Introduction: Whenever Tendulkar descends on the field to bat, people expect him to score a century. Anything less than a century does not satiate the audience. Same is the case with the ace director Manirathnam. He is not judged by the general standards that is applicable for the other directors but is judged by the standard that he set for himself in his last venture. Overcoming a benchmark set by your own work is a daunting task for most of the people but Mani is one person who has shown consistently that he can live up to that task exceptionally well. With the 'Guru' movie, did Mani raise the bar once again for himself?
Story: Rumored to be the biopic of Dhirubhai Ambani, the movie is about a young man from Gujarat called Guru(Abhishek Bachan) who has high & lofty business plans. After spending some time earning money in Istanbul, he returns to India to start his own business. With no support forthcoming from his father, he decides to marry Sujatha(Aishwarya Rai) so that he can use the money that Sujatha's father has saved for her. He comes to Bombay with his brother-in-law as the partner & finds a system that is not very conducive for the smooth conducting of business. Nanaji(Mithun Chakravarthi), the editor of the newspaper 'The Independent', takes an instant liking to Guru because of the drive & fire that he exhibits. The story revolves around how Gurubhai becomes a successful industrialist and the problems that he faces during his ascent to the top.
Performances: As Guru, Abhishek Bachan proves that he is indeed a "chip of the old block". Be it showing the anger at not being able to achieve what he wants to do, the subtle but yet deep love that he shows for his wife, the affection that he showers on Vidya Balan (She plays the grand daughter of Nanaji), he elevates himself to be considered as a 'Top Class' actor. Mithun as Nanaji proves why he is so highly rated as an actor. Do watch out for the scene where he lashes out at his employees for printing 'fabricated' news. As is the case with any Mani movie, every character has a well-defined role & they play it out to perfection. Madhavan (as a journalist) and Vidya Balan are two notable performers who get to exhibit their histrionic skills. Also of worthy mention is the person who plays the role of Gurubhai's father. Aishwarya Rai's performance could be considered as the weakest link of all the commendable performances in the movie. It is not that she doesn't act well but it is just that she fails to do justice to such an important role.
Other aspects: The music director, A.R.Rahman, does what he is known to do well to perfection. Be it the lovely "Tere Bina" or the sweet "Barso Re" or the haunting "Jaage Hein", Rahman shows he is a great 'song' composer. Sadly, that is what he proves out to be in this movie as the background music is mesmerizing at places and pathetic at others. The repeated use of the "Tere Bina" tune whenever Aishwarya & Abhishek come together on screen or the use of the "Jaage Hein" tune for any emotion packed scene starts to soon get to your nerves. The BGM in the climax was one place where I was left desiring for a better score.
Rajiv Menon, the noted Ad films maker & the director of two movies, wields the camera with so much panache that you are left spell-bound at his 'creations'. The fields & mountains of Gujarat, the mosques of Istanbul, the streets of Bombay come alive in his camera. The art direction (Not sure on who the art director is) is also a noteworthy aspect of the movie. Vividly creating the India of the 1970's through his art work, the art director plays a hidden but an all important role in making the movie look authentic. The editing by Sreekar Prasad is adequate as the story & screenplay does not offer much scope for the use of the latest editing techniques.
Final Cut: Manirathnam raises the benchmark for himself once again with this movie. An absolute "Must Watch" for any lover of good & 'meaningful' cinema.
Rating: 8/10
Performances: As Guru, Abhishek Bachan proves that he is indeed a "chip of the old block". Be it showing the anger at not being able to achieve what he wants to do, the subtle but yet deep love that he shows for his wife, the affection that he showers on Vidya Balan (She plays the grand daughter of Nanaji), he elevates himself to be considered as a 'Top Class' actor. Mithun as Nanaji proves why he is so highly rated as an actor. Do watch out for the scene where he lashes out at his employees for printing 'fabricated' news. As is the case with any Mani movie, every character has a well-defined role & they play it out to perfection. Madhavan (as a journalist) and Vidya Balan are two notable performers who get to exhibit their histrionic skills. Also of worthy mention is the person who plays the role of Gurubhai's father. Aishwarya Rai's performance could be considered as the weakest link of all the commendable performances in the movie. It is not that she doesn't act well but it is just that she fails to do justice to such an important role.
