Guru

Maniratnam is at his best whenever he tries to make a bio-pic. Though I am not a big fan of ‘ Nayagan ’, it is still considered as a classic and Mani’s best by many. And we have the magnificent ‘ Iruvar ’ which is one of my all time favorites. So, has Mani done it again with ‘ Guru ’ by making a movie on the life of a business man? Well, almost. Mani has to be lauded just for choosing to do a movie on a business man. The character here is more grey and realistic as Mani captures all shades and facets of his character unlike a Velu Nayakar in Nayagan.

‘Guru’ is about a business man Gurukanth Desai and the journey of reaching his dream of making his company, the biggest in India. The movie is clearly split into two acts, the first act is about how a small village boy goes to Turkey to earn money, and returns back to India and become a business man. The second act is about how he handles the press and in specific a journalist who challenges his success by revealing all his illegal acts that made this quick success possible. Finally, the movie reaches a controversial end with Guru giving his own justification for his acts.

It is always tough to write a screenplay for a plot which traces the 50 years life of a man. The writer has to pick the right moments in this long journey which is just like a summary or a preface to a novel but which should give as much information as one would have got by reading the entire novel. Picking such right moments and placing it right one after another without loosing the rhythm and pace of the movie is really a toll task. Especially when it is an Indian movie we also need place for songs. As Maniratnam always say in his interviews, this and his is a kind of cinema which is a fiction that is firmly rooted in reality and yet slightly dramatized to fit into the commercial format.

Everything happens very fast in the first half of the movie and soon Guru become very big in his business. One may ask how it is possible for someone to come up in life so quickly. At first, he is shown taking photo with some 50 people around him, cut to next shot Guru taking photo with 500 people, cut to next shot Guru taking photo with 5000 people and that is Mani’s way of telling Guru’s growth. It is not necessary to show every single incident to show how it all happened. For that, Mani has used few scenes in the starting itself. It strongly registers the attitude of Guru in our mind and so it is not difficult to believe how everything else that followed became possible. The scene in which he wins a gambling in Turkey and especially the reason for his decision to marry Aishwarya reveals to a major extent on how far he can go to make money in his business. After these few passing shots and quick moments, there are no answers given for audience’s questions like how, when and why. There need not be. But Guru is not shown in a totally bad light either, he is a very affectionate person, has his own sentiments for who have helped him to reach this height. Guru is a perfect grey character portrayed on screen so for like how most of us now in reality are.

Don’t think that it is a dry documentary on a business man’s life. The movie is typical Maniratnam with all his usual clichés. An item number, heroine dancing in rain, romance between the lead pair, their childish conversations, a public gathering or meeting in rain, smart one-liners, Youngman lifting an old lady (his mother or grandma), tight close-ups etc., especially the song picturisation and their placement in the screenplay. Half of every song is fantasized and the other half goes to the background allowing the screenplay to proceed further. Expect the unexpected from the way the songs are used in the movie.

The movie slips slightly in the second half. For logical reasons, Guru is made to have a soft corner for Vidya Balan’s character. It is like saying, "since Madhavan (who plays the journalist and who is the only threat to Guru’s business) is Vidya’s husband, Guru couldn’t harm Madhavan for stopping him". But Mani cleverly keeps this as a subtext and never anyone in the movie really say it. Again, it is a cinematic cliché in Mani’s style. Also the mood curve of each scene in the second half is rather unconventional, the serious and sad mood of every scene is lost to some extent when one of the characters does or says something light and funny. Though I am not complaining, I was not comfortable when I saw it. I couldn’t judge whether I like it or not because I don’t see the sensitivity being lost completely. It turned out like a Rahman’s composition; I think it will take time to grow. “Ek Lo Ek Muft” though a very catchy folk number becomes a speed breaker. I thought the romantic scenes between Madhavan and Vidya also hinders the pace for a while. Inspite of a good performance by Madhavan as an honest and courageous journalist, the character that he plays which is very important for the movie lacks completeness. There is something missing in the character. We don’t see him as someone who is as strong as one who can fight a highly influential man like ‘Guru’.

