Sunday, April 4, 2010

The Love Guru

Mani Ratnam's 2007 Guru is clearly a movie with serious intentions. It's about the inequities in society, the pitfalls of ambition, the corrupting influence of power. I can't say, however, that I followed it all, and I can't tell whether that's because of the oft-chronicled subtitling issues, occasional narrative murkiness, or the fact that I was utterly distracted by the eye candy.

Do I prefer innocent young Abhishek?

Or intense older Abhishek?

Fortunately, I'm under no obligation to choose! Ahh, the wonder of cinema.

6 comments:

Bikram Singh Bathh said...

The film is a real treat for Cinema lovers,,, a true classic,,, Abhishek deserved an award for his performance,,, brilliant music and stellar director,,, Keenly awaiting their next project which is Raavan,,, :)

Anarchivist said...

I am REALLY looking forward to Raavan!

bollyviewer said...

I can take any Abhishek, too, so long as he leaves his stomach padding at home... The movie is actually based on the life of businessman Dhirubhai Ambani who created India's biggest business empire (Reliance Industries) in less than three decades. His story is pretty well known in India and I had a lot fun getting details about Ambani that I didnt know before. I followed the story pretty well and cant say I was distracted by any of the eye-candy. So I probably need advanced medical testing of my brain (something that involves lots of electrodes being attached to my head) to see why I have become so eye-candy resistant!

Anarchivist said...

Dear Bollyviewer: yes, I'm worried about you. All I could think the whole movie was "Mmmm, nice." Well, and then when the padding hit, I was like a small child whose lollipop had been taken away.

Anirban said...

This was a nice movie. Abhishek has a sort of burning intensity that he often doesn't know what to do with. Makes him look a bit silly in song-and-dance but he does strong roles very well.

Anarchivist said...

He's kind of an enigma, isn't he? I always tend to think he shines the most in comic roles -- he's just so good at being goofy and fun. But it's true, he can also be very intense, and then I get all, wow! He's really an actor! And a good one! :)