Theen ganta munafa (three hours of profit) :D
When Maniratnam gave a lack lustre Yuva/Ayutha Ezhuthu, his fans and critics were stunned into a silence. The same silence is observed after the climax of Guru as well, the only difference being the silence for Guru is due to speechlessness that audience undergo after watching such an intense yet positive film. All those doubts – is Gautam better than Mani, is Cheran better than Mani, are Ameer/Selva better than Mani have been clearly answered by Mani in this movie. He clearly shows that he is still the best director in India, depicting powerful human beings/concepts with subtle underlying human emotions.
Abhishek Bachan: Have we found the next Aamir for bollywood? This is the feeling i got after enjoying his performance as the Villager, young restless youth, unconventional businessman, tremendous believer of abilities. He perfectly enacts a typical maarwadi/Gujarati businessman who have business acumen of a Harvard pass out but an unconventional/funny way of talking like a ordinary suburban train traveler in Mumbai. The most difficult part in this exhilaratingly complex role for Abhishek was to live as a Gujarati business icon and do things naturally. I consider this as a success for Abhishek as I failed to see him but could only see Gurubhai in those 3 hours. Take a bow Abhishek , for pulling off a performance that spans 40 years, with ease.
Maniratnam: If Abhishek is the foreground process in this success story then Maniratnam is the vital background process. He towers over his much younger and illustrious compatriots in fusing the human emotions with powerful storyline. The scene where Abhishek sees his Vidya as Maddy’s vidya is a testimony to my fact that mani is “The Master”. And don’t think this is some boring documentary story about a Gujarati businessman, Mani arrests you with his powerful story telling in the second half. Movie has so much depth in terms of sequences and emotions, mani tops it with a tinge of positive attitude. Truly, Form is temporary and class is permanent.
Script/Screenplay: The screenplay which was the most feared about in such period biopics was surprisingly swift and interesting. First half sets you up for the second half and the second half with Maddy’s youthful yet small role quickens up to a lively interesting pace. The people who were giving cat calls in the first half, couldn’t help themselves clapping in the second half for the powerful climax/pre-climax scenes. Maniratnam has scored a 10/10 in this aspect. Though it had many similarities to Dhirubhai’s life history, it showed more truth than false unlike his earlier flick Iruvar. And to all those people who think climax and some sequences were far from truth, you are wrong. They are close to truth and it all happened in a man’s life some 15 yrs back.
A.R.Rahman/Rajeev Menon: It seemed that these 2 premier technicians had a fight amongst themselves as to who will dish out the worst performance in the movie. ARR’s BGM was not really upto the standards, though jaage hain bits in the background were as effective as Abhishek bachan in some scenes. And as far Rajeev sir, I was really expecting a cinematographic marvel from this man and could find none. The camera work in Barso re (parts) and the abhishek-stroke scenes stood out. Tere bina was picturised badly to say the least. Ay hairathe was cut – maniratnam special as usual :evil: . Songs placing were also bad. Best choreographed song was surprisingly “Yammo yammo” song. Mani hasn’t given much scope to ARR in this movie and ARR didn’t fill the space aptly given to him. Rajeev menon - Disappointment.
Ash/Maddy/Vidya/Mithun: Get ready for a great Aishwarya performance in this movie. She has bettered her performance in Iruvar. Her love chemistry with Abhi baby is something to watch out for in the movie – after all they were in love when this movie was getting shot. Madhavan, who seems to be the messiah for small roles :cry: has done a great job in pepping up the movie. His romance with Vidya is so good, that you feel its real. :wink: Vidya balan’s emotionally packed role is the Mani touch in the movie. Mithunda – just like our dada in Indian team. He does the role of Ramnath Goenka sorry Manekdas Gupta :wink: to perfection. To many bollywood critics/movie watchers, he showed why he has won national awards before. The fringe actors have done their part in sprucing up the movie.
Flaws:
Lack of depth in showing Guru’s growth
Some scenes were stretched to get to the point
Misplaced emotions in some scnes
All in all, a great positive, interesting movie which is a must watch for all audiences. The movie is all about Human victory over inability and doubts/fear. If you watch it then you are in Profit :lol:
4.5/5
