Wah, ‘Guru’
In Guru, inspired by Reliance founder Dhirubhai Ambani, India still loves its corporate barons and has not yet decided to tear them down. Abhishek Bachchan finally becomes an actor, R. Madhavan shrugs off his RDB flyboy, Roshan Seth reappears triumphantly, Mallika Sherawat jiggles before the Aya Sofia, Parsis run an industry cartel, a period Bombay grows up with Gurubhai. Mani Ratnam and Rajiv Menon compose scenes with the rich texture of Vermeers. Love and dislike are mixed incestuously, honestly.
Though Shah Rukh Khan emotes better, and A.R. Rahman’s Bombay and Dil Se soundtracks are more memorable, this is a much more ambitious film. Guru is marvelous and a landmark for Indian cinema.
It was all digitally created… the 1950s Marine Drive shown in the film is actually the seaface of Pondicherry… and [we] put the Marine Drive picture plate in the background… mercury vapour lamps were used in the streets only after 1968. Before that they used gas. So rather than blue we used a yellow glow for those scenes. Also, the lights used inside homes were more diffused while those used in offices was very Art Deco with stronger shadows…
We wanted people to really feel the colours when we show India. So for Turkey we went for a very desaturated look to give it a cold feel. We shot in March and exploited the cloudy weather there…
There’s a lot of handheld camera in Guru’s initial years of struggle. Then as he ages and becomes powerful, we have used a lot of dolly movements… the camera starts obeying him rather than countering him. [Link]
Trailer:
on Sunday, January 14th, 2007, 7:20 pm in Film › 
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I saw it, very nice !!!
I’m disappointed by the reports that box-office collections for this movie are dropping. It’s stupid. This was a well made product and quite honestly, one of the best movies to come out of Indian cinema in recent memory. Not to mention that it’s a huge stepping stone for the Junior Bachchan’s acting dominance. I disagree about SRK’s emoting abilities. That man grates my nerves now.
Also… how awesome is Rajiv Menon’s work eh?
Actually, I heard Abishek say during one of their press conferences in N. America that Guru is not based on/inspired by Mr. Ambani. But I hear that’s how it’s being portrayed in the media.
Dhirubhai started from the gas industry in Yemen to build India’s biggest private company while feuding with his business partner and the government. Gurubhai started from the gas industry in Turkey to build the largest company in India while feuding with his business partner and the government.
I think they’re just afraid of being sued.
Paresh, yes, Menon’s composition is amazing, not even in the meant-to-be-panoramic scenes like the rainy shareholder meeting, but even the small moments like the schoolchildren under the tree and Guru with his headmaster father.
The reason why it is not being played as Dhhirubhai’s story is because of the warring Ambani brothers, where Anil’s company, Adlabs has produced the film, Mukesh is not too happy by the portrayal of one of Mukesh’s closest confidants in the movie; Mukesh tried to stall the release of the movie for the same reasons.