The narrative of 'Guru' is way ahead of it's time and it's well put together overall, given that it was shot with a modest budget of 3 crore INR (less than half a million USD). The director's attempt to capture human emotions and thought in a surreal realm is revolutionary, since fantasy isn't a popular genre in Malayali films.
In Guru, Rajiv Anchal explores the human psyche and challenges social constructs (such as religious animosity in this case) with a fresh pair of eyes. He also implicitly makes the viewer question his/her preconceived ideas about society and 'self'. Also, it was a pleasant surprise to find out that the movie was inspired by The Country of the Blind by H. G. Wells and found the parallels between the two stories interesting.
One wonders how extravagantly this movie could have been made if the team had a bigger budget, or, if it was shot by a Hollywood production house.
It's one of those movies that stills reminds us that Mohanlal is a truly talented actor, even though ever since 'Narasimham' (2000) he has been doing primarily style-over-substance kind of films. Hopefully he does at least one movie as good as 'Guru' in the coming years and give the movie goers a nostalgic trip back to his 'good-old-days'.
