UPDATE: L.A. Weekly review of Guru: "Ratnam’s enthralling and eventful new picture, Guru, is one of his best yet; in fact it may be the best Indian commercial (“Bollywood”) movie since the Oscar-nominated Lagaan (2000)" and "the film is a triumph of casting."
UPDATE: Time Magazine's Richard Corliss also reviewed Guru. Corliss is one of the most Bolly-gaga reviewers in the U.S. - he put Ratnam's Nayakan on his All-time Top 100 list. Of Aishwarya Rai, he says: "To me, Ash's film eminence remains a mystery. No question she's pretty, but she's more an actress-model than a model actress. In Guru she's mainly ornamentation." But he thinks Abhishek "has the grit and charm to bring Gurukant to life. Just 30, he plays the character from his early 20s to his 60s and is persuasive for most of that span, though I wouldn't have minded if his dad had taken over in the later scenes." Overall, Corliss says Guru "doesn't seem like a natural weave for Mani Ratnam."
Original Post follows:
Mani Ratnam's latest release, Guru, launches today in New York. Big hoo-haa of a press conference, apparently (scroll to bottom for more on the event), with Aishwarya and Abhishek and AR Rehman flying in to NYC from Toronto.
"Clearly inspired by the life of controversial Indian entrepreneur Dhirubhai Ambani, Tamil filmmaker Mani Ratnam's politically inflected Hindi melodrama examines three decades in the life of Gurukant "Guru" Desai (Abhishek Bachchan, son of Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan), who rises from his modest rural origins to the top of the business world."
Yes - "clearly" - because we know TV Guide's readers tend to get their Ambanis and Tatas all mixed up. But TV Guide's not the only place where it's assumed you know a thing or two about Bollywood.
In its review, "Bollywood's Pursuit of Polyester," the New York Sun calls Mani Ratnam...
"one of India's best and most political filmmakers. Mr. Ratnam recently dedicated his career to cheerleading India's development, but being an old leftie, his heart's not really in it."
Thus...
"It's an economic hagiography, it's an anti-greed manifesto, and for long stretches, it's as boring as what you'd expect the biography of a textile manufacturer to be."
The New York Post says Guru is "often absorbing," but...
The film is less successful in portraying Guru's marriage to the long-suffering Sujatha (Aishwarya Rai of "Bride and Prejudice"), whose dowry provided seed money for his business pursuits.
Gorgeous superstar Rai's several lavish musical numbers, while entertaining, seem to belong in another movie - and, with several subplots, help push the running time of "Guru" to nearly three hours, including an intermission.
Another reviewer says the film gets a B+...
The film is anchored by Bachchan's terrific performance. As always, Rai is lovely to look at, but she doesn't make much of her character. The large supporting cast is uniformly good, with Babbar, Madhavan, Vidya Balan and the always reliably great Roshan Seth as the standouts.
UPDATE:
Here's the NY Times article on the premier, with a shot of Abhishek and Aishwarya in Times Square, looking well-mannered. The reporter, Kareem Fahim, said the event "heralded not only the arrival of a movie, but also a growing cultural phenomenon."
A press event before the screening was a relaxed affair, as film executives mingled with Indian journalists and ate finger food. Bobby Bedi, a producer, talked about the prospects for Indian cinema abroad.
“There is a huge interest in the world in India, things Indian and in Indian cinema,” Mr. Bedi said. But the formula for a successful crossover film eludes filmmakers, he said.
Bedi's formula for crossover success: "bring two non-Indians to the movies."
Links to previous SAJAforum posts:
