Guru

Highly metaphorical movie with multiple layers of meaning, the story bears some thematic resemblance with Plato's Allegory of The Cave. The movie makes a strong statement on various extreme divisions in the society, and the resulting conflicts and violence; evils which lie deep within one's own mind and reflected in the world. The movie portraits this human predicament as a result of the ignorance into the true nature of things. Guru himself can be regarded as a symbol of the manifestation of the supreme liberating knowledge.

Guru is one and only Malayalam film submitted by India for the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film. Set in the backdrop of a village whose residents are from different communities , the film tells the story of birth,spread and aftermath of communal violence and how a spark is blown up into a huge fire by elements having vested interests. Also it is a real eye opener for someone who blindly follows violent ideologies.

Reghuraman is a typical common young man who is enraged by the attack on his father by some communal elements in an otherwise peaceful village. The violence spreads across the state and he had to flee and take refuge in an ashram which is run by a spiritual leader. Though he had to live in a false identity in the ashram , he happens to come across some residents of the same ashram who are hurt by the communal violence like him and they decide to take revenge for their suffering. But before his wish materializes , he is shown how grave a sin he is going to commit by one of the spiritual leaders of the Ashram. In the process he made to undergo visions in which he reaches an unknown land where he is the only person who has eyesight. Everyone else is blind and they live in a virtual world where they believe that there is no such thing as vision and it is a false story made by evil forces to lure the human beings. He is looked upon as evil when he tries to convey the idea of eyesight to the blind inhabitants of the valley. He undergoes many sufferings before he comes back to reality where he realizes the real plight of GURU(master or spiritual leader) in a world of blind people(blind with communal hatred) and decides to keep aloof from the path of violence.

Guru can be considered as one of the best shot Malayalam movies as well as technically sound one.A notable feature is the background score by Ilayaraja. The use of actual Hollywood sets for filming the virtual world is one of the highlights of the film.

Perhaps one of the very few brilliant Malayalam movies that was made during the 90's. The movie uses simple and powerful metaphors to convey the message that is still relevant. I think this movie has industries best in every respective fields. Cinematography and Production Design in this film is one of the key attractions.

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'.

Guru (1997) : Brief Review -

If any film has ever used Fantasy theories for eye-opening lecture on socially important topic in the world cinema, then Guru is that film. Usually, Fantasy genre is used only for entertainment or to tell some humanly important subjects like love, compassion, sacrifice etc. I remember watching some German and Swedish Fantasy flicks from 1920s decade and how it changed the definition of this genre. The films which used afterlife formulas to teach importance of being Alive and how not to waste this gifted life and for 20s it was way ahead of time. Even Hollywood has some great films made in the same genre but i like I said the motives were different. Those children orientated fun films with some jinx, curse stuff attached and then simple life lessons at the end, that's all. But i don't think any film has ever used this Fantasy theme for highly sensitive topic like religious fights or to some extent terrorism. Guru is one such film and it's by far the most hard-hitting film ever produced in this genre. Situations turn a man who believes in secularism into an extremist. He plots to bomb a monastery where the survivors of a riot take refuge but then benevolence of Guru takes him to some Fantasy World where he learns or better say teaches about Humanity. Mohanlal is excellent as Raghuraman, especially in the second half. The entire supporting unit is just terrific. The art designing and costumes here are very effective considering the kind of imaginative world they have created. Guru is one of the finest example of how wide and rich a writer's imagination can take him to break the silence on socially important topic. A big and memorable achievement for director Rajiv Anchal. Not just Malayalam industry but to all the cinema industries across the globe. A Maverick Classic which even puts Hollywood at its feet. Let Guru spread light into eyes of Filmmakers all over the world on how to expand Fantasy Drama Genre.

RATING - 8/10*

By - #samthebestest.