Sai Vineet Mohan Sinha Welcome 2007. Now you will ask how come I am late in welcoming Bond Year. The answer is Guru. Mani Ratnam did his homework nicely, took his lessons after Yuva's debacle. He ventures into a territory which no other director(s) would have dared to. It is always difficult to show the passage of time onto screen. After all few would have thought to bring the life of India's Corporate Behemoth Reliance's founder Late Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani onto 70mm Technicolor. Guru is a work of art. Guru has lot of pluses. Mani has his team already set out. The person behind the camera is none other than his most trusted lieutenant Rajiv Menon. The cinematography of Guru is impeccable. It is a journey of a boy (Gurukant Desai) living in a Gujarat village who fails in board exams, gets scolded by his headmaster father, who mocks at his plans to go abroad to earn livelihood. The boy heads off to Turkey and starts working at a petrol delivery firm. He goes as a boy but returns back as a man that too after enjoying belly dance (Mallika Sherawat impresses as the belly dancer Jhumpa, check out Maiyaa Maiyaa Number), making a fast friend Ghanshayam Bhai, and gathering some money. He gets an lucrative offer too but rejects it out rightly. Guru as a character is over ambitious and manipulative. He turns to his friend (Jignesh played by Arya Babbar) for monetary help and reveals about his plans. Jignesh refuses to help him monetarily as his father has saved money (Twenty Thousand approx.) for his sister's (Sujata played by Aishwarya Rai) marriage. He heads straight to Mumbai. To quote Guru "When I came to Bombay I had two shirts, a wife, a brother-in-law and Rs.15,000 in a small suitcase to start a business. But all doors were shut for a newcomer." The Cotton trading business is controlled by few golf playing good for nothing idiots. The idiot in question is Arzaan Contractor (played by Arjan Bajwa). Guru meets his to be-mentor who later on becomes his biggest foe Manik Das Gupta (assayed by Mithun Chakraborty) who is owner of The Independent (a Mumbai Daily). Mani may deny the facts that Guru is not inspired from Dhirubhai's life, but comparisons are inevitable. Dhirubhai in his early days of struggle had Indian Express founder True Gandhian, Late Ram Nath Goenka as his mentor and Godfather. Mithun no doubt delivers powerhouse performance. Guru topples Arzaan Contractor and starts trading in Polyster a non cotton fabric. Wearing non cotton fabric in those days as shown in the film was considered a taboo. He wants to set up his own factory as Shakti Industries. He decides that Shakti Industries will go public. As Guru continues his journey in top gear towards his goal, his aides and friends turn foes and his biggest critics. Jignesh and Guru part ways due to the Public Issue decision. Jignesh divulges the reason for Guru marrying his sister. Guru bribes ManikDas Gupta's editor and uses The Independent to settle scores with the Contractors. The rift between Manik Das Gupta and Guru further widens due to the entry of firebrand reporter (Shyam Saxena played by Madhavan). But the beauty of Guru lies in the fact that no matter whether the world goes against him the protagonist never forgets the ones he loves. Take the case of Meenakshi (Manik Das Gupta's multiple sclerosis affected and wheel chair confined grand daughter) portrayed by Vidya Balan. Shyam Saxena marries Vidya Balan, but still Guru continues to love and care for her. In portraying relationships Mani Ratnam is unmatched. Now enough of Guru Bhai. Lets talk about his better half, Sujata. Their first rendezvous occurs in a train. Sujata running from her home, crying and heart broken, because her first love has ditched her. Aish sizzles in Barso Re (shot entirely in Badami, Karnataka). She as a doting, protective and caring housewife stands apart of all the characters and supports her husband even when the entire world is daggers drawn towards him and when he suffers a paralytic stroke. Superficially, Guru is a journey of a person from 16 year old boy to 60 year old senior citizen, the ups and downs he encounters during this journey chasing his dreams which keep on getting bigger and bigger but once you scratch the surface it is a beautiful love story of two people, namely Guru and Sujata. Their love withstands the upheavals of life. In testing times (Especially the Hearing of Guru's Case in front of Thapar Commission) their love, commitment, trust remains rock solid. Another plus of Guru is the music by A R Rehman. Rehman reserves his best for Mani Ratnam Guru's Character has flaws too. He wants to pursue and fulfill his dreams either by hook or by crook. He flays the Export Import laws, acquires land illegally, obtains tax rebates from Government by showing exports in the books whereas in reality he is exporting empty boxes, bribes a minister to name a few. In spite of Guru's flaws, what stands out for him is his sincerity in pursuing his dreams, his vision crystal clear in his mind, the love and affection which he has for his wife and lieutenants who are ready to sacrifice their lives for Guru (example Ghanshyam Bhai), the trust he has on the shareholders.On a concluding note, Guru is a movie for people who dare to dream, people who have very strong determination, people who cherish and long for the moment when their dream will get fulfilled. After all we all dream. You, yourself have to get into Guru's shoes and then watch the masterpiece, after all it is a journey. You have to grow with Guru.

