How GURU could've been a better movie..

Yes, I've been away from my blog for awhile, but it was never away from my mind for long. And as any true blogger worth his/her salt would tell you, you can rarely go about leading your life, noticing and observing details, without wondering whether its worth mentioning or writing about.

But a true blogger would also quickly point out its immensely difficult to carry out the simple step of converting ideas and abstract thought into written words. Writing, afterall, requires discipline, like any other form of art. And discipline is what I apparently lack.

But I digress. Moving onto a subject, the only subject, I feel i'm qualified to write about -- Movies, which brings us to GURU - the latest movie by Mani Ratnam. I don't believe I've waited so eagerly to watch a hindi movie since, well, a really long time. A Mani Ratnam movie, afterall, is a reason to celebrate.
And boy, what a glorious movie it could've been! It had all the makings of a classic saga of emotion, love and triumph over adversity. I may have been particularly drawn to the movie cos of its specific storyline, which has always been one of my pet set-up plots.

It usually comprises a strong, charistmatic, enigmatic central protagonist, a person who may or may not have humble origins, who works his way to the top, but not before having to face and overcome a tough group of able adversaries, who make equally fascinating character studies. And to further heighten the drama, it could also involve a strong female character (the love interest) and a close friend/associate of the central character, who breaks away from the hero and takes sides with the enemy.

Dont ask me why I'm drawn to the above story set-up. I just am. Although if I were to guess, it may have to do with being so greatly engrossed with Ayn Rand's 'The Fountainhead' at an impressionable age. Rand, builds such great characters with such presicion and unfolds the drama with careful attention to each and every possible nuance. And what memorable characters they were -- Howard Roark, the perfect hero, and worthy adversaries - the cunning Ellsworth Toohey and the complex newspaper moghul Gail Wynand.
I don't recall any movies which has fully explored the above storyline. Scorcese's Aviator comes to mind, and so does Ram Gopal Varma's Sarkar, which coincidentally , also featured Abhishek Bachchan, were he was pitted against a slew of dangerous criminals, including his own brother (played with menacing perfection by Kay Kay menon). Guru had the possibility of including all of the above elements and which inturn would've been a more complete, more powerful effort. But like Sarkar, the superb buildup in Guru was undone by a sub-par ending.

As-is, Guru is a fine movie. The first half is nearly flawless, save for unnecassary songs, which hindered the flow and broke the momentum of the movie, on several ocassions. Seriously, one expects Mani Ratnam to better utilize the songs by using it to transition the scenes - play the song in the background, but at the same time keep the story moving forward.There really is no need for seperate and lengthy song and dance sequences.
One of the key reasons for the continuing interest in the movie, apart from the refreshingly crisp dialogue are the performances of all lead actors.
The performances were well tuned with the characters. Abhishek Bachchan turns in a strong performance. His best yet. I was pleasantly surprised cos I honestly believed, based on his past performances, that he is a much over-rated actor. Same goes for Aishwarya Rai, but she proved me wrong too with a very believable and mature performance. Mani Ratnam is able to create a very comfortable chemistry between the two leads which brings a feel-good factor to the movie. But its Mithun Chakraborthy who steals the show with a superb supporting performance. A finely written role, but then again, his character is left without proper closure towards the end. Ditto for Madhavan's role of fiery reporter Shyam Saxena.

So here are 4 scenes which if included, I believe would've bolstered the impact of the movie -

1) A brief scene of Abhishek Bachchan meeting and cajoling ministers/politicians. It is never expressly shown him bribing or offering gifts to the people in power, which I feel is essential to establish some shades of grey into his character. It also would've been effectively used in the ending when he testifies against the commission who have levelled charges of corruption against him. His argument could've been something along the lines of - he used all resources available to him to ensure the growth of his business. Instead we had to sit through an un-inspiring and mind-numbing piece of dialogue which goes on for a full five minutes and was hardly relevant to the issue in hand. Ideally, after a short, yet forceful monlogue, Guru should've walked out of the commission hearing a la Howard Hughes in the Aviator.

2) A more proactive role by Madhavan's and mithun's character - Applying pressure by exposing the nexus between Gurukanth desai and the politicians he has bribed. Or as simple as a press conference where probably Mithun's character mocks gurukanth's success by pointing at the evils which comes along with capitalism. This allows an interesting sub-text, socialism vs capitalism. Good movies always tackle multi-dimensional issues.

3) A meeting between several other leading industrialists, including the Contractors, and Roshan Seth, the high profile judge, secretly pushing for a public trial of Guru. Mani Ratnam has so many good actors playing small supporting roles, might as well use them well.

4) Better closure for Madhavan and Mithun's characters. Probably a shot of them deciding to go ahead with printing the news of guru walking out of the commission and all charges against him being dropped, signalling a setback to their campaign, which would've been a more realistic ending cos it forebodes the growth of corruption, in the 70's and 80's in India, and all the high moral values and ambitions held for the brief period after Indian independence slowly disappearing.

These were just some of the immediate thoughts which came to me as I was walking out of the movie hall. It wouldnt have been tough to include the above scenes. And it would've gone a long way towards allowing a more satisfying ending. And even better would've been a sub-plot involving guru's brother-in-law. Whatever happened to him?

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