Guru (2007 film)

''Guru'' is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed and co-written by Mani Ratnam. It stars Mithun Chakraborty, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Madhavan, Vidya Balan and Roshan Seth. The score and soundtrack for the film was composed by A. R. Rahman. Incidentally, Mithun Chakraborty also previously acted in a 1989 film of the same name in Hindi, as well as a 2003 film of the same name in Bengali.

The film was rumored to be a biopic of the industrial tycoon Dhirubhai Ambani, but Ratnam refuted the claims, clarifying it was a work of fiction. The film was released on 12 January 2007 with its première at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto, Canada, on Thursday, 11 January 2007 by Roger Nair, making it the first Indian film to have a mainstream international première in Canada. Roger Nair productions acquired the rights for Canada and held a premiere with most of the cast and crew flown to Toronto, Canada. The film was premiered in the Tous Les Cinemas du Monde (World Cinema) section of 2007 Cannes Film Festival. The film had also been dubbed and released in Tamil with the same title while in Telugu with the title ''Gurukanth''.

Plot

The beginning of the film is set in 1951 in a small village of Idar in Sabarkantha district, northern Gujarat, where a young man named Gurukant Desai dreams of making it big someday. His father Kantilal, the headmaster of the village school, tells him not to dream and that dreams never come true. Guru decides to go to Turkey and enter the spice trade, followed by a blue-collar job with Burmah Shell; later, he is promoted but refuses the job, as he wants to work for himself. Guru returns to his village, he marries Sujata, mainly because of the dowry she brings him. Along with Sujata and her brother Jignesh, Guru migrates to Bombay and starts trading in cloth. Gradually, he expands his business and sets up manufacturing units of his own, under the name "Shakti Corporation".

"Nanaji" Manik Dasgupta, who publishes a newspaper "Swatantra" ("The Independent"), treats Guru as his son. Guru likewise looks upon him as a father figure who supported him during his early days of struggle in Bombay. He also develops a strong friendship with Meenu, granddaughter of Nanaji. Meenu develops multiple sclerosis as she grows up, and begins using a wheelchair.

As Guru's business grows into one of the largest in India, he ruthlessly pursues success. He smuggles machine parts for his polyester mills, illegally creates goods, and manipulates stocks to make a higher profit. But when Nanaji learns that Guru's means of success are not always honest, he, along with a reporter of his newspaper, Shyam Saxena, decides to expose Guru's increasingly corrupt ways.

The stress of his battle with the newspaper causes Guru to have a stroke, and he is paralysed on his right side. Meanwhile, Meenu, who is now married to Shyam, is slowly weakening from her illness, and eventually dies. In the end, Guru is brought before a private government inquiry on 16 October 1980 to defend himself against the charges pressed against him, but tells the press in next day that he was an ordinary villager who didn't even understand the meaning of excise duty, customs, sales tax. All he knew was his business. But the corrupt system made sure that a villager doesn't become a rich businessman. As a result, he had to indulge in corrupt practices. This forces the government to clear him of 27 of the 29 charges against him. He is charged with a fine of ₹6.3 million (equivalent to ₹100 million or US$1.6 million in 2016) and ₹96,000 (equivalent to ₹1.6 million or US$24,000 in 2016) for the respective two charges, which are proved and is allowed to return to his company. The movie ends with Guru telling Shakti's shareholders that his father was proven wrong as he said dreams don't turn true, but they all are now a part of India's largest company. Guru asks them if they should stop. Shareholders refuse and resolve to be the largest company in the world instead.

Cast

* Abhishek Bachchan as Gurukant "Guru" Desai
* Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as Sujata "Suju" Desai
* Mithun Chakraborty as "Nanaji" Manik Dasgupta
* Madhavan as Shyam Saxena
* Vidya Balan as Meenakshi "Meenu" Saxena (née Gupta)
* Roshan Seth as Justice Thapar
* Mallika Sherawat in a guest appearance as Champa, the dancer in song " Mayya Mayya"
* Aarya Babbar as Jignesh
* Arjan Bajwa as Arzan Contractor
* Rajendra Gupta as Guru's father Kantilal Desai
* Sarita Joshi as Guru's stepmother
* Sachin Khedekar as Sujata's father
* Sudhir Pandey

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