Guru -- The review -- Part 1

The Aviator --- that is the first movie that came to my mind when I was trying to draw parallels with Guru... Drawing parallels is something I do so I can get a baseline while trying to judge a movie. Anyways, the most striking similarity was in the sequence where Abhishek's Guru gives his statement in front of the inquiry committee...flash back to a similar scene in "The Aviator" where Leonardo's Howard Hughes tells the Senators ... "I do not need to sit here and answer this committee"... But the similarity ends there...while The Aviator went for the jugular and the dramatic exit, Guru takes a more verbose approach..Abhishek delivering powerfuly written lines about how the system discourages anyone who follows the honest path...Maybe the "dramatic exit" approach would have been a safer bet...but then, this is a bollywood movie and you have to deliver a political speech to be a hero. This is the story of "Guru"....the performances are measured, the script is taut, the "shades of grey " are very much in place. Mani Ratnam definitely resists the temptation to "pander to the protagonist" so to speak. Guru is suitably grey, suitably believable, suitably human. Aishwarya Rai does her best in the role of a suppportive wife. Mithun da delivers big time in the role of a newspaper man who believes in protecting the truth against all perils. Aishwarya is appropriately demur in the role of a supportive wife. Madhavan does his part with the small role he is given.