GURU

Warning : Spoiler alert, long post, many mistakes might have crept in, no enthu to rectify

Continuing from where I left in the previous post , we went to Mayajaal in ECR yesterday in pretty much the same manner described in the previous post for the late night show GURU at 10-45 pm. We managed to reach there just in time and got the 2nd row tickets . In my opinion Prasads multiplex in Hyd is much better than Mayajaal. Without digressing much , let me stick to the main motive of the post - review of the movie.

This flick traces the rags-to-riches story of the Reliance emperor Dhirubhai Ambani played by Jnr Bacchan with aplomb without much distortion. Thankfully Mani doesn't give him many dance numbers , which were an eyesore in Dhoom 2. The movie starts off with Guru telling us to dream high and addressing his employees in a stadium. Immediately it shifts to the 50's and shows a young Gurukant Desai leaving to Turkey , after failing in the 10th class. After a slow start showing Guru working for Shell it slowly gathers momentum when he returns to India to set up his own business. Guru is portrayed as an unrelenting and persuasive guy when it comes to money matters. Mani has always had stud cinematographers like P.C Sreeram,Rajiv Menon, Santosh Sivan ( remember Chayya chayya ) etc. Ash's intro scene - the barso rey song was beautifully picturized and full marks to Rajiv Menon ( the Minsaara Kanavu a.k.a Sapnay director) . But I felt Trisha's Nuvvostanante was one of the best intro songs of recent times. Shriya was nowhere close in Mazhai. Guru convinces Ash's brother , who is his close friend, and marries Ash and starts his business with the dowry . The movie is totally engrossing at this stage , showing the various strategies,many unethical adopted by Guru to expand his business. This is the best phase of the movie backed by some super sensational background by Rahman and power packed dialogues by Abhishek. In typical Mani style the confrontations between Guru and the rivals , ministers etc are shown without the loud dialogues and Rahman immediately changes the mood of the scene with a sudden burst of amazing beats. Total riveting stuff. The dialogues surely deserve a mention. Surprising how Mani uses one line to convey a host of emotions!

Mithun plays the Communist editor of a newspaper . He initially supports Guru and is instrumental in his initial success which throws light on the lisence and permit system prevailing then. Guru slowly builds his empire and ensures that he is in the good books of the political leaders. The busines-politics nexus is highlighted in one scene with a minister. Guru resorts to many unethical ways due to his obsession with money. His meteoric rise exploiting the loopholes in the law, golmaal in shares and debentures, fake exports etc do not have Mithun's approval. He pits Madhavan, his reporter against Guru. The more he exposes Guru, the higher he grows and more is the profit. Vidya Balan's role dilutes the intensity of the powerful scenes in the 2nd half which beautifully juxtapose Guru's continual profits and Madhavan's image maligning spree. Guru meanwhile starts his " saviour of the middle class " campaign. Thousands of middle class people invest their hard earned money in his SHAKTI CORPORATION. Guru's dream of building India's biggest company is shown by means of few group photographs with increasing people in the background and bigger factories and culminates in a stadium photograph showing thousands of employees. Surely a picture is worth a thousand words.

The final scenes are a huge letdown. Having taken us on a delectable ride thus far , Mani disappoints in the climax. There are chargesheets and commissions appointed for this case. Guru suffers a paralytic attack. In the final hearing he is given 5 mins to defend himself in full public. Guru says nothing was legal and ethical in his initial days of cloth trading and everything in India is flawed. Big B simply rocked in the scene. The dialogues found great acceptance as many applauded in the theatre.The comparison to Gandhi's freedom struggle was in bad taste. . As the one responsible for the upliftment of middle class he questions if the dream to make India's company a world leader is wrong. He finishes his speech in 4 1/2 mins and says " Yeh bijiness hai. Isme bhi maine 30 second ka munaafa paaya hain". He is surprisingly let off with just a fine of about 60 lakhs for tax evasion etc. This probably was meant to show the poor anti-corruption laws then. The next scene shows an older Big B jnr and a bigger crowd and a motivating speech and the titles.

The movie has its share of brilliant moments. Abhishek has greatly improved every aspect of his acting . Apparently he has taken hazaar cues from Al Pacino in Godfather ( friends said that) and apes his dad too in the final moments which remind us of SARKAR. Overall the combo of sensational acting, amazing music, superb dialogues and Mani's directorial abilities give us a winner , the poor climax notwithstanding. Go watch it for Mani's brilliance. I wouldnt mind a revision!

Rating: * * * 1/2 ( scale of 5)