Other aspects: The music director, A.R.Rahman, does what he is known to do well to perfection. Be it the lovely "Tere Bina" or the sweet "Barso Re" or the haunting "Jaage Hein", Rahman shows he is a great 'song' composer. Sadly, that is what he proves out to be in this movie as the background music is mesmerizing at places and pathetic at others. The repeated use of the "Tere Bina" tune whenever Aishwarya & Abhishek come together on screen or the use of the "Jaage Hein" tune for any emotion packed scene starts to soon get to your nerves. The BGM in the climax was one place where I was left desiring for a better score.
Rajiv Menon, the noted Ad films maker & the director of two movies, wields the camera with so much panache that you are left spell-bound at his 'creations'. The fields & mountains of Gujarat, the mosques of Istanbul, the streets of Bombay come alive in his camera. The art direction (Not sure on who the art director is) is also a noteworthy aspect of the movie. Vividly creating the India of the 1970's through his art work, the art director plays a hidden but an all important role in making the movie look authentic. The editing by Sreekar Prasad is adequate as the story & screenplay does not offer much scope for the use of the latest editing techniques.
Final Cut: Manirathnam raises the benchmark for himself once again with this movie. An absolute "Must Watch" for any lover of good & 'meaningful' cinema.
Rating: 8/10
8 comments:
Hmmm...Mixed reviews for "Guru" and you are another person contributing it. I have not seen the movie hence, I will leave it my choice. But, there 50-50 for both parts of the movie outcome. Nice review but expect some more in depth if you like to tell what the movie tries to say out of it without revealing the instances to say those.
Sorry to disagree with you buddy!! I saw the movie on the first day expecting a lot from Mani. But was disappointed with the story. He could have done it better. Thats what I felt.
- Murukesh
Ashok,
I would revisit the review & ensure that ur request is fulfilled.
Murukesh,
May be it was the fact that I was expecting very less out of this movie as the reviews that I had heard from friends weren't great. That added to the fact that I had watched "Thiruvilayadal Aarambam" and "Thaamirabharani" before the last 24 hrs of watching this movie might have also contributed to me in going overboard in my review
Hey Nagesh,
I beg to differ with your review, as much as I liked Guru, I still do not think it reflects the work of the man who has made movies like Amruta, Anjali and more than anything else Nayagan. To point out a few misfits --
1. Vidya Balan is totally in an unnecessary role, the movie could have well been made without her.
2. Guru's rags to riches story is at best patchy, leaving the youth uninspired/ambitious. His business acumen could have been highlighted more.
3. His climax speech which went on for about 10 mins ( and was supposed to be 4 min on screen) was unconvincing.
For me the Paisa wasool aspect of Guru was Mithun, it was a treat to watch him and his dialouge delivery.
Kalyan,
Thanks for your comments & more importantly for checking my blog!!!
Let me take each point and state my views:
1) Accepted. Vidya Balan is probably the weakest link
2) I dare to disagree on this. The simple fact that Guru returns to India to start his business here should prove as inspiration for many youngsters. Moreover, (according to me) the crux of the movie is about whether we can 'bend' the law for doing good to the society. Mani seems to have concentrated on that & so he might have avoided showing anything about the business acumen of Guru
3) Accepted. Even though the message that was conveyed was very pertinent, the fact that it could have been done throughout the movie instead of at the climax did strike me as odd.
Why do I still rate 'Guru' so highly when I accept to 2/3 of ur points? For the simple reason that it has tried something which I consider as a brave attempt and in a reasonably good way. Infact, I gave it 8.5/10 & then thought about the negatives (Read Vidya Balan's role) and then changed it to 8/10.
Please keep ur comments coming.
Cheers,
Nagesh
Hey Nagesh,
Read your review.A nice one.Guru in my opinion was a movie which was unconvincing,afraid to see beneath the surface(let alone explore the depths).Maniratnam has always been a stylist with plethora of aesthetics and nothing besides that.i would only say he has made all his best efforts to preserve his trackrecord.Guru is a movie which could, niether say it is different from the life story of Dhirubhai Ambani nor say it see through the veil of corporate bonhomie.I would say the movie was simply sterile :).
Mathi,
You hit the nail perfectly on its head. I couldn't have put that so clearly. Indeed, Mani is one of those directors who tends have the so-called 'issues' as a headline grabber and a marketing ploy for his movies than anything else. Be it "Bombay", "Kannathil Muthamittal", the pertinent issues just forms a backdrop for him to build his story.
All said & done, I would still appreciate the human angle that he gives to these issues thro' his movies.
Cheers,
Nagesh.
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