Mani Ratnam's Guru holds forte for the whole movie period and lets it off at the end. The enthralling story of the rags to riches is a true tribute to Dhirubhai and his business acumen. It is also a peek into the way business is and should be run in present times. The shackles of the licence raj and how the protagonist Gurukant Desai breaks them is beautifully depicted. The fearless Guru makes
his way wherever he goes. It also shows that in today's business education or the lack of it is no deterrent. Dhirubhai and Bill Gates are examples of this . Gurukant enacted by Abhishek lives up to the character. The smiling face, the twinkle in the eye shows that he is confident of himself. The interactions are also at extremes, with the snobbish he is rude but with the friends and relatives he is subdues. A heady mixture of earthy charm and brilliance is what Abhishek shows in a neatly drawn character of Guru. Ash as his wife who has lost in love and marries Guru out of no choice is also restrained and supports Guru not getting awed by the brilliance of the character and showing the strength that was trademark of Dhirubhai's wife Kokilaben. Mithun Chakravarty shows flashes of his Mrigayaa brilliance in the character of the media baron and how his love turns into hate and how he goes on to be the ruthless media baron after he knows that Guru has used his media is a fine effort by a veteran actor. Vidya Balan acts well but her life and death are not well integrated into the story and bear no relevance to Guru and his life. Madhavan too as the journalist in the cameo acts well. The story of a rural boy who goes to Istanbul to trade and comes back to India to set up his own business, marries for the sake of dowry to set up his business, finds his way through the market, sets up his textile plants , takes care of his shareholders , gets into trouble with the Government in his fast rise , is paralyzed, fights back and comes out a winner. Guru is ruthless and shows no emotion for what is right or wrong . This is shown by his marrying Ash for the need of 25000 rupees as seed capital. He again uses the newspaper of his Nanaji to get the membership. He bribes officials and ministers to get clearances. This shows that all is fair in war and business. The only weak point in the movie is that after building up the second half with misery for Guru, the jury makes up its mind to punish Guru. Only one lecture of Guru makes the learned men overturn their decision . The lecture is not logical. Its emotional. Here also Guru is more interested in the public trial and makes the most of it. But the sequence in which he equates himself with Gandhiji does not bear semblance to Dhirubhai and brings the movie to an abrupt end as if a racing car comes to a screeching halt. AR Rehman is fantastic with his music, as usual and uses Hariharan,Bappi and Shreya to the hilt and also the Mayya Crooner. Mallika Sherawat does her bit but is not as hot as the song. All in all the blemish is only at the end. Otherwise a good movie.
his way wherever he goes. It also shows that in today's business education or the lack of it is no deterrent. Dhirubhai and Bill Gates are examples of this . Gurukant enacted by Abhishek lives up to the character. The smiling face, the twinkle in the eye shows that he is confident of himself. The interactions are also at extremes, with the snobbish he is rude but with the friends and relatives he is subdues. A heady mixture of earthy charm and brilliance is what Abhishek shows in a neatly drawn character of Guru. Ash as his wife who has lost in love and marries Guru out of no choice is also restrained and supports Guru not getting awed by the brilliance of the character and showing the strength that was trademark of Dhirubhai's wife Kokilaben. Mithun Chakravarty shows flashes of his Mrigayaa brilliance in the character of the media baron and how his love turns into hate and how he goes on to be the ruthless media baron after he knows that Guru has used his media is a fine effort by a veteran actor. Vidya Balan acts well but her life and death are not well integrated into the story and bear no relevance to Guru and his life. Madhavan too as the journalist in the cameo acts well. The story of a rural boy who goes to Istanbul to trade and comes back to India to set up his own business, marries for the sake of dowry to set up his business, finds his way through the market, sets up his textile plants , takes care of his shareholders , gets into trouble with the Government in his fast rise , is paralyzed, fights back and comes out a winner. Guru is ruthless and shows no emotion for what is right or wrong . This is shown by his marrying Ash for the need of 25000 rupees as seed capital. He again uses the newspaper of his Nanaji to get the membership. He bribes officials and ministers to get clearances. This shows that all is fair in war and business. The only weak point in the movie is that after building up the second half with misery for Guru, the jury makes up its mind to punish Guru. Only one lecture of Guru makes the learned men overturn their decision . The lecture is not logical. Its emotional. Here also Guru is more interested in the public trial and makes the most of it. But the sequence in which he equates himself with Gandhiji does not bear semblance to Dhirubhai and brings the movie to an abrupt end as if a racing car comes to a screeching halt. AR Rehman is fantastic with his music, as usual and uses Hariharan,Bappi and Shreya to the hilt and also the Mayya Crooner. Mallika Sherawat does her bit but is not as hot as the song. All in all the blemish is only at the end. Otherwise a good movie.
