GURU - REVIEW

GURU IS BRILLIANT
Guru is the story of one man’s ambition , dreams & his confidence & attitude to fulfill them . Guru is the story of gurubhai (or dhirubhai) . Mani Ratnam tells us about his journey from 15 to 75 . it may be biopic in nature but the genius of manisir never lets it finishup as a boring biography . it is mani’s narrative style that makes the film highly entertaining as well as a superbly scripted film .
Now lets talk about the pre interval portions first . This has to be the strongest portion of the two in the film . The development of the relationship of Abishek with Aishwariya , Mithun , Arya Babbar & Manoj Joshi are excellently written & potrayed along with the journey of guru from a common man to a shrewd business man . Humour are superbly mixed in these scenes , there is no sign of forced or loud humour. Add to it are the great songs like mayya mayya ( Mallika sizzles in it ) & Barso re megha .
The post interval portions does have its share of minor deficiencies . the Mahadavan – Vidya track could have been avoided so can be the Bappi Lahari song which acts as a speed breaker to the narrative which was going on pretty smoothly so far . but despite all this there are several other moments which get your interest back in the narrative . The love-hate relationships between mithun & Abishek , hospital scenes or the scenes at the commission are brilliant . So good was the narrative that I was getting ready to clap & whistle in the climax , but I just couldn’t , something stopped me , something was missing in the climax.
Whatever was that missing link it cannot be denied that guru has the stamp of an ultimate genius of a storyteller – Mani Ratnam .It is Mani’s vision that makes it special & entertaing experience . Guru is a great start to the year .
What adds to the movie are the excellent performances from the main cast to even the one scene actors . right from Rajendranath to Sachin to Arya Babbar to Manoj Joshi all give excellent support to the main cast . The main cast is no less with Aishwariya showing that provided there is good filmmaker she is capable of giving award winning performances , Mithun is a pleasure to watch , being a childhood hero of mine it is great to see him perform with the natural spontaneity which I had never seen in his earlier hindi films . Madhavan & Vidya are honest . But the one person who towers above everybody is Abishek , this has to be his best till date along with Lallan of Yuva . His eyes emote every expression of a dreamer to the achiever whose belief in himself is eminent . Everything else is false . there are instance I the later potions where you see traces of Amitabh Bhachan of agneepath in his performance . but he carrries it off pretty well .
Cinematography is brilliant not too over-glossy or too pale but a mixture of both . the way the rain song is captured is amazing . Editing is good & keeps the narrative going pretty well . Screenplay is excellent , its not easy to write an entertaining biopic of aperson from 15 to 75 , but the genius in Mani pulls it off brilliantly . The costumes & art direction are excellent are great & make you up to date of the constant period change I the narrative .
In all guru is a brilliant movie & a great example of entertaining cinema with meaning .