Guru vs Iruvar
Mani Ratnam’s Guru has been a hotly debated movie of late. To those who have followed his Tamil movies, the comparison to Iruvar is but natural. Having heard comments here and there, I decided to put my thoughts onto the keyboard and hopefully wrap it up with a comprehensive discussion.
Firstly, let us set the basics right. Guru is based on the life of Dhirubhai Ambani, the founder of the Reliance group of companies. Iruvar, though the title means something like “two people”, explored the life of MGR (MG Ramachandran), the matinee idol and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, in relation with his friend-turned-foe Karunanidhi, playwright-turned-politician and current Chief Minister.
Disclaimer:
Guru starts with an usual play-it-safe disclaimer which goes like “All characters and events are fictitious…blah blah blah”. Iruvar was bolder claiming that “this is not a true story”.
Basic story:
Both movies, in a way, are rags-to-riches stories. Guru and Anandan start at the very bottom and rise beyond all expectations. Both have a friendship-turned-sour angle, though under different circumstances. But being based on true lives, maybe, we could just say that Mani has a fascination for such stories. Guru was a determined man while Anandan is shown to be more innocent.
Screenplay:
Guru has the usual problem for the hero in the middle and him coming out stronger. In Iruvar, there isn’t so much formula. That works both ways actually. On the negative side, you get a documentary feeling.
Background:
Guru is set in the world of business, which most people don’t understand. Iruvar had movies and politics, but too grounded in Tamil Nadu. Even there, those who didn’t know about the politics of the time didn’t understand head or tail. Also, some of the literary portions were a put-off for many. Mani received a lot of flak for the portrayal of some characters, as they were more famous when compared to their counterparts in Guru.
Heroine:
In a strange coincidence, both movies starred Aishwarya Rai as the female lead. Iruvar was her first movie and she played two roles, one of MGR’s first wife who dies young and the other of Jayalalitha, star and obsessed lover. In Guru, she plays the mature part of Mrs. Ambani. In both movies, the roles have much lesser screen time than the hero but create an impact.
Acting:
Mohanlal and Prakash Raj (Rai) — that’s too much of a combo against Abishek Bachchan in probably his biggest role ever. Though he did creditably well, Lal and Prakash Raj (getting a National Award for Best Supporting Actor) lived their roles. Mithun Chakraborty was very good too. Aishwarya was used well in both movies — raw energy on debut and a mature performance almost a decade later.
Songs:
Iruvar had the advantage of having a movie background. Songs were intelligently inserted, tracing the eras and reminiscing the popular MGR songs. Guru meanwhile had really no need for songs and ended up out of place mostly.
In totality:
Both movies serve as good documentation of those times and the people concerned. Ultimately though, Iruvar is classic material due to the performances, songs and the passion whereas Guru is just a good movie.
Is there something that’s missed out? Should we discuss something more? Let’s talk in the Comments section…
Tags: Tamil
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the transition from iruvar to guru however, has shown an increase in “money” ratnam’s fascination to go the commercial route. “iruvar” will forever remain a classic, as you mentioned, but “guru” will always be blamed and scrutinized for mani ratnam’s attempt to blend in, like the nerd in school who’s trying to fit in with the popular crowd. somewhere along the way, the man with a fascination to take over the masses took over the man with a passion to tell a good story.
Or perhaps he just wanted a mainstream, all-India hit. Can you blame the guy after his last 2 attempts at Hindi cinema (Yuva and the brilliant Dil Se) didn’t quite set the box office on fire?
i went to watch Guru out of sheer respect for mani ratnam’s convictions, at least they seemed like convictions in the earlier mani films that i have seen, especially, Roja and Bombay. i think i expected a bit too much from someone who may be safely called ‘money’ ratnam. for more refer to my post on the same film.
Tony said what I thought. Shouldn’t we give some allowance to Mani for playing it a bit safe after Yuva / Aayidha Ezhuthu? Ultimately, didn’t he narrate a story that very few would venture into?
The way I saw it was that Maniratnam had used of
all his previous best formulas – Waterfall song
from Roja, Newly web Hubby-Wife sequences lifted
out of Bombay,petty public praising the lead
(even though plays on the other side of the law)
out of Nayakan…and can’t remember where I saw
that bhasan to shareholder’s gathering. In one
sense Maniratnam tried a montage of all his
previous bests to regain his producer’s
confidence.
But did that ploy work at the BO? Can anyone
get me that info at PFC.
Yeah, I do agree with rehash of old sequences. But the point to note is that the producer is Mani himself.
Rediff.com says that the BO verdict is “average”. Guess the movie didn’t lose money.
BOI declared the film a hit.Collections stand at 38,61,00,000,ironically,MAni’s weakest hindi film of the 3 he made,but the biggest hit.
BO figures might not always tell the true story.
Most of the movies today are released with huge
number of prints running at all possible
locations. So even if the movie manages to drag
into 3-4 weeks the returns are more than assured.
What intrigued me was Guru’s VCD/DVD version has
been released even before the movie completed a
month of running at the theaters.
Considering other hits (and when I say hit
movie I mean hit movie not great movie)like
Krissh that had better than good BO return the
DVD/VCD version came a bit later than a month.
So my question is – did Guru satisfy its own
commercial targets ?
Oh, I thought Mani Ratnam was always a commercial director :-? FYI, Mani Ratnam makes sensible movies with in the commercial domain.
mans gotta eat guys…writting comments on a webpage is free…producing them are not…
It was always Mani’s film which made other directors to make a film based on real personalities.
I hope he’s trying to do films that are Mexican or French grade. He’s a naturality loving director thats sure