Guru (2007)

A villager, Gurukant Desai, arrives in Bombay 1958, and rises from its streets to become the GURU, the biggest tycoon in Indian history.

Director:

Mani Ratnam

Writers:

Mani Ratnam (screenplay), Vijay Krishna Acharya (dialogue),

Stars:

Mithun Chakraborty, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

7 wins & 24 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Mithun Chakraborty	...	Manikdas Gupta
Abhishek Bachchan	...	Gurukant Desai
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan	...	Sujata (as Aishwarya Rai)
Madhavan	...	Shyam Saxena (as R. Madhavan)
Vidya Balan	...	Meenakshi Gupta
Roshan Seth	...	Thapar
Mallika Sherawat	...	Jhumpa
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sunil Agarwal
Murad Ali
Anoushka	...	(as Baby Anoushka)
Ashoi	...	(as Baby Ashoi)
Arya Babbar	...	Jignesh
Arjan Bajwa	...	Arzaan Contractor
Mukesh Bhatt	...	Ram Lal
Dhritiman Chatterjee	...	Thapar Commission Member

Storyline

A school-teacher in India sires a son named Gurukant, but is disappointed as the child fails to live up to his high expectations. When Gurukant grows up, he is unable to secure decent employment in India, so finds a way to go to Turkey, where he finds employment. When he returns back to India, he wants to start his own business, but is unable to do so, as he does not have enough money. So he does some research, gets to meet Sujata, the daughter of a wealthy man named Jignesh, and marries her. After the marriage, Gurukant finds out that Sujata has a dark past, but he ignores this - for his one motive is to be to rise in the eyes of his father - and get rich.

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Plot Keywords:

business | village | gujarat | brother in law | school teacher | 

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Taglines:

Villager. Visionary. Winner.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Musical | Romance

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

12 January 2007 (India)

Also Known As:

Gurukant

Filming Locations:

Assam, India

Box Office

Budget:

INR 150,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£156,951 (UK) (12 January 2007)

Gross:

$2,087,000 (USA) (16 February 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Madras Talkies

Technical Specs

Runtime:

166 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mithun Chakraborty acted with Abhishek Bachchan for the first time. He worked with his father Amitabh Bachchan twice, in 'Ganga Jamnua Saraswati and Agneepath.

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Goofs

In the scene where Abhishek Bachan is addressing his first AGM in a "pandal", he is seen loosening his tie, but in the next scene his tie is fully knotted. Then again in the next scene, his tie changes length and becomes much shorter.

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Quotes

Gurukant Desai: If you don't dream, you will be stuck to your village all your life.

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Connections

References Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959)

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Soundtracks

"Ek Lo Ek Muft"
Sung by Bappi Lahri, K.S. Chithra, Tanvi, Saloni, Boney and Jaidev
Composed by A.R. Rahman
Lyrics by Gulzar (as Sampooran Singh Gulzar)

User Reviews

A perfect example of gripping storytelling and impeccable characterisation

Just returned from the theatres, now that I am home I feel genuinely very happy that Guru Kanth Desai is still going strong. I am also completely confident he will make Shakthi Corporation the biggest company in the world...by now you must be wondering what I am talking about, this is how many viewers would feel after coming out of watching Maniratnam's Guru.

First of all let me start by mentioning Abhishek Bachan's role, as this is the role that Guru is built upon. If there ever was a movie where one actor dominated so completely I would only compare Kamal Hassan in Nayakudu/Nayakan. Abhishek should be very proud of what he has accomplished in Guru, it is something that some actors haven't or will not achieve in a life time. He is impeccable for the hardest of critic to comment. His histrionics are brilliant and the way he lost and gained weight during different parts of the movie demonstrate how serious Maniratnam and Abhishek were in making this movie. Keep the awards ready please...Abhishek Bachan has his name stamped on them.

The story is quite simple; it is the narration and the characterisation that makes this movie so unique and interesting. it's about a common mans journey to build India's largest company with the help of its share holders by whatever means possible. In Guru, Guru Kanth Desai is not portrayed as an invincible man rather he is played as a very good business man who can talk and do right things at the right time. The narration of the story is so tight you never flinch. (This applies only to serious movie watchers, not the ones who cannot do without masala and comedy in a film) Maniratnam is one the best story tellers in our country if not the best, and he does that perfectly again. This will rate as one of the best works of Maniratnam; I would take the liberty of putting this Under Nayakudu/Nayakan which rates first on my list of Maniratnam movies.

The music is by A R Rahman, we all know what happens when Maniratnam and A R Rahman team up. Pure magic is created. More than the songs of Guru, the background score impressed me. It is the music in every important scene that brings the scene to life. Rahman is amazing and like Rang De Basanti the songs just blend into the movie. Not to mention Mayya Mayya and Barso re Megha in the first 20 minutes of the movie brighten up the whole theatre.

A word of mention...

Aishwarya Rai has a very strong role in Guru; strong roles are very scarce in Bollywood these days...especially for female artists. Aishwarya stays with Guru throughout the movie and stays on the top of Bollywood by doing that brilliantly.

Mithun & Madhavan are the adamant characters that fight for the right, when I say adamant they really are in the movie and you feel their willingness to stay on the right side of things all through the movie. All the other supporting roles including Vidhya Balan are brilliantly enacted. There is no character that was underplayed or wasn't justified.

Where does this leave us...? Maniratnam has made a wonderful movie full of strong characters, great screen play, brilliant music and marvellous photography by Rajiv Menon. He needs to be commended for this effort. It is no wonder he takes two years to make out one movie, Guru was worth waiting for...so here I am already waiting for his next