Guru - Film Review
(Please forgive me for the excessive use of jargons in this review, and the self-indulgent possessiveness. I am currently in Mani Trance. I will be back to normal in a day or two.)
Guru is a seasoned stroke from Maniratnam. More of a mature film that comes in the latter stage of a celebrated maker’s repartee. it does not exist to satisfy the demands of narrative, say an ABCDE(action background conflict development ending) or SBP(set up build up pay off) format, character origin development and conclusions, and so on. By saying this, I do not mean that Guru does or even try to redefine any given genre of biopic films, what it does rather exceptionally well is being honest to whatever it attempts. The technical front is A-class. All the rules in the book have been used to create life on screen.
There is hardly any thing that you like to point out if a film is consistently good, more than the meek mention of the same. This film particularly is a collage of classic sequences, dialogues, and steady, well-pitched, controlled gazes into the camera.
A film that will be talked about in appreciative hues and studied for its text book and dexterous approach.
A quintessential element of a good film is that it will not leave you, if it will it will leave you numb, lost, unsatisfied. When I saw The Departed I experienced the same feeling. I knew it is great but I could not figure out slots to fit my favorites. I know Guru will linger on and grow in my further viewings, I just am trying to find out why I call it great.
And you simply can’t take away the undercurrent of Mani while watching Mani’s film. All of the Nayakans and Iruvars will visit haunt revisit and rehaunt you over and over. And it is this passion that makes the current film fade away pale in comparison to the greats. the paler today the better tomorrow, might work, might not. one might jump and say I expected more, one might point fingers at Why no long speeches?
There is a lingering optimism stuck to the flow, and that smells good even after the film is over.
To make the name of a character unforgettable is the hall,ark of a any good story or any character or any performance. Be it Bhiku Mhatre, Raghu Jaitley, Lallan Singh, Munnabhai, Samar Pratap Singh, or now, Guru Kant Desai. This is where a film or a character takes larger proportions than what it is. It creates imaginated memories, breathes life into written lines. The streangth or perfection to which Abhishel Bachchan justifies Guru Kant Desai might be contentious but he adds his unique smiling eloquence that makes one believe such a man once lived, somewhere. The lack of Lallan Singh is made up for by Guru Kant Desai. There is a contained beauty to the pitching and the layering of the characters and their voices costumes blocking and their utilization in the seam.
To conclude, Guru delivers for the kind of expectations raised, but might not impress a Mani follower to the tee.
Tushar Shukla
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sirji, i cant undertsand wat u r trying to say…….bahut mushkil angrazi use ki hai aapne….yeh bataiye movie kaisi hai
= umm… PFC authors seem to have caught the sequel flu?
Tushar, you got the review in quick .. I’ll read and post my views once i’ve seen the movie. Hopefully this mnth
@kaafir, Sirji, sorry for that angrezi.ek word mein bole to
the film is paisa wasool
@sangeeta, hope you catch the film soon. I badly need a second opinion
Just watched it and i’m impressed!!
Mani delivers as usual, and Abhishek shines!
About time he woke up i say!!
Not too sure about the placement of the ‘tere bina’ song..well, not too sure about the dancing in it, as it kinda takes away from the situation.
Aish, Vidya, Madhavan are all very good.
But coming to think of it, did this film need songs at all??
I mean, there good and all, but maybe this movie didnt need ‘em.
Having said that, ‘ek lo ek muft’ was brilliantly shot, as was ‘Mayya..’ which brings me to Rajeev Menon…wow!! He deserves a pay rise for this!
Arre Kaafir!
Hum batate hain aapko…
Picture ek dum paisa vasool hai baap!!
Mani ne kya ‘honey’ laga ke Aish ko ‘pesh’ kiya, aur Abhi??
Arre jitni tareef karo, utni kam..
Samjha kya?!
take a bow mr.Ratnam. cinema that inspires you,moves you & makes you proud.i was emotionally shaken. guru has touched my soul.
tushar, was expecting a lengthier review from you, but i can sense you’re in that dazed.. “holy damn.. what did i just see? did i just see what i saw? i wanna see more!” kinda phase.. but hopefully once you’re out of that trance like you said, you may be able to write more in-depth about it..
if your review was to be summed up in this statement..
“Guru delivers for the kind of expectations raised, but might not impress a Mani follower to the tee.”
..then methinks i’m going to feel the same about guru as i did about yuva.. somewhere along the way my thirst was quenched.. but i didn’t get the thali i ordered, which would’ve satiated my hunger as well. i look forward to watching it this weekend, but will save my review for i know there will be better ones to read on PFC than mine
i’m not much of a film reviewer anyway..
