Though this is seemingly an outdated post..... this was due........
Last weekend we saw "Guru" and i did not get time to write the review for the same. The question is "How was the movie?" And the answer gives my mind a feeling of Deja Vu, last time i had felt like this when I had watched "Rang De Basanti"... So what was common between the two movies? I think one striking commonality between the 2 movies was that the director in getting overindulgent with his concept of the script and making a statement, went overboard to state something that is not entirely acceptable and correct..... The message that the both the movie gives is confusing...... Rakeysh Mehra apparently gave a message that "taking law in Hand is Okay, when you want to change the society", And Mani ratnam also reiterates the same thing in his own style.
I must agree at this point that apart from the message, i think the execution of the movie, its dialogues, the performances of the lead actors were truly amazing. The cinematography of Rajiv Menon, especially for the village scenes were breath takingly beautiful. The direction never lost the grip. Maniratnam has proved again his mettle of delivering a good story in a beautiful way. I think he is the only Director till now who could evoke the "never found" chemistry between the lead pair of Aishwaraya Rai and Abhishek Bachhan.
But what stands out completely over all this was the background score..... the best by Rahman in recent times..... Though the music and composition of songs could have been better. Gulzaar saab too has written some beautiful lyrics (especially Aye Hairate Aashiqui by Hariharan and Alka Yagnik...) , but sometimes has gone too abstract and uncomprihensible (Ek lo ek muft..., Trivia is Bappi Lahiri has sang this song on Rahman's tunes). "Maiya Maiya" rocks. Every time a song comes as a back ground score or a short tune like "Jage hai der se...." It sounded very melodious.
As far as acting is concerned Abhishek stands out with the best performance he has given till date, Aishwarya complemented him truly with a great chemistry. The scenes where only two of them are on screen, your heart goes out to both of them. Madhavan, after "Rang De Basanti" again comes in a nice "cameo". Best part of his character was that "Shyam Saxena" was very focussed on destroying one person (guru bhai) by any means for the larger good of the society. Though it feels that the intensity was a little less. Arya Babbar too played a role of a egoist brother-in-law of a successful Guru bhai well. But one person for whom the movie is a true "Comeback" in all senses is Mithun Da. From an actor of such repute and experience, you expect a strong performance, and he delivers. The most interesting part i feel is, after all his 14 movies a year stint, which makes you feel "eeks" watching, he stands out so convincingly true to a "Communist" character of an "Independent" newspaper editor. Vidya Balan's role, which many said was something that could have been done away with, was a very important role in my view.
Ok, Coming to My Favourite scene in the movie :
After the time when he and his company are alleged for fraud, the hundreds of people who supported him all the days, alleges him for being a criminal and tells him that he made them a partner in the crime..... comes the time when for the first time in the life of the Gurubhai, he takes a back seat and thinks amidst a great inner turmoil in a painful silence sitting with his wife in the remains of his old house (representing the life he began). He asks himself "Kya main gunehgar hu?" "Am i a criminal?" with a few dialogues, but absolutely awesome performance the actors make you feel choked. I think most of the successful businessman might relate to the scene. When a Man runs fast he hardly sees what are the things he is stepping on to move ahead.
But above the acting, cinematography, direction, music and lyrics stands the story. Mani Ratnam and Vijay Krishna Acharaya has shaped the inspired story (from Dhirubhai's life) in a way that just makes you think and think again. It tells a tale of a Man who loves to think big, and keeping moving on and on.
The story is more about ideologies, than about Gurukant Desai, the story of about a capitalist who wants to make money, taking all possible means, keeping people with him as a partner, and removing all the roadblocks to attain his aims ( Gurubhai : " Main do tarah ki chappal leke chalta hu ek sone ki aur ek chandi ki, jisko Jo chahiye uske muh pe wo marke aage badhta hu!!"). Along way comes a communist with his idealist nature who stresses ethics and the right means above the success. And so begins the classical dual between the two ideologies. Maniratnam has nicely shown the conflict of the ideologies and i guess this was the point where i felt that Vidya Balan's character might have been conceived. She to me was a link between the communism of "Manikdas Gupta" and "Capitalism" of "Guru Bhai". I think her role stresses the fact that any well framed ideology would lead to development of the society, it is for the bigger cause and the bigger cause is more important than the ideology chosen. "But why was she on a wheel chair?" Only reason that i think for that is also the same. Human nature has a little to do with the ideologies that follow two people of absolutely conflicting idelogies "Shyam Saxena" and "Guru Desai" loved the girl equally putting everything aside. And on the death of the link between them, all 3 of them (Guru, Manikdas and Shyam) faces the same loss.
So what is wrong with the movies? The only wrong thing i found was the message. I think that the director got over indulgent with the character and have portrayed him to be a good successful man at the end even when he has taken his own liberty with the ways of doing things. The movie stresses that what is important is aim and the means does not really matter. This to me is a little disturbing. But the movie has its own feat from the point of view of Movie Making.
Watch it for Abhishek, Watch it for Maniratnam, watch it for Rajiv Menon.
Overall a 3.5 * rating for the first noteworthy film of 2007.
