Watched it last night.
Mani Ratnam can say and show a Disclaimer all he wants that this movie is not based on the late
Dhirubhai Ambani's life but we can clearly see that it is.
As far as I know Dhirubhai too was the son of a teacher and started his career just the way Gurukant Desai started in the movie which is by selling petrol for Burma Shell in Yemen. 10 years later he came back to India and opened his company of importing polyester. Infact if you go through and read the link on Dhirubhai on Wikipedia you will get a clear picture of the storyline of the movie
Guru. So now that we know that the story is of the biggest business man India had every seen, we will talk about the performances of the actors who make this movie what it is which is brilliant.
Abhishek Bachchan is a force to reckon with. When he started with
Refugee we all knew that this guy has potential but that only became more prominent with
Yuva. Now he has proven that he is not just a celebrity kid who is getting roles because of his father’s name. But here as Guru he actually pulls of a performance equal to what
AB Sr. did in
Agneepath. In some scenes he is even talking and walking like his father. That is not a bad thing coz that just builds his character in the movie.
AB Jr. actually gets under the skin of the character, right from the Gujarati accents to the paunch for which he gained 15kgs shows his commitment as an actor who is really serious about his work.
Now to
Aishwarya Rai who normally is an horrible actress. The two people who have managed to get her to actually perform well are
Sanjay Leela Bhansali (
Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam) and
Mani Ratnam (
Iruvar and now Guru). This one's a feisty character, solid of determination and while she melts irresistibly for her husband, is not likely to take nonsense from anyone else.
Ash is unbelievably natural in the film, holding her own even in scenes where she's has very little dialogue. This has to be hands down her finest performance, especially when she takes over the film's climax at the court house.
Ash has very limited make up in the movie and damn does she look hot in those sari’s. Also the two lead pair clearly has a nice chemistry going on. They both look very comfortable and confident around each other and that clearly shows in the scenes they have together.
Mithun Da. Give this man an award for Best Supporting Actor. No questions asked. Arguably one of the finest actors we have but never fully utilized by anyone. His character is strong but with weaknesses, great but almost tempted to give up the greatness.
Mithun Da portrays this inner conflict with great restraint.
As for the others supporting crew, the cute
Vidya Balan is okay but wasted in a role that isn’t compelling enough, and
Madhavan proves, yet again, that he can be that good-poster boy with extreme, credible authenticity.
The movie as a whole is excellent though it could have been much better. If the movie had no songs the flow of the movie would have much more smooth and the movie more effective. Also the second half of the movie should have been edited better because the pacing of the movie suffers a bit mostly in the 2nd half.
But without a doubt this is one of
Mani Ratnam’s best attempts at a biopic; though not as great as
Nayakan but certainly up there.
All I can say is that this is one movie that you should watch either at home or on the big screen. If you get irritated by the dance and song sequences then watch it at home and scan thru them coz they will definitely irritate you. But watch this movie for
AB Jr. and Ash and the incredible story of Dhirubhai Ambani.
