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

Top Rated Indian Movies #178 | 17 wins & 33 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
Anaushka Dantra	...	7 Year Old Baby Anaushka (as Baby Anoushka)
Mallika Sherawat	...	Jhumpa
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sunil Agarwal
Murad Ali
Ashoi	...	(as Baby Ashoi)
Arya Babbar	...	Jignesh
Arjan Bajwa	...	Arzaan Contractor
Mukesh S. Bhatt	...	Ram Lal (as Mukesh Bhatt)
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:

mumbai india | character name as title | nickname as title | business | village | 

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Taglines:

"Think big, think ahead and think fast."

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was conceptualized in 1987 during the making of Maniratnam's movie Nayakan.

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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: There is a saying in our village: "If people say bad things about you, you must be doing something good."

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Connections

Spoofed in Ditch Please (2014)

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Soundtracks

Baazi Laga
Sung by Udit Narayan, Madhushree, Shweta Pandit and Bhargavi Pillai
Composed by A.R. Rahman
Lyrics by Gulzar (as Sampooran Singh Gulzar)

User Reviews

When son becomes the father......

This movie celebrates Abhishek Bachachan, his father's son. When you are the son of one of the best actors of the world of all times, you have the pressure to step into the shoes of your father. It doesn't happen often that a son matches up to his father in stature.

In this film Abhishek Bahcachan does just that. He gives a performance his old man would've been proud of. Abhishek proves his pedigree. This is a difficult role. Not only because he has to portray a wide range in his character but also because his character has some of the cheesiest lines. But he makes you forget that the lines are out of place here and there. He goes flat out on this one, and gives a performance which is probably the best of this year. Probably matching up to Amitabh's in Black.

About the film. Its a Mani Ratnam film, which raises the expectations immensely and nearly lives up to it. Its a well written story and direction is up to the mark. There is a slight problem with screenplay and the songs and dance sequences break the flow of story telling. A good film nonetheless and a great viewing.

Though Abhishek steals the show; other actors are pretty good too. Mithun proves again why he is 2 times National Award winner. He is a legendary actor who has been wasting his time and talent in crappy movies for a long time now. Hope he would get better roles after this. Ash is good in the second half but her choreography is not up to the mark and she looks bland and unsophisticated while dancing. Vidya Balan is wasted and R Madhvan is good in a small role.

A word about cinematography is necessary. This is one of the best shot movies of last year, with breathtaking views and the last scene with Guru giving his speech to a stadium full of people looks more real than reality itself.

Over all a good movie, best since Munna Bhai 2.

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:

INR150,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$760,000, 14 January 2007

Gross USA:

$2,096,000

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$24,108,727

Company Credits

Production Co:

Madras Talkies

Technical Specs

Runtime:

162 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1