part would take away any curiosity that you may have.

Abhishek really has come into his own with every successive movie since Yuva. He has really got under the skin of his character Gurukant Desai very very well. The changes he has brought about in his mannerisms and accent only go to show his hard work. His voice modulation is excellent and will surely remind you of his Father Amitabh Bachan.

Aishwarya as usual look pretty in the colorful traditional outfits. Her role and acting complemented that of Abhishek to a perfect combination. The chemistry between the two shows on the screen, and it would come as no surprise that the reel life couple are tying the knot.

Mithun has done full justice to his role of a Newspaper Chief Editor. Madhavan and Vidya Balan also shine in their respective but small roles.

I would give GURU a rating of 3 stars out of 5. It is a must see if you are an Abhishek, Aishwarya or Mani Ratnam Fan. If not you can surely wait until it releases on DVD.

I would stay away from the soundtrack of the GURU, as it doesn't have any truly hummable numbers. It is an average soundtrack.

I would rate this movie as Universal.

Watch GURU if you want to Dream Big. Watch it for inspiration. For, that is what this movie is all about - Dream Big, Work Hard, Do not waver, Achieve.

External links

http://www.HindiSong.com

http://www.rediff.com/movies

http://www.filmfare.com

http://www.bollywoodmantra.com

http://www.boxofficeindia.com