Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Beulah Bram A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

venkat1926 Versions-Hindi, Tamil and Telugu . IN DVDs subtitles may be available Actors: Abhishek Bachan, Iswarya Rai, Madhavan, Vidya Balan and Mithun Chakrvarthy.Direction: Maniratnam.Maniratanam is always fascinated by morally ambiguous characters and such morally ambiguous characters are the main protagonists in some of his films. His Thalapathi is of a mafia pair. Nayakan is on Bombay slum don. Guru is on robber baron. The screen play is excellent and the production values are of international standard. The photography is a delight to see and the music by Rahman was as usual full of rhythm. The first song “Nannari” by the female protagonist is much better than “Jodi” song later. Iswarya Rai – herself and her dancing are feasts to the eye. Bachan runs through the role competently. The cameo roles of Madhavan, vidya Balan and Mithun chkravarthy are powerful.----SPOILERS HERE I have a quarrel with the denouement. Guru was hauled up before a commission based on the exposure by the newspaper baron (Mithun) and his journalist (Madhavan). Guru gives a reply to the inquiry in spite of his stroke; what you can derogatorily call “Bashan”. He starts “another man broke the law years back but I am not a Mahatma”. He has the audacity to compare himself with Gandhi. Gandhi broke the laws which he perceived unjust to the Indians not surreptitiously but openly giving notice to the government, Gandhi did not use either strong arm or soft arm tactics on the officers to get his way. Guru also gives a populist reason that earlier in his life getting rich has been only for rich people and the establishment is jealous that an ordinary middle class man tries to become rich. He also spouts the highly populist view of third world corporations beating the first world corporations. At the beginning of the inquiry Guru’s wife who speaks for Guru requests the commission chairman to talk in Tamil (I saw the Tamil version of the film) as she and her husband are village people and do not know much English. What hypocrisy? Ultimately the inquiry commission sets him free with a fine of only 63 lakhs. In the final scene Guru claims that his empire belongs to the shareholders who also became rich in the process and his business has become the top in India and will also become a top class organization in the World.This is all usual libertarian crap from the mouth of a corrupt businessman. This film gives wrong message to the youth. It is OK to break the laws as long as you are successful. At least in Nayakan there is a suspicion of some remorse. At the end of the film Nayakan, his grandchild asks him “are you a good man or a bad man”. Nayakan replies “I do not know”. Guru succeeded during the environment of License Raj. Then the government (read high level officers) had hand in all matters and it is therefore necessary and easier to corrupt morally weak officers. Because of this also Guru did not face any competition. . But once liberalization started and competition increased I don’t think if Guru has now started his business with his morally ambiguous views, he would have survived. It is during this liberal period great organizations like Infosys, TCS, Wipro, Satyam Bajaj Auto, TVS etc came up fast with perhaps minimum shenanigans.GURU is an excellent film with a wrong pernicious message.----spoilers end

HeadleyLamarr Guru is Mani Ratnam's latest venture after Yuva, a film I loved much more than the somewhat muddled Rang De Basanti. Expectations are high with any film from Mani and this is an unacknowledged biography of one of the country's giants, Dhirubhai Ambani. I am forced to ask several questions: 1. Is Mani becoming cynical due to the lack of commercial success for his films? 2. Is the route to success to stack up the stars, and employ the conventional masala? 3. Where is the objectivity one expects from Mani? We saw him take no sides in the conflict shown in Dil se but here he is not sitting on the fence at all, making this an "official" biography.Why was Abhishek Bachchan chosen to play the role of Gurukant Desai? Did he match the physicality of Ambani? There are a very few moments when Abhishek does shine but mostly he leaves one uninvolved and uninterested. He caricatures the role, channels his dad in the angry moments and is a little too youthful in experience to get into the meat of this role. I would rather see him do another Yuva where I think he was probably the best he has ever been. Aishwarya is OK as Shanti, she is a sidelined character, the hand-holding wife. Her simplicity works in the film to keep her deglamorized. But why is she still reed slim after having two babies while Abhishek puts on more and more weight? And her dancing - can someone please tell her that swaying about in a reptilian fashion is not very attractive? The lead pair have zero chemistry - it is fine on his side, he did marry her for money, but there is not much at the other end either. Madhavan is much more real as the tenacious reporter, this young man has ample charm and talent. Vidya has nothing to do and does it while still looking very cute and managing to steal into our hearts. Her disease progresses in an alarming and unbelievable fashion - can someone tell the Hindi film industry to seek medical advice before concocting ailments? Roshan Seth is laughable as the panel head - like the old courtroom judges of the 70s. That brings me to the one reason to watch Guru. Watch Guru to see Mithun turn out an amazing performance - nuanced, powerful and towering above the rest of the cast. Maybe Mani should have cast Mithun as Gurubhai! Mallika in the Maiyya Maiyya number was sizzling - the character was clearly an item girl but of course Mani cannot stoop to such low class selling tactics so she had 30 more seconds after her dance. Now let us get to the music. One always expects an outstanding musical score in a Mani film - it is hard to forget the scores of Roja, Bombay, Yuva and above all of Dil se. But here the Mani and A R Rehman combo is unable to weave much magic. Ai Hairathe is beautiful, I like Maiyya Maiyya for its unusual sounds and the lines - Tu Dheere Dheere Khena Dariya Na Chalke, but the rest is most pedestrian. I hated Barso re in the film, Ek lo Ek Muft was laughable, and there was nothing else of note other than the fact that the music did not integrate well into the film. By the way - Abhishek danced like he was being periodically prodded by a cattle prod.But by putting all these elements together Mani did get a hit film - so I guess he made the right call. Done that - now can someone please ask him to go back to making movies with soul like Bombay and heart like Dil se?

ikaatar Guru is a story of a great man in the corporate world of India! His ups and downs in his life span! It was clearly acted by bollywood finest cast actors: Abhishek Bachan, Aishwarya Rai, Mithun, Vidya Balan and Madhavan. A fantastic film! Great material from India in a long time now!When it comes to the actors, Abhishek play the role of his lifetime, to describe in one word: BRILLIANT! He has really matured in his acting skills! Aishwarya Rai plays the supporting wife! Her performance is actually effortless! She suited well playing an ambitious simple village girl (it didn't hurt that she was damn gorgeous!).Other actors who impressed me were Mithun and Vidya balan, good in there own right. Mani ratman who is a great director didn't disappoint this time by extracting great performances and making a memorable movie with great tracks too from A.Rahman. Mine personal favorite was tere bina, which is centralized on one of the most celebrated couples in India. A great movie with great performances! A must see by all!

springsunnywinter The story was not very interesting but the film itself was so slow and dull that I felt like I could complete a world tour and still be left with incomplete Guru. I rented the movie on a 3 day hire and I couldn't watch all of it at once. I've seen 1 hour on the first day, the second hour on the second day and the final half an hour on the third day so basically it took me 3 days to watch an 2 and a half hour movie phew! It should have been cut down to 30 minutes but it still would have been long. Personally I don't mind how long a film is, as long if it's watch able e.g. Salaam-e-Ishq was 3.5 hours and I seen the whole movie in one go and I really liked it. I just don't know how the audience managed to watch all of it in the cinema hall and it is the filmmaker's luck that Guru is a hit. The only good scene is Mallika Sherawat's cameo and the songs are also good but they didn't make the film any better so my advice would be to watch up to the song Maya Maya. Overall I think that Guru is specifically made for old people and youngsters should avoid it.