ExpertDabbler

‘A MANI RATNAM FILM’ tag is to commercial cinema what the 916 mark is to jewellery. One may or may not like the final product, but can be rest assured that the customer will not be taken for a ride. Here too, Mani delivers a decent film which does not insult the intelligence of the movie goer. Having said that, if a question arises about GURU being Mani’s finest or is an example of great cinema, the answer is, most certainly NO. This film too suffers from the trademark Mani Ratnam’s Dilute the theme for the sake of entertainment syndrome. But first, let’s look into the positives of GURU.

For me, the pillar of GURU is Abhishek. He has given a performance which is unlikely to be matched again in his career unless he works with Mani again. Very few actors in India are capable of getting in to the soul of the character they play with such ease. One could all but touch and feel Gurukanth Desai in this movie. His was a stupendous performance without any over acting. Another revelation was Mithunda. I dont remember the last time I saw him in a decent hindi movie and he has delivered a thorough performance in his role as an ageing newspaper publisher with his own philosophies.

Rajiv Menon’s thematic cinematography ensures the audience feel the meteoric ascent of Guru and the way he stabilizes in the later part. Rahman comes up with a brilliant background score in this movie. I am of the firm view that when it comes to BGMs, there is only one king - IR, but ARR’s contribution in this film was very impressive and he keeps improving in this department. And Mani should be credited with getting the best out of all these folks as only he can.

So does all this make GURU as great a film as was hyped about?

GURU is the story of a selfish businessman who makes it big. First, the director chooses not to explain why Guru is what he is through the situations in the film. And I don’t see if Gurukanth Desai is forced to deviate from the law of the land because of the circumstances or is just plain greedy. So when exactly does he decide to deviate from ethics and legalities? Does it happen after he gets rich or when he is struggling in his growing business? The grey shades of GURU is known to us mostly through dialogues, and acts by other characters. Clever film making it maybe, but like all cleverness it stands exposed at some point. Or maybe I should watch the film again, but at this point, I am of the view that the movie is deliberately vague on an aspect which is core to the story. The end result is, i could not empathize with the character as much as i would’ve liked to.

On the other hand, Mani packs in lots of situations in Guru’s personal life - his interactions with his father early on, his wife, friend and loyal supporters. The director deliberately draws as much parallel to real life Ambani saga as is possible without attracting lawsuits just to keep the attention of the audience. In other words its just one trick up Mani’s sleeve to keep the audience engrossed when there really is no pace in the movie. Not to mention songs, of which the ‘Mayya Mayya’ number stands out, thanks to Mallika Sherawat and Rajiv Menon’s camerawork. So all this, while entertaining, distracts and dilutes the core of GURU.

Aishwarya Rai does her best to act, but blame it on my prejudice, for me she is always a model who appears in movies, period. And what’s with that song ‘Barso Re’? I mean, its more than resembles an ad shoot. It’s as cliched a mani heroine intro sequence as one could possibly be.

Madhavan does a cameo but again nothing remarkable there too. And I could not really understand the need for Vidya balan’s character. Maybe I am not intelligent enough, but only Mani can explain the relevance of Vidya balan’s character and the love angle with Madhavan to the main story. My best guess is, he should’ve needed some prop to stop Guru from levelling scores with Madhavan, and so he has gone back to the old trick he used in Nayakan. Only this time its terribly worse. Can any of you imagine a Nayakan where Nasser is shown romancing with Kamal’s daughter? That Vidya balan’s character and the Madhavan romance eats up valuable screen time without adding anything significant to the storyline.

To come back to the brighter aspects, Guru still has the famous Mani Ratnam touches, for eg. the scene when Guru runs up the stairs with his friend before his journey to Mumbai,  the sequence at the station when Ash joins Guru in the last minute, the Ash-Abhi bedroom scene, the scene when Mithunda makes his employee remove his clothes and last but not the least, Guru’s exchanges with the contractors. The director’s sensitivities remain intact or has only improved. If only he had a good screenplay writer, sigh!

To sum up, GURU is like one giant onion, a genetically modified onion perhaps. Like all onions, it comes with an interesting shape. And like all products of Mani Ratnam, scores high on the visceral impact at first glance, and scores adequately well on keeping the audience engaged during the three hours. But only when you try to see what’s inside it do you realise it’s after all an onion which only gets progressively smaller as you peel it.