Bolo Guru
It's not fair. It never is. Had this same movie been made by anyone else he would have been on a pedestal. Unfortunately it is not. It is Mani ratnam. From some people you expect the world, because more often then not, they have delivered it. From a director who gave us Mouna ragam, Nayagan, Roja and Dil se. A Guru? You still see the deft handling of relationship just like Mouna ragam. You still see the sensitivity of portrayal of the villian-hero just like Nayakan. But where is the picturisation of songs like in Roja and Dil se? Where is the attention to detail? Where is the boldness to say the things the way it is like Bombay?
Precisely for these reasons, Guru fails. You enjoy the raw confidence and support an ambitious guy like Guru through everything. You enjoy Guru's rise to Guru bhai even when he breaks laws. You expect a nice cat and mouse game between Abhishek and Madhavan. But it all fritters to lame ending where Guru turns out like a Govt's puppet capitalism professer... You still see his stamp on few scenes. Like the scene where Abhishek goes to ask for Aishwarya's hand. like when Abhishek and Aishwarya go back to their old house. when Madhavan asks for Vidya balan's hand, when Mithun comes to know about Abhishek's stroke. But as said, from Mani's stable you expect a winner everytime. Not scenes where Abhishek, Madhavan and Mithun sleep walk through their roles.
(See what the powerful speech in court by Abhishek turns out to be. hello, where was the scriptwriter?) But apart from few scenes, Abhishek has done an amazing job. And Aishwarya, in one of those rare roles, is tolerable.
As an ode to the movie, this post ends abruptly wtihout saying much... ;-)