I think mani with dil se started to make “Hindi” movies b4, he was mainly a south director thats where he was at his best that my opinion. After watching Making of guru i dont think AB jr convinces me with his acting I some how dont feel like he is the character. But mani is good at elevating actors performance hope this movie is good.
My Personal Fav songs are Jaage Hain and Ek Lo Ek Muft
= so t!, OM are you coming for Guru tonite? Just bought the tickets…
Guru….Man dying to see it tonite…Tushar me too was expecting a bit more in you review..but, yes you did sum it up…but, we have so much of expectations from Mani that i wonder will he ever satisfy us henceforth?
@steve! how r u sirji!
glad to know everone is liking this film, at least thats what the general response sounds like. the best part is that the film does not compromise to satisy any commercial motives, it is pure Mani.
on the songs, I in fact felt that it was a better thing to do than full songs. tere bina, ae hairate, guru bhai guru bhai(wow! i feel like watchin it again!), mayya mayya have all been blended in the narrative.
Guru should easily be rajiv menon’s best work.
Jaage hain brought tears to my eyes. I wont divulge more.
guys, m just holding myself from discussing EACH AND EVERY SCENE! i could go on n on…n n that time my mental spoiler filters wont work
i am just picturing a dream-ALL OF PFC GANG WATCHIN GURU TOGETHER!
@striker, sir aapke review ka wait karoonga.
@OM, absolutely agree with you.
Tushar…Sirji?!!
Boy, I’ve been called alot of things in my life but that! Lol…
Yeah, looking back, i think its one of those films that you find yourself thinking about after the film has ended.
And atleast it keeps you hooked throughout. Thats quite an achievment in itself, as how many films can boast of that eh??
I will be going back to watch it again, no two ways about that…
Mani’s always good.
At times great, but never bad!!
Steve, you got to see it already? I checked the local cinema showings for the weekend and so far tehy have only 1 showing !! that too at 11:45am!
damn cinema!
Tushar, will be watching it Sunday i hope.
@steve, this is like my fav online salutation. pucca indian.
@sangeeta, i worked hard for my FDFS ticket. booked it on tuesday. noones gettin any tickets now for the entire weekend!
m gonna revisit it on monday.
Sangeeta!
No way!!
Do they not know who Mani Ratnam is there?!!
What part of the hemisphere are you on?!!
Well, although its a total dump where i come from, have to say that hindi films are played at my local ‘British’ cinema!
The screen wasn’t amazing though.
They keep the bigger screens for the big Hollywood films, but cant complain really.
You dont live near Southall then i take it, lol!!
Thanks Tushar Sirji!
I end up saying Bhai jaan etc…
And Sangeeta, I caught the 12.50pm show.
Trust me, if they had a show any earlier would’ve seen that too!!
Im a total Mani-Rahman-RGV freak!!
Tushar,
You are not alone. See Big B’s take on Guru here
http://www.mid-day.com/hitlist/2007/january/150000.htm
Southall my bum! I hail from the same city you visited Rahman ji in
And i’m very surprised by the lack of showings, maybe they will increase the showings over the weekend but so far
While on the PFM-passionformani, i pick up an old shirt of my dad in the morn, n go to film sporting it proudly, on returning i button it up til the top, and now i wish i had a paunch too :d
god knows what will happen on another viewing 8->
i might start speaking in front of a mic in an empty stadium. while on the mic scene, mani has a thing for incomplete speech scenes, remember yuva?
watch out for mani’s regulars-mirror, rain n train. they r a delight in this one. i just saw iruvar for the nth time yest while i was warmin up for guru, and it was so much fun all over again. though similar ‘fits’ had me during dil se, i dunno where this guru bhai guru bhai aave chhe will take me.
wish it was released the last year, at least it wud have solved the best actor dilemma.
it sucks that i wont get to watch this movie for a while :(.. as there is only one cinema which is like 4 hrs away :((:(( …
So… “Guru-Bhai Guru-Bhai Aaavya Che Aaavya Che Dhumm-Dhadakar Karya Cheee…”, eh?
Something missing…..saw it today…..there is something missing when Mani Ratnam makes a Hindi movie. Dil Se
(huh-le-lo) Vasanbhai, too much of info.. i am going to avoid reading any more…….