Finally, movie comes to its terms in the climax. I don’t know whether that is the stand of Maniratnam, but if you ask him he would say, that he doesn’t take any stand and Guru speaks from his own perspective. Of course, it seems right from Gurukanth’s perspective. It again goes back to “Nayagan” philosophy, ‘One can do anything if it is for the welfare of the people’. It is just that the man who did all wrong things for people’s welfare was a local gangster in Nayagan but here he is a business man. Yet it is not that simple, there is a notable difference between Guru and Velubhai. Guru’s selfishness earned good for so many people but that is not the case with Velubhai and that is why Guru is more realistic than Velubhai.

Abhishek Bachan easily carries the film on his shoulders. He is a usual Maniratnam’s hero full of energy and enthusiasm, smart and funny with an infectious personality. He is believable and convincing as a business man. I worried about how he would perform as an old man but Abhishek does a neat job all through and of course he reminds us Nayagan Kamal Haasan in lot of frames. Aishwarya looks too sophisticated for a small village girl role but her screen presence and on screen chemistry with Abhishek helps to pull off the character quite well. Mithun Chakravarthy expresses mix of affection towards Guru and hatred towards his actions very well. Vidya balan has nothing much to do.

Maniratnam’s movies always score high in technical department. Rajiv Menon’s cinematography doesn’t disappoint the audience who shouted when his name flashed in title card. Samir Chandha has authentically re-created the narrow streets of Bombay in Chennai. Songs of A.R.Rahman are already a big hit. Background score is also good. ‘Gurubhai’ and ‘Jaage’ runs all through the movie effectively as Guru’s themes.

What else, a single viewing of Maniratnam movie is definitely not enough to judge it fully. As I said, Maniratnam movies take time to grow. I am going to watch the movie again.

Guru Soundtrack

Those who have come here to search for a review on Guru soundtrack, you guys can actually listen to my opinion on Guru soundtrack here.

Guru Fever Catches up

So, finally Sony BMG has launched the Guru album without actually releasing the audio. This is a strange trend that is catching up but sure enough to create more hype and expectations. They is no information about the release date of the actual audio uet. But the event spill little beans about the movie and the music. Catch the spilled beans here and here. From what A.R.Rahman says, Gujarati-turkish, north indian, symphonic opera stuffs to expect in the album, it sure must be an unique soundtrack like that of Iruvar. And here is the track details of the album

1. Barso Re – Shreya Ghoshal & Uday Mazumdar

It is good to see Shreya again in ARR's composition as ARR don't chooses her often and from the 15 secs clip of the song here, it sure sounds like a good song with catchy beats which mayl go down well with the masses.

2. Tere Bina – AR Rahman, Chinmayee, Additional Voices – Murtaza, Qadir

It is great to see Chinmayee in the credits. I hope this time she has got something more to do in this song than she did in Mangal Pandey. And one can never guess the kind of track from Murtaza and Qadir in the credits, because these duo sang in 'Theekuruvi' also which has nothing to do with hindustani alaaps.

3. Ek Lo Ek Muft – Bappi Lahiri, Chitra Additional Voices – Tanvi, Saloni,
Boney, Jaidev

After Rang De Basanti, ARR uses Chitra again for a title track of the movie. This time too in an odd combination with Bappi Lahiri.

4. Baazi Laga – Udit Narayan, Madhushree, Swetha, Bhargavee Additional
Programming – Pravin
Mani

Pravin Mani and Ranjit Barot are back with A.R.Rahman.

5. Mayya – Maryem Toller, Chinmayee, Keerthi Programming & Additional
Arrangements Ranjit
Barot

Here is the song sung by the Toronto based singer and I think this is the song which ARR hums in the video clip. Humming sounds catchy on the very first especially the way he ended is too good.

6. Ey Hairathe – Hariharan, Alka Yagnik Additional Voices – AR Rahman, Aslam
Mohammed

Even Hariharan has not sung many song for ARR in the recent past and here he is again and we have Alka Yagnik, a regular in ARR's albums.

7. Jaage Hain – Chitra , AR Rahman and Madras Choral Group

So this is the song about which he said Symphonic opera stuff. Let us see.

2006 started with a bang for A.R.Rahman with the release of Rang De Basanti (which was the most successful album of ARR in recent past) and i hope it ends in the same way with Guru.

Can't wait for the audio.

