guru @ times of indiapoised . now

There are 2 kinds of movies that give you a cramped feeling and want to yawn and stretch out at the end of it. The first one is the kind where u tend to fall asleep in the limited space available in the “rocking” chair and unable to actually stretch the legs and snooze off comfortably. The other ones that actually make u sit up cramped and take no notice of comfort, where you want to hang on to every single word that is being said, every single muscle that acts and every single character that comes by on the screen…

Guru falls into the second category. Mani Ratnam has done a splendid job of abhishek bachan, changing his persona from a dumb cop/husband roles to one of real essence that actually makes the blood tingle in the veins whenever you see his “expressionless” face. When the simple villager seems to be pushed back by everyone who is conservative and has no faith in the future, in their own son, you are reminded of big B’s rendition of the India poised -
“ There are 2 Indias in this country – one India is straining at the leash… eager to spring forth and live up to all the adjectives that the world has been recently showering upon us. The other India is the leash.”

Starting with his dad who does not believe that he can do well in his endeavor so on up to the government and the press who are bent on slandering him just because he is successful through the normal ways of the system – bribery and corruption, the movie showcases hypocrites who are generally scared of big things in life. They are happy leading their mundane useless existence, but would not want to change for the better; which is absolutely fine, but then why pull down somebody who wants to break out of the mold. Like where was the government when gurubhai was building up the tax evasions little by little? They were the ones who were accepting the fact and the money and turning a blind eye to it all. (I have people who vouch for those practices being sanctioned by the government itself for tax “benefits” as they are called in this case even today.) But the individual is indispensable to the government and can be called into an inquiry and bullied into bankruptcy and anonymity...

And the best part is when the public “awareness” builds up and they realize that bachan is actually screwing them by resorting to unlawful means of cost reduction and business building. A guy who has made people wealthy by making them shareholders of his empire in return for a measly sum of money from them, that has given them many times the returns, certainly deserves something more than the accusations of the masses. That is why the really intelligent people don’t do anything for the masses… what is the point? Screw them…

There is no obvious fault in the movie except for a few redundant songs and there could have been somebody who could act for the role of sujatha, abhishek bachan’s wife… probably mallika sherawat could have been used throughout the movie.

The dialogues are very strong and supporting the delivery were the background scores… especially when in the split second the mood changes and bachan transitions from hero to villain within the same scene and for the same household. The whole combo just makes you feel kinda proud of the guy on the screen. The movie could not be better timed especially when the India poised campaign of big B is on the screens today. It really makes you feel proud that you are Indian. Or does it?