Who is John Galt? This is the line that comes to my mind after watching the monologue of Abhishek Bachchan a.k.a Gurukant Desai at the climax of the movie. It had to be this way for Guru to be a hero but as Roshan Sheth a.k.a Thapar said he is both a genius and a thug truly identifies the character of the movie.
I had to watch this movie over the hype about it and its likeness to the Ambanis and their struggle and I would say it was a typical Mani Ratnam movie. It has to have an item number as well as a young girl singing about her dreams to hardcore actions and human emotions with family and the whole bouquet. I will say it was a well made movie but the protagonist being potrayed as right at the end with hints to the governments shortcomings were erroneous. The tax evasions, duping shareholders and other items were not shown in the climax but the licence raj of the government, the stranglehold of the market by individuals were depicted till the end.
The end was abrupt. It showed one needs to bend the laws to create money. True the laws were restrictive at that time, but I will not say Guru was a John Galt. He was just a clever manipulator who understood what he needed to do to earn money and flourish in a business which was not to be a fly by night thing but a sustainable 'bijness'.
Over and all it represented the life of Dhirubhai Ambani, his clash with Nusli Wadia or Bombay Dyeing's fight with Reliance. The petrochemical venture, the clash with Indian Express and Arun Shourie. Why else would Mani Ratnam do a private screening for Mukesh Ambani prior to releasing the movie? Inspite of the declaration of fictional characters in the begining of the movie.
Abhishek and Mithun were brilliant in the movie. The songs were ok and I would have preferred seeing Vidya Balan instead of Aishwarya in that role of Guru's wife. Madhavan was under-utilized but effective. Over and all strictly pista movie according to me.
Trivia I observed:
Aishwarya Rai has a relationship after every successful movie with her co-actor.
Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam - Salman Khan
Kyun! Ho Gaya Na - Vivek Oberoi
Guru - Abhishekh Bachchan
20 comments:
GODLY, especially the trivia at the end. :)
just as harry srivastav once said - "what an observation, sir !!!"
I put in a comment y'day..but I am not sure why it didnt make it on the blog..but neways the trivia and all are fine..but I totally disagree that the tone of the movie is anywhere close to the one that the novel has. Even though it was a ruthless run for money in Guru's case, it was nowhere near the objectivism that Rand typifies in Atlas Shrugged. So who is John Galt? is not a question which comes to my mind ever while seeing the movie.
sexy observation ... wonder who is she coming with next in a hit movie :-)
Its a fast moving movie, & yes @vcd it shows more of Guru's run for money....i couldnt understand the end though, he used so many wrong practices, out of so many cases he comes out clear.
Indiblog
i tried posting a comment but didnt apear..anyways, all i was trying to say was Abhishek has acted well but i was not able to understand the ending.
Indiblog
KK...ive to disagree with you on a lot of aspects.
1. I'm not sure what are your basis for saying: "It has to have an item number as well as a young girl singing about her dreams". I've seen all but one movie of Ratnam and I completely disagree on ur observation. If you give me one example with the above, I can give 3 tamil movies to prove otherwise (even though I hate songs in a movie, I still have to say ur wrong).
2. Coming the more important observation about how the main protagonist was portrayed. I did not get the impression that Gurukant was made to be a hero. The way I deciphered the end was that he was able to hoodwink the bunch of idiots with his 'weighted' words. Remember its not a biopic.
3. I think it was way better than a 'pista' movie. It could have been a monster caper if they wud cut all the songs (which are a let down). AB jnr's acting was tour de force (pardon my Gujju here). Mithun was A-grade so were a few of the other supporting cast. Ash was as expected....poor.
"Pista" movie indeed
- Half-assed attempt at throwing light on the true entrepreneurial skills of Ambani, probably to avoid whipping up the dust of controversy
- Useless presence of certain characters like Vidya Balan and Madhavan
- Abrupt (and uncessary) song changes
- Wastage of the wife's role by casting Aishwarya in it.
Certainly NOT a typical Mani Ratnam movie. Abhishek and Prabhuji were the saving grace.
Balls, if it ain't a biopic, what would you call it then? If you don't look at it from a "biopic standpoint", what did it have to offer to its audience?
its not a biopic coz nowhere does it attest the name "Ambani" to it. Why does a movie like this have "to offer" something only if its a biopic?
It's not formally stated that the movie is based on Ambani's life but we still know that the storyline had Dhirubhai written all over it. So maybe not in the literal sense of the word, but in an unofficial sense, it was an attempted biopic.
It doesn't really offer too much because it IS based on someone's life and yet it does not give sufficient treatment to certain key shades of the character that it "unofficially" aims to portray. Imagine someone sitting in the audience who doesn't know anything about Ambani - what would he take home from the movie apart from an understanding that it was a tale of a bold and confident businessman who reached heights of affluence and success while being embroiled in corruption? Well, that and he would also probably wish he could "pull the trigger on Aishwarya till it goes 'Click!'", but you know what I mean.
