My progenitor called me last week and recommended watching Guru – there might be some lessons to be learnt I was told. The tip was well-timed because the movie released in a local theatre this weekend. I came out of the hall thinking that the movie was probably the truest rendition of Ayn Rand’s works. Now that I have seen the movie I can’t help but remember in how similar a language I was recommended The Fountainhead by somebody else.
Guru was sold to the audiences as the epitome of a poor man’s indefatigable spirit and courage at a time when India was picking itself up and growing. What it ends up being is an ode to pure, unadulterated capitalism. “I was corrupt because the system made me this way”; “I know my business and the rest be damned” -- Gurukant Desai’s famous speech towards the end of the movie – words which I’m sure were supposed to swell hearts and inspire people to dream, only ends up being a poor little rich man’s rant against an unjust system. Economic growth matters and not the means to it. The movie is less about how a man’s enterprise overcomes the inevitable obstacles that were put by the License Raj and more about celebrating an industrialist’s cunning. Much like Rand’s writing style of making a straw man out of any character that opposes the individualistic and capitalistic-entrepreneurial John Galt or Howard Roarke, Mani Ratnam exaggerates the deviousness of the counter-point. In the spirit of Ayn Rand Ratnam tries to show that when Atlas shrugs the world can collapse.
We are still standing.
6 Comments:
I too have read Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead and have seen Guru.
I totally feel the same as you do.
The loud & clear message of Guru is that to enrich economically, Sam, Dam, Dand, Bhed- sab kuch jaiez hai. Wah kya baat hai Mani ratnam saheb ??
I too have read Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead and have seen Guru.
I totally feel the same as you do.
The loud & clear message of Guru is that to enrich economically, Sam, Dam, Dand, Bhed- sab kuch jaiez hai. Wah kya baat hai Mani ratnam saheb ??
Very well written !
Cheers
Jijju
I found a quote by Narayan Moorthy which is very apt here - "India must be the only country in the world, where people fight to be called backward"
Suneel
Hi Shweta,
Superbly written! Guru promised a lot but in the end failed due to poor script writing. And if i look at mani ratnam's recent films - Yuva, Dil Se etc - i detect the same failing each time.
He had a choice to make a biopic on Ambani; by diluting it (and therefore avoiding possible legal action by the ambani family) he ended up telling a tale that was neither compelling nor gripping.
Hi
Your blog on Guru is very well written. And while its true that ManiRatnam has proved himself time and again to be a pretentious plagarist, the idea of this film was not about capitilism alone. On a superficial level, yes this is about making money-loads of it- in as unscrupulous manner as you can imagine.
Did you watch the film chocolate? In a tiny Frech village where people are always told that to indulge oneself is "sin" and to hold back one's desires in light of the imperceivable "nobility" is indeed the greatest virtue. In this film as well Guru, I think the underlying idea is the triumph of the human spirit - over desire, over cirucmstance, over what we have passively come to accept as our "destiny". In doing what needs to be done- not being held back by preconceived notions of "good" and "bad". Dont we all hate the one who speaks of evil and sin?
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