GURU - SUPERFICIALITY AT ITS BEST!

I am an ardent fan of Maniratnam and always eagerly look forward to the release of his movies. Mindblowing screenplay, excellent camera work, brilliant performances and refreshingly thematic music score are some aspects that characterise an offering from the MBA graduate(Mani himself!). And "Guru" is certainly not a letdown in any of these categories. However, does Mani have to refurbish his repertoire? Is it time to come out of the "Mani" image and start thinking out of the box? These were some of the questions that popped up in my mind when I walked out of Satyam after watching the movie a third time.

Now that it's quite some time since the movie got released, there is no reason why I should keep rambling on about the story of "Guru". Clearly, this is one of Abhishek's outstanding performances to date. Every hero of Mani underplays and so does Abhishek. The Herculean effort that the superstar(today, he is one!!) has put in for this movie has gone a long way in lending authenticity to his character of a business magnette. There is not much make-up, not too much of a facial difference but still, when Abhishek is shown as a guy in his forties, you are unable to deny it, thanks to a few subtle changes, like his ponch, slight hunch and scarred, oily face(esplly in the hospital scene close-ups).

Aishwarya is truly a revelation in Guru. Mani has proved that he is a film-maker who can make even a plain beauty-damsel like her emote. However, age shows(33!) in her close-up shots with Abhishek and one starts wondering about their age-difference. In a biopic kind of movie, the heroine doesn't have much scope, but with Mani around, who can infuse flash-back sequences in the latter half, even aish gets some significant screen-time. Madhavan and Vidya Balan have been wasted in the movie considering their previous works. Nevertheless, Madhavan's deadpan expressions reveal indifference while the Parineeta girl's involved acting even in a cameo warrants praise(Esplly the point where she tries to make Abhishek smile by stroking his cheeks). Wah! Poignant is the word. Aishwarya could never move you like that with her relatively longer screen-time.

As always, the Mani-Rahman combo has worked magic but by now, the director would have realised that the Hindi music taste differs largely from the South Indian one. While the music of Guru was lapped up as great by every South Indian, almost every North-Indian critic complained that it was not Hindi-ish. One feature that I admire in all of Mani's works is the precise amount of time that he allots for songs and they are generally used to take the story forward and dont come as speedbreakers in an otherwise pacy narration. In Guru too, this is true, with Mani playing songs like "Ay Hairathe" and "Jaage Hain" only in the background and almost intelligently avoiding the "Baazi Lagaa" number. One only feels that he could have used the same prudence to cut short the post-interval "Ek lo ek muft", which is clearly unnecessary.

Anyone who has watched "Nayagan" will get a "deja-vu" while watching Guru and the reasons are one-too-many. Vidya's role can be mapped to the mentally challenged little boy's one in Nayagan while Madhavan's resembles Nasser's role. All the romantic sequences in Guru are very similar to the pre-interval scenes in "Bombay" and "Roja". Even the sets seem to look the same, especially the couple's first house in Mumbai bears a striking resemblance to the one that Arvind and Manisha romanced in, in "Bombay". Maniratnam seems to be lost when it comes to climaxes nowadays. From his "Bombay" days to "Yuva" and now, "Guru", none of the climaxes has been convincing. Being a person who gave some stunning climaxes in "Mouna Ragam" and "Roja", one expects him to focus more in this area in his future creations atleast.

All other characters in the movie have also been chosen with utmost care and they seem to have done neat jobs. Photography by Rajeev Menon is classic and makes the movie bright and colorful unlike other Mani films(where darkness played a major role!).

This is certainly not Mani's best offering to date and all his fans would have surely felt it to be only a superficial journey through a business tycoon's life that lacked depth. However, Guru is absolutely worth-watching! As a great fan myself, I would wait with bated breath for "Lajjo" and his forthcoming Tamil movie too. Kudos to the Guru team and Best Wishes to the master film-maker.