Guru: A Sure Success?

Mani Ratnam. Aishwarya Rai - Abhishek Bachchan. A.R. Rahman. Gulzar. All big names. All make big news. Guru, Mani Ratnam’s latest offering, has all the big names of Bollywood associated with it. There is other interesting question about the film - is Guru the story of the late Reliance moghul Dhirubhai Ambani? And did Mukesh Ambani demand that he see the film before it was released? And did Mani Ratnam refuse?

Guru is about Gurukant Desai (Abhishek Bachchan), a villager who dreams big. Nothing in possible in life without dreaming big. To achieve his dream, he faces many obstacles and fights the system to emerge victorious. A young journalist (Madhavan) is an important person in Guru's life. The reporter believes in people who do good things for people and the society but that it should be done lawfully. Guru, on the other hand believes that man-made laws can also be changed. Guru does not care about the critics. All he cares about are his dreams and achieving them. Aishwarya Rai, who made her debut in Mani Ratnam’s Tamil film Iruvar, plays Guru’s wife.

Rajeev Menon, who worked the camera for Mani in Bombay, returns as cinematographer in Guru. The film also stars Mallika Sherawat, Pratap Pothen, Lakshmi, Baby Asha, Baby Anushka and Master Sunny in key roles. An interesting point to note is that Mani Ratnam who has shot all his films in India, chose to go to Istanbul, Turkey to shoot a song with Mallika Sherawat and Abhishek Bachchan. Apart from that, almost all the shooting of the film took place in Chennai.

The music by A.R. Rahman was very eagerly awaited. The album has been received well by the people. The editing of the film has been done by Sreekar Prasak and sound by H Sridhar as usual. Madras Talkies is producing the film. The Tamil version of the film is expected to do well with leading Tamil actor Surya dubbing for Abhishek in the Tamil version.

The film is released and the initial trends at box office are quite encouraging. The response from the fans and critics has been overwhelming. Everybody praises Abhishek for his powerful performance. Aish is being complemented for her acting and dancing skills. The chemistry between them is awesome.

Guru, it seems, has all the right ingredients for success and is all set for a huge success. The success coincides with another much awaited, much anticipated event: the engagement of Ash-Abhi pair that took place on 14^th of January. We wish them success – in life and film as well!