Review of Maniratnam's Guru -- Not only the movie, he himself

Disclaimer: I havent read any reviews till now. Any resemblence to them is purily coincidental. ;-)

Whenever I write a review, I decide to see the movie atleast one more time. Here also its the same case with Guru... But, with slightly different manner. I have to watch a Maniratnam movie atleast twice or thrice before writing a review. And, the remaining times to see the movie are still unknown.

"Dream... as far as you can"... The movie begins with this dialogue which explains the theme of the movie. And it comes to the scene how sharp Gurukandh Desai(Gurunath Desigan) is. When Guru decided to start a business and how he managed to get into the trade may remind us Nayagan. But, the resemblance ends there itself. MR gave a heavy role to Midhun and so he justified it in a well manner. The body language of AB is awesome man. Especially, when he looked Vidhya balan, when both Midhun and Maddy scolded him. Thr Vidhya Balan also acted well. One more thing... When AB was trying hard to act well,, Maddy finished his part perfectly with just a smile or a simple bare look.

Really its a different thing to portray the hero and his opposite party as best friends. Apart from official contend, they strive to maintain a good relationship. Again its typical MR when showing the physically challenged gal's unfulfilled ambitions.("I want to sing and dance without any pain for 3 days") The last 30 - 40 min, it was a gud narration between Guru's scenes and Meenu(Vidhyabalan)'s scenes alternatively.

There are many nuance scenes as usual in all other MR movies. In one scene MR shows all other traders were circularly running around Guru, which depicts he became the hero among them.
Thr are some untold scenes too... The item number is unnecessary, when its seen for the first time. But, just notice the song. Mallika was dancing in a pub. Guru and his friends went thr. Then, after some time, Guru earned money and she came with them in a street car. Again Guru earned lot of money and this time they went in a speed boat. ie: It also explains the growth of Guru.
When he became the father of twins, he told someone to inform his parents that he was coming to his hometown . Then immediately the song "Jodi Jodi"(Ek lo Ek Muft) comes. ie: The song was sung in the hometown. In the last scene of the song only MR shows their parents just for 2 sec.
When Maddy and Vidhya Balan were talking in the press suddenly thr was a power failure, only in their press. Already the newspaper was writing negative against Guru. Here comes the music. ARR will start his "Gurubaai" music thr. He used to play this music whereever Guru becomes the winner. And so, here its obvious who was behind the powercut.
When Guru went to a minister's home to get a (illegal) sign, he told the following dialogue... "Ur uncle gave me a thing which is a heavy one. If I put it down anyone will take." Thats all. He got his signature. He didnt offer money. But, simply he blackmailed the minister with some unknown reason, which might have involved some tape or sth which could cover a bribe or sth.
When the enquiry started, AB asked the chief to speak in the regional language. At first, this seems to be unnecessary. But, Once the enquiry was over, when he justified his doings, he told "I dont even know the meanings of Exile, Customs, etc". The first request helped him to hold a strong stand.

The dialogues are the crucial part in the movie. Few eg:
"When my boss accepts that I am working fine, why shud I work for him? I shall work for me."
When AB told its almost dark in the night, ash replied like "U can see many places in the world with dawn or daylight. Why do u always think of ur place only?"
"If u wanna win Guru, u hav to be Guru. But thr is only one Guru".
"What Mahatma did was also against the then law"
Hats off to AzhagamPerumaal (or Maniratnam!) I think, mostly the dialogues were same in hindi and tamil. I told this with my 'thoda thoda' hindi knowledge only. Unlike Uyire the lip movement was somewhat gud in Guru(Tamil)

For the song Ek Lo Ek Muft, SPB did the justification more than Bappi Lahari, it seems. Anyway, its ARR who too helped the movie to bring one step forward. He (was) underplayed and keeps mum in many places. Anyway, though the tune is gud, the Gurubaai beat reminds me of "Viru Viru maandi Virumaandi" tune by Ilaiyaraaja 4m the movie Virumaandi.

The camera was awsome. Some of the spectacular angles... The steps scene when Guru came to Ash house to see her father. The running train in between Ash and Guru, when Guru didnt have words to speak. The handheld camera while Midhun's car was broken.... etc. The song "Tere bina" was taken in a very gud manner, which is simply enuf to bring the fighting couple together.

The art director Samir Chanda... I didnt see any different art work(positive comment only) except in the Ek Lo song. The swaying model. Apart 4m this, I can understand the difficulties in bringing the old town lively. Samir did the job without any mistake. And, the timeframe is shown using the cars also. First it was old Benz, then some premier padmini like cars... then, condessa. And, the number of cars too. First it was very minimal. Then in the middle MR slightly shows the city traffic. hey... If I forgot to tell abt the tram, God wont forgive me. ;-)

The editor Sreekar Prasad also has done his job well. If the editing doesnt look odd, then only the movie is gud. Never it has overcome the script.

Still I dont get any idea abt importing the empty boxes. I think, MR didnt explain it well. In the end the movie again it reminded me of Nayagan. First I thought the climax was not handled properly. But, later knew tat it was only enquiry commission and not the court. When most of the commisions were eyewash, why not this climax? Anyhow, still I am not fully satisfied. BTW, the ending is another spectacular part of the movie. To enjoy the ending u hav to watch the movie right from the beginning itself. ;-)