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02 Jul 09

Review - Guru: Guru never gives up, but looks like Mani did, towards the end…

Posted on 2 Jul 2009 by meetu in Hindi Movies, Romance

Running time: 150 minutes

Quick Review

Rating: The keen must watch on screen; else DVD (rating scale)

You are not going to get good-looking people oozing with style when you set out to watch this one. On the contrary, there are some scenes in which Abhishek Bachchan (Guru) looks border-line ugly. What you will get though is some outstanding performances. True, the anti-climatic end disappoints. But, fortunately, it’s the end; you have already enjoyed two hours of an overall fine product.

In Hindi cinema, a lot of the credit goes to the director when almost all the actors give great performances. This is, arguably, one of the finest performances Abhishek Bachchan has given. Many people who were struggling in the 70s and 80s will identify with Guru’s ambitions, and how he is pulled down by most people around him. The audience grows with the character…and so does his belly. The success of many movies, in this day and age, depends a lot on “cute dimples” and “wow! What muscles!”. It takes tremendous courage for a leading star to gain so much weight and get rid of the “sexy stubble” because the character needs it. Remember that's not make-up, that is actual flab, which he will have to lose soon enough.

Mithun Chakraborty makes you wish that he had acted like this in his times. R. Mahadevan looks extremely comfortable in the shoes of a journalist and Vidya Balan moves you to tears even though her character has had just 4-5 scenes to develop. The only actor that sticks out with a mediocre performance was Aishwarya Rai. All she needed to do was to dance and look pretty. Though she looks her usual dainty self, somehow her dance had a very “1-2-3-change” feel. The very little acting she needed to do, came across as mechanical.

Guru does not have an earth-shattering story, which is what makes the movie look real. But, it does have a few glaring loopholes with gaps in the plot and thus leaves the audience with questions. E.g., the audience is not told the exact manner in which Guru succeeds. Abhishek and Aishwarya switch in and out of the Gujrati accent and the lack of continuity is obvious. Also, cinematic liberty has been taken while handling technical medical issues of certain characters. All of which could have been forgiven had the climax had impact.

It is a shame that a director of this caliber could not resist evoking the demon of melodrama in the last twenty minutes. The whole treatment of the climax looks very out-of-place and surreal. Nevertheless, the outstanding cinematography, the very believable dialogues, the foot-tapping music, and of course the outstanding performances make Guru worth a visit to the cinema halls.

- meetu, a part of the audience

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Cast & Crew

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Guru - Cast and Crew

Director: Mani Ratnam
Lead Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai
Supporting Cast: Mithun Chakraborty, R. Madhavan, Vidya Balan
Story: Mani Ratnam
Screenplay: Mani Ratnam
Dialogues: Vijay Krishna Acharya
Music Director: A. R. Rahman
Lyrics: Gulzar

Comments(26)

Saum!:

A great review indeed. One can get an exact idea on why to watch this movie.

Keep it up!

posted 3 years, 1 month ago

meetu:

Thank you Saum!! Have you seen the movie yet? Any other feedback on the features of my blog are welcome.

posted 3 years, 1 month ago

Anonymous:

i dont see whay this movies should be watched:
Horrible story
2. Aish is worse loking than my servant girl
3. Her dance cant be more mechanical
4. Junior B tries to imitate his Father
5. None of teh songs are worth hearing a second time
6. Wasted my time .....

posted 3 years, 1 month ago

meetu:

Dear anonymous,

There have been very mixed reactions to the movie. You are right - such movies are very dependent on how they end and they did mess up the story by the climax. Also, as the review points out Aishwarya's dance was mechanical. I must say you have a very pretty looking servant girl, though.

Abhishek did imitate his father, but not through the movie. He sounded like Amitabh mostly in the last scene and just two other lines post interval. I thought that was very intentional. I did not put it in the review, to keep that as a surprise for my readers. Did not want my readers to see the whole movie trying to look for Amitabh in Abhishek.

Keep the feedback coming. Thanks!

posted 3 years, 1 month ago

Himanshu Sheth:

Hey Meetu,
The movie is excellent except for some weak links in the script(but that is expected in a Hindi movie :-).You may have got many reviews but check out my review which is really different

http://thoughtsprevail.blogspot.com/2007/01/after-guru-effect.html

Comments are highly appreciated!!!

-Himanshu
http://thoughtsprevail.blogspot.com

posted 3 years, 1 month ago

Ravikiran:

I've not seen the Movie but I read your review. Very good. Just one suggestion - Try to write more..This one was a short review..Mention, music, direction, photography etc. I would say a couple of paragraphs more to make it complete.

Neverthless, I enjoyed it!

Ravikiran Shinde
www.read.myfreeblog.us

posted 3 years ago

meetu:

Himanshu, I did post a reply to your comment, but for some reason, it is not showing up now. Anyway, I did check your website and liked what you have there.

Thanks for visiting and come again!

ravikiran, the feedback I have had so far has asked me to write shorter reviews :-). Anyway, in my reviews, I try and point out what has been done well or what has not been done well. Whatever is ordinary is left out. Somehow, I see no point in saying just, "Songs were alright, photography is okay". I am working on providing more details in the "story" (for want of a better word) section which is linked from the main review.

Thanks for your feedback! Keep it coming!

posted 3 years ago

Anonymous:

Very nice review. I definitely agree with you (and most other reviewers) that this Abhishek's best performance to date. Really haven't seen him show that depth before.

One thing that I felt in the movie, and have heard from many others as well, is that the movie is quite inspirational. Guru's approach to life, to business, to never taking "no" for an answer hit home with lots of folks.

Anyway, nice job with the review... will subscribe your reviews :-)

Amit Somani

posted 3 years ago

meetu:

Thanks for stopping by Amit! Yes, Abhishek has done a great job. But, like many other movies some people have hated it and others have loved it.

Somehow, I did not find the movie inspirational, but if it has worked for some people in the right direction, cool! Personally, I would like it if more of us could use this attitude to change the system rather than flow with it.

posted 3 years ago

Aishwarya:

i hate that movie!its stupid