Guna

From the one shot with which the movie begins, the one thing that kinda haunted me throughout the movie was how this really needs a restoration instead of this old capture for the VHS that doesn't do any justice to the technical mastery of this movie. The cinematography is outstanding with the use of so many long oners and other clever usage of shots which accentuates the themes as well as Kamal Haasan's brilliant performance.

The film also seems to be highly influential in Indian cinema as I can see the influence in films of various languages. Although, there are aspects I'm not too fond of it too.

Way too many people seemed to have interpretations that are closer to the trend of films this started where psychotic love was glorified. Here, they have tried to show how even the girl is broken inside, a bit like Alia in Highway but not that explicit. Gunaa's love is pure but that isn't pure love as many like to interpret it. The divine metaphors or Gunaa's delusions are there because of how the world treats people but at the same time, the film is also clear about not giving those delusions legitimacy. The existence of these thoughts itself is clearly shown as deliberate poisoning of his simpler mind. The film has some confusion here to confirm his victimhood or divinity because it wants to be both. But even with that, it was a pretty incredible film that tried to do a lot of things within its framework.

Recently, I watched this social media hyped movie Manjummel Boys. In this movie, there is a cameo song of Kamal Haasan's movie Guna (1991). Eventually, This song "Kanmani Anbodu Kadhalan" revived on social media due to its relativity with cave sequence and offcourse the legendary music composer Ilaiyaraaja. Scrolling through Reels on Instagram I found the original video of this song and this intrigued me to watch this movie.

These events took me to watch Guna movie. So I started searching for a English subtitle version of this movie because I am a North Indian person and luckily Airtel Xstream helped me out. It's available on YouTube in Tamil but the subtitles are missing. So Airtel Xstream has it.

The story revolves around a mentally disturbed man Guna who dreams of a Goddess named Abhirami to come and marry him. One day seeing a girl at the temple he presumed her as Abhirami and kidnap her.

This movie brings so much satisfaction by witnessing its soulful story and innocent characters. A Bombay actress Roshini plays Abhirami and unfortunately, it was her first and last screen appearance as she moved to USA and quit acting.

I hope this movie brings joy for you as well. Thanks!

A flawless movie made in Tamil. Guna has nice twists and turns. Good pace. Strange events. The best Tamil movie recommended for non-Tamils too! Songs are great. Kanmani song was very creative, yet possible in real life. Unnai Naan Ariven was excellent in blending of diverse spots. Notice the little make up Rekha does just before entering a room for a customer – very real – attention to details! At the beginning of Paartha Vizhi – observe the sway in the queue. Songs are not just cut and paste bits. They all blended very nicely with the story flow. Guna is one of Ilayaraja's master pieces! Do we need to say anything more about the music? Just listen to all songs again and again and again….

Kamalahasan and everybody else acted wonderfully. Kamalahasan contributed much in this movie making along with director Santhana Barathi. Both deserve high appreciation. When the plot moves from the congested place somewhere in Hyderabad to hillside somewhere else, you could really feel the change of climate. When I watched this movie in a theater I almost felt like suddenly breathing fresh chill air then (may be the theater guys lowered the temperature or turned on the fans?). The handling by the police force during the climax is very real. You could expect similar things in real police adventures too.

Some may say that this movie cannot claim originality of the plot. As a matter of fact I did exactly have that same thought, what Guna had, when I was growing up – waiting for my dream girl. Many would have. It is simple common dream many boys and girls have, nothing new for a movie. But how the story portrayed makes all the difference.

This was not a hit movie, may not be appealing to everybody. However, if you watch it, with little extra attention to details and a feeling for people who are not very regular, you will really enjoy this movie.

Remember everybody is mad in this world. Mad about something or other. Among ourselves we brand only few as "mad". What kind of mad people we are!

Good Movie. Everybody acted good in the movie. Songs and BGM in the movie were excellent. The movie somewhat lagged at 1st half. The movie was so interesting at 2nd half. This movie is one of the Best of Kamal Haasan. Good Movie.

Like many Kamal Hassan movies, this was a movie that was under appreciated during it's release and gained it's cult status only over time. This movie has served as the inspiration behind many others with similar themes that came out decades later. It's a story of madness, obsession, tragedy and eternal love, with impeccable performances and outstanding cinematography. Guna is a movie that portrays extreme contrasts in it's subject matter. On one hand it's a love story at it's purest, where the millionaire heiress having lost both her parents by then, realizes that her crazy abductor is a much better person than the people she is surrounded by all circling her like vultures for her money, and a life with Guna seeming more meaningful to her than the life she had lived till then. On the other hand, you see the sleaziness of life in brothels, the hero having been raised in one due to his birth father abandoning his mother, and the dismal plight of the under privileged suffering from mental illness. The hero cannot bear the disgust of his existence that he convinces himself to be god Siva who has taken this birth only to be cleansed by Abhirami when they unite in marital bliss. A life riddled with mental illness, abandonment issues, and abuse, his only hope and aim being to find Abhirami so he can be cleansed and start anew with a clean slate. Illayaraja's legendary music adds more life to this already brilliant movie.