When Guru was announced with Abhishek and Aishwarya as the lead pairs, every one wondered would they ever be able to create any kind of chemistry, at least on-screen? Did they? Hold your breath, yes they did. It’s fifth pairing together for the duo and first time you
feel they indeed suit each other. And what I probably consider is the
rationale they look ideal together is that they are not portrayed as
one first and foremost.
The
central story revolves around Gurubhai (Abhishek) and his stunning rise
from a salaried employee in Turkey to most influential Industrialist,
traversing on the trust and investment made by the 30 – Lakhs
shareholders of Shakti Parivaar. He is expertly supported by his wife
Sujata (Aishwarya), more than ever at the end of the film.
Guru
leaves his job in Turkey and returns to homeland to start something of
his own. After getting cold response from all including his own father,
he turns to his best friend and agrees to marry his sister (Ash) in
hope of getting 25, 000 rupees as dowry that will make him start his own
business. What follows next is his tryst with city-wallas *of all kindsincluding
our very own disco dancer Mithun da who runs his own paper ‘Swatantra
Samachar.’ There is no looking back for Guru after that and hence
comes his spectacular rise. The first half is fast paced. The
screenplay and the songs go hand in hand. A. R. Rehman’s music is
impressive. There isn’t a single dull moment before interval.
All
seems well and the movie looks definite winner at the box office. Then
why it isn’t? It is because of the irritatingly snail paced second half
of the movie. The director loses all he achieved pre-interval. The
movie does not seem to go anywhere. And the climax says it all. It
looks amateurish. I definitely did not expect Mani Ratnam to come up
with such substandard finale.
In my view,
Abhishek got the role of his life as Guru and he did his best to
justify the character. And he does it well. Aishwarya too compliments
him in her subtle and defined portrayal of a sustaining wife. Till now
it was them who ended up looking like absolute mismatch whenever they
were paired together. This time now that they indeed suit each other,
director does the damage. Vidya Balan and Madhavan are easily forgotten
at the end of the movie. I am still wondering what was the raison
d’être behind taking them? What were they doing? The director could
have done away with any junior artists. There are hell lot of them out
there who need jobs. Mithun did impress me though. The guy is a
terrific actor. At times, much better than Big B. This was his finest
performance since Agneepath.
The first big
movie of 2007 falls short of the expectations. Just for the heck of
first half do not spend 150 bucks. You are not missing much if you give
this a miss in theater. Wait for the DVD to come out. Instead watch
Roadies at home. It is coming to an interesting end.