Zentaurion I'll get straight to what I didn't like about the movie. The background score and the pacing. They are very inter-linked and both let down the overall experience. Every time in the latter half of the movie when Guru says just about anything the gung-ho "Guru Bhai" theme kicks in. This just pulls the focus away from the character and into his "cause". Instead of delving into the personal aspects of the character, his possible self-doubts, motivation, etc. it immediately becomes about a man fighting for the cause of the underdog in society. The poor pacing goes hand in hand with the music, with an entire song that seemed unnecessary.There is almost no development into the titular Guru, instead letting the characters play of that character while their characters are developed and more rounded out.The first half is an absolute joy, but after that it just wallows in mediocrity. Abshishek Bachchan keeps the character alive throughout it though. Aishwarya turns in a fair performance. Vidya Balan deserves more credit for her role despite it being weakly tacked onto the story. Madhavan does a good job of a character integral to the story.Mithun shows why he is the one with the most experience though. It's a shame he didn't have more scenes as his character was the heart of the movie and it really would have helped to see more interplay between his and that of Guru throughout it all.A missed opportunity that really should have been better.

Rajesh C This is the third bilingual movie of film director Mani ratnam,after his flop of Dilse(1998) and Yuva(2004).The flops of bilingual movie effort is evident in showing that there is some shortcoming when its done for both Hindi and Tamil audience.Yet there is an understanding that people like Mani ratnam or Kamal Haasan make movie on the philosophy of how it should be,rather then whom they are targeting or satisfying for.This movie carries the pain,learnings and dreams Main ratnam has had right from his first Kanada movie Pallavi Anu pallavi(1983).The output of this movie is the second best after Kanathil Muthamital(2002).The story is inspired from the Business tycoon Mr.Dhirubhai Ambani(1932-2002),as everyone knows.Tha adaptation of his biography into a movie story is been done reasonably well.The content and execution are right on spot with quality.Especially the first scene where he talks in front of empty stadium and bringing that back on climax with all people,where he makes a statement of that his dream has become true is the masterpiece and inspiring piece of cinema. Mr.Manoj Night Shyamalam,the Indian American film director has stated that 95% of director job is casting,even though its an exaggerating statement,it clearly highlights the importance of casting.Actress Aishwarya resembles Mrs.Ambani and Abhishek is sufficient for the Guru character.Mithun and Madhavan are OK on their supporting roles as well.The story shows the rags to riches moments of Mr.Ambani overcoming the oppositions which is mind blowing,inspiring and unbelievable.There were few innovations like taking a romantic song lead after there were dispute between Guru and Mrs.Guru.The song ore kana yen vazhvilae(the dream song)is the master piece in the movie.It summarises the beautiful,emotional,poetic state of thought in dreaming and attaining the goal in opposition.I guess Rehman has recorded his dream of getting Oscar in that song,which he did get in 2009.Artists are humanity and dream messengers,its an eternal favourite theme(dream)well handled in movie.The movie is about greatness of dream and the person who mastered the dream,Mr.Ambani.

long-ford This is a thinly veiled biopic of Dhirubhai Ambani aka 'Gurubhai' played very well by Abhishek Bachchan. The film charts his early years as well as his attempts to set up India's largest polyester factory ultimately making Shakti Industries (i.e Reliance Industries) a national powerhouse. He is clearly not averse to oiling palms in an effort to get his way. Indeed, his climactic speech (MINOR SPOILERS) shows him justifying his activities as necessary in a corrupt nation. This is probably going a step too far, but in general, the film does a decent job presenting him, warts and all. Aishwarya plays second fiddle as his wife. Vetern actor Mithun leaves an impression.Overall 7/10