Guru belongs to Mani Ratnam, start to finish. And very well supported by his writers, cinematographer, art department n everyone possible. On acting front, Ash and Abhishek are good. But I feel if it was somebody else other than Ash-Abhi, the movie would have gone to a different level. Vidya Balan has nothing to do. Even same for Madhavan. Some songs could have been easily avoided…ek lo ek muft, barso re barso, tere bina. Jaage hain..is the only song that enhances the impact. But what m still wondering is…..
IS MANI RATNAM JUSTIFYING GURU’S ACTS AND HIS WAYS ???? The socially conscious Mani is going capitalist ??
Dear Friends,
Just saw the Guru and could not resist reviewing it for you.
Mani strikes again with “money ” in his story. Guru directorially reminds or flashes back to sequences and songs from nayagan, iruvar, roja but is still enthrallingly fresh and inspiring for youngsters with business acumen. Excellent technicalities as usual in a maniratnam film along withsome slick direction keeps one glued to the screen for nearly 3hrs. Some better editing could have been done to made it raedy to the oscars. Abhishek along with aish shines like twin stars which light the whole universe. On the whole a truly outclassy movieto be watched and enjoyed.=d>
Hi. am a regular visitor. first time i am commenting.Guru is a finely crafted movie.drags at some places.songs cud have been done away with.I think Mani doesn’t try to convey a message thru his movies. he just tells a story in his own style and leaves the audience to make their own judgements.the monologue at the end by guru is just what guru hmiself feels abt his life and work. it is not meant to justify his misdeeds.
my 2 cents
hi
I m not agreed with parveen that guru is not fine peice of art but merely approch of moneygiri. there are some points raised against it on which I agreed.
music is not upto standard of a r rehman.
somewhere abhishek resembles amitabh but its natural after all he is his son. but the characterization is beautiful.as mani sir said its a fictional character how can u expect dhirubhais brighter side to be seen. of gurukant desai is as good rather than better character than munnabhai. its more dimensional than dj in rdb and munna. movie is fine with some forgivable faults.
Hi,
Commenting for the first time in PFC.I agree with Tushar that the technical aspects of the film are brilliant.Watch out for the sequence when Guru bhai stands still and everything around him moves fast and the printing press sequences going fast and then slow(the logical flow).Brilliant!
What I although did not like about the movie was the intensity of Guru bhai’s character not efficiently carried out by Abhishek.That character is so powerful that I was disappointed at times when it did not work out the way it should have.
In one of the initial sequences when Abhishek tells his father “Aap fail ho gaye to yeh zaroori nahin ki mein bhi fail hoon…. and immediately after that his ringing the school bell signified that no one can bog him down and he can create a niche for himself was disappointing.No doubt there are places when Abhishek stuns you like the scene when he cries when one of his friends cuts his wrist,but all in all it was a very very powerful role and could have been better.
Story has been told brilliantly and has a pace which glues you to the movie.Mithun da is amazing,I like Madhavan a lot.Watch the sequence when he says “Tadka laga raha hoon….
Rehman rocks!Howard Roark in bollywood music industry.Watch out how happy songs come in sad moments.
While I was watching the movie I realised that it is the first time that the funda of Capitalism has been so brilliantly told.
Although when I was watching the movie I felt a strange similarity to Aviator which speaks about the same thing.Watch out for the court room sequence in Aviator and you are sure to be moved by Leonardo.The court room sequence is Guru was disappointing not in terms of dialogues or anything but just Abhishek’s intensity.Watch out the first transition when he speaks suddenly after saying nothing for a long time,it doesn’t sound convincing.
All in all watch the movie for it’s technical brilliance,the witty dialogues,the magic created by Rehman,the pace of the movie and some cameo perfomances by Mithun and Madhavan.
Hi Abhishek
the school bell ringing sequence was magical. i dont know if i am obsessed with the film or not, having seen it thrice, but i would again say the film worked for me big time the second time. give it another watch and you just might appreciate the finer nuances of storytelling and chracterization.Abhishek who left me with a question for some scenes , numbed me on the repeat watch.
agree with you on Aviator, both films leave you with a positive uplifting emotion. i am in fact working on a piece comparing all such films-citizen kane, aviator, nayagan and guru. and there are some interesting revelations.
WOW, GURU is a great film from Mr.Manirathnam.
Every INDIAN should see this movie & understand what is life & how to tackle hard situations & How to be a WINNER.
This film gives us more maturity, mental strength, future vision, communication tips for youngsters & old persons in their life.
If every INDIAN sets a goal like GURU, surely INDIA will become NO-1 country in the world.
But should work in a good way.
In future “GURU” may be the film that is the secret of success for many persons.
- C.N.Parthiban