Guru

Overall, I liked the film. Barring some unnecessary scenes and melodrama, the film works and holds attention.

STRENGTHS

1. The biggest strength of the film, in my mind, is its engagingstorysomething quite different from the usual family vendetta or romance based concoctions that plague Indian cinema. It was refreshing to see a rags to riches theme, without idolizing the character. I think that the story works precisely because of the multidimensionality of the character. There is an underlying theme of selling your soul to the devil for your dreams herealthough the hero is un-repentant.
2. The screenplay is overall logical [although there are a few problems-- see under weaknesses]and barring a few scenes, fairly crisp. There is about 35-40 minutes of the film that can be easily cut without hurting the overall quality. But, for the typicalIndian viewer, perhaps, such scenes are important.
3. At least 2 of the songs have good beat and are well choreographed [it is only when one see other Indian films that one recognizes Maniratnam's skills in engaging the viewers without making them feel stupid].
4. The cinematography is uniformly good and at times great.I was captivated by the shots in Aiswarya Rai's introductory song. There are also some impressive moving shots in another song sequence.

WEAKNESSES

The weaknesses in this film areclosely related to its unique story.

1. As I noted already, the film is far too long for my tasteand unnecessarily so since there are scenes which could have been deleted without subtracting from the overall viewing experience.
2. The acting, while adequate, is at times mediocre. Abhishek Bachan does an adequate job, although I wonder whether someone else would have done even better in the role. I liked Abhishek's simpleton looks [watch his eyes and mouth in some sceneswell done], but there are scenes, where I felt that he could not live up to the role of a tough, driven, bloody minded entrepreneur. Perhaps, this is a weakness in the script [and not attributable to the actor himself] or an editing problembetter juxtaposition of scenes might have achieved better results. To make up my mind on this, I must see the film once more [which I plan to do]. I felt that the character who stayed in my mind most was the editor of the newspaperand not Guru! Many of the side characters are devoid of any great presence [a usual weakness in Indian films].
3. I wonder whether better editing of the film could have enhanced the impact.
4. There are far too many coincidences in the film. I don't want to add a spoiler here, so I will not specify the scenes. But after watching the film, ask yourself the question-- "What if __ did not happen?". While in real life, there are several accidents and coincidents that change our direction, in a 150 minute period, if you see three or more coincidences, it does weaken the believability. In any event, one does not expect it from Maniratnam.

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