If someone doesn't know anything abt Ambani he could take a whole bunch from what the artists and the creator has to offer. Gandhi, JFK, Johnny Cash, Elvis etc are movies that are biopics of the protagonist. If ur unsatisfied with the "sufficient treament" then that is ur perception of the movie. But its unfair to judge by bringing up parallels with Ambani. There are a bunch of skews along with the parallels that one turns a blind eye to.
The movie does not 'aim' more protray anything other than the the main protagonist's struggle. And if that is what the director has to offer, its good enough according to me for the audience to lap it up.
What are the skews in the movie which is not parallel to Ambani's life. Could you explain that more?
The movie doesnt show the protagonist's struggle until he is about to lose everything. That is when he and his wife go to their old house and they remember things of the past which gives us a glimpse of his struggle. And it was more of an inspiration scene for the protagonist to rise again. Infact, just before he meets Manik Dasgupta he was about to leave the city.
The movie shows the strokes of luck along with his ability and his cunningness to manipulate the system that allows him to rise. There is never a struggle for him at all.
The movie:
(1) Used all of Aishwarya's acting prowess? (NOT) Sorry all you Ash lovers.
(2) Gutless - because it was 'NOT' a biopic.
(3) Truthful - because it shows that you MUST be AT LEAST grey (I think is the best way to put it) to achieve that level of success.
(4) Ominous - because of (3) and its possible implications on young and impressionable men and women in India
(5) Good Attempt - because its different, and even though it doesnt ue them, it has a mostly good ensemble.
Comment Reflections
(1) It has been lapped up (I would say) by the audiences
(2) If you dont know anything about Ambani - its pretty scary as to what the implications are.
(3) Kausum - tu abhi bhi bahut pakata hai - kabhi rokega?
(5) And finally - Final Question - Sawal EK KAROD KA -
What is not is ??
Guess!!!!
PAINT !!!!!
(GGGGGUUHHHHimMMMMMmie FAAAIVE !!!!)
Mera comment nahin aaya kya ????
I know I'm going against the status quo of this forum, but I agree completely with KK's point of view here.
This, in fact, is the thing that I didn't like the most - that the movie didn't care to say anything about Ambani's struggles and endeavors that helped him establish his empire and instead, had songs and characters sprinkled randomly all over. His manipulative tendencies notwithstanding, he was an astute businessman but there was (almost) nothing about his business acumen in the film. Sri mentioned the perfect word - "Gutless". Mani Ratnam CLEARLY meant to base it on Ambani's life but it can't be called a biopic, thanks to obvious gaps in the script.
And yes, I'm sharing MY opinion on the issue just like everyone else out here.
What you guys term as 'Gutless', I call it sensible film-making. There are two options:
1. Taking the bio-pic route, showing Dhirubhai in all his system-bending glory and in the process taking on one of India's richest companies head-on.
2. Or, be a sycophant and show him with a glorified halo of being a people's champion.
Ratnam has taken a thrid route by drawing parallels with Ambani's life and shows the main protagonist with shades of grey as Kateem rightly points out. Its all about walking along with the Red Tape which sadly is pretty fat in India. In the end no fil-maker enters the business with a view to make a loss.
I think the thought that it is not a biopic is naive considering that the movie has too many direct and factual implications:
1. DA started expanding his empire with his polyester business. He was a very close associate of Ramnath Goenka (Indian Express) who finally turned against him and supported Nusli Wadia instead.
2. The scene in which he met the Neta with a "clean" image is nothing else but the highly rumoured meeting between DA and Rajiv Gandhi (the 5 minute meeting which went on for hours). "Aapke mataji ne mujhe 100 crore diye hai.. main us paise ka kya karu".
3. Almost direct references to Wadia, Goenka, Gurumurthy and many many more people.
and last but not the least
4. Mani invited Anil Ambani for a private screening before releasing the film to get his "consent" (again rumoured)
So, if you just look at this movie from an outsiders perspective and say that it is a good attempt by the director, I guess you are undermining the directorial capabilities of MR, because say what you may, a few superlative performances aside, the movie leaves a lot to be desired.
Sri,
"tu abhi bhi bahut pakata hai - kabhi rokega? "
I dont see that happening.
Movie reviews aside, I noticed an absolute Kanti statement by Balls in one of his comments:
"Its all about walking along with the Red Tape which sadly is pretty fat in India"
Jaaayyyyyeesus!! :-)
Thanks for bestowing the honor.
Btw that was ur shortest comment on the blog :-)
Post a Comment