Villager, Visionary, Winner

Finally, the most awaited promo of the year has come out. From the promo of 'Guru', it seems the movie has a serious Iruvar hang over. May be because of lot of stages, speeches, mikes, period look and crowd noises. The background score of the teaser travels with the feel of the visuals starting with a rustic rhythms to a grand heroic theme. It doesn't say when the audio is going to be released though it says the movie will out in December which means the audio may hit the market anytime this month. Take a look at the trailer here

Umrao Jaan Soundtrack

Bollywood is in remake fever giving new sound and colour to yesteryear classics. After the soundtrack of “Don” which faced a lot of harsh criticisms for the music not matching the quality of the original, here comes the sound track of J.P.Dutta’s “Umrao Jaan” with music by Anu Malik and poetry by Javed Akthar . I am happy that I haven’t heard the sound track of the original version, which makes me to listen to the album without any prejudices and expectations. Even if I had heard it, I would never compare it with the original. My high expectation on the album is only because of the Dutta-Malik combination who gave us some worthy soundtracks like “Border” and “Refugee”.

Classics and Nostalgia

No matter how great is the music in the new version; it cannot and will not match the class or standards the original version has set. It is mainly because, it is not just the quality of music which makes us love those old songs so much, there is something more to it, it is the nostalgia of yours attached to each of the songs, which a new soundtrack can never give you. Whenever I listen to “Kaatra En Vaasal (Paigham from Lakeer in Hindi)” song from the Tamil movie soundtrack “Rhythm”, it immediately will remind me of my first day in college, because at that time, it was the newly released A.R.Rahman album and I was listening to it repeatedly while traveling to the college. If they remake the movie “Rhythm” and even if A.R.Rahman scores a better music for the same movie, I would still prefer the music of the original version as it reminds me some of the best episodes of my life but it doesn’t mean that the music of the new version is any lesser good than that of the original version.

New Sound

Also I don’t understand what the big fuss about the new sound is, what matters is the new melody. We people these days look for innovation in sound and rhythm more than the main melody in the song. It is pretty simple, music has to please your soul, relax your mind with fresh melodies and this album has got just that. I am not against new sounds but it is not mandatory for me, what I look in a song is a pleasing melody and only next comes everything else. People would call the music boring and outdated, even if Naushad comes with a “Mughal-E-Azam” in this era. That is the extent to which we have got used to this often misinterpreted term “the new sound”.

Music of Umrao Jaan

Considering the nature of the movie, Anu Malik has concentrated on main melody than innovative orchestration or sounds, like we use to listen in A.R.Rahman’s scores for period films. You cannot listen to a heavy bass line in a mujra (as you can listen in Rahman’s mujra Mein Vaari from Mangal Pandey) of Anu’s score for Umrao Jaan. Anu restricts himself to the style of music and instruments that is authentic to the period and that only adds simplicity and in turn beauty to the score. The songs are situational and are written suiting the various moods and emotions of a courtesan. Strings flowing like a river stream sounding her inner emotions - Sarangi giving the exact sound of the period and adds the sound of various emotions like love, longing and loneliness - Sitar pieces are like plucking the heart strings - tabla beating out with rhythm of Umrao Jaan’s heart - flute flourishing like fresh breathe of her embracing Nawabs in the court – Chal Chal sounds tracing the legs of her and all put together creates the perfect aura of each and every song.

I read in Anu’s interview that Javed Akthar insisted to write the lyrics first for which he had to compose tunes. It is quite a toll task considering the nature of such poems, the music has to complement the beauty of the words in poem and yet find its own beauty in its melody. It is a kind of perfect blend of the beauty of the words in the poem and the melody which can deliver a soul stirring number that also befits the situation in the movie. Anu Malik seems to have struck a right chord in doing that convincingly though not perfectly. The songs are slow, takes it own time to buildup, has got often heard Naushad style of subdued orchestration, nothing new in sounds or overall format but what makes it pleasant and appealing is the simple melody. Alka Yagnik is the voice of new Umrao Jaan, quite a surprising choice but she has done justice to the compositions. I am not going to single out a song as all the songs sound equally good to my ears. This album may not be for everyone, not that it has complex classical compositions but its pace and similar orchestration in all the songs may test one’s patience. Yet the album is a perfect companion for one’s loneliness.

May be Ismail Darbar would have done a better job giving new sounds and complex orchestrations by interweaving western classical elements with pure Indian classical melodies, but it is not about who should have done it and how it should have been, we can only judge the songs for what it is. I am not saying that the soundtrack is great but it is not bad either, Infact very good.
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