Guru

Guru is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed and co-written by Mani Ratnam. It stars Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Mithun Chakraborty, R. Madhavan, Vidya Balan and Roshan Seth. The score and soundtrack for the film was composed by A. R. Rahman. Incidentally, Mithun Chakraborty also previously acted in a 1989 film of the same name in Hindi, as well as a 2003 film of the same name in Bengali. The film was rumored to be a biopic of the industrial tycoon Dhirubhai Ambani, but Ratnam refuted the claims, clarifying it was a work of fiction. The film was released on 12 January 2007 with its première at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto, Canada, on Thursday, 11 January 2007 by Roger Nair, making it the first Indian film to have a mainstream international première in Canada. Roger Nair productions acquired the rights for Canada and held a premiere with most of the cast and crew flown to Toronto, Canada. The film was premiered in the Tous Les Cinemas du Monde (World Cinema) section of 2007 Cannes Film Festival. The film had also been dubbed and released in Tamil with the same title while in Telugu with the title Gurukanth. Plot The beginning of the film is set in 1951 in a small village of Idar in Sabarkantha district, northern Gujarat, where a young man named Gurukant Desai dreams of making it big someday. His father Kantilal, the headmaster of the village school, tells him not to dream and that dreams never come true. Guru decides to go to Turkey and enter the spice trade, followed by a blue-collar job with Burmah Shell; later, he is promoted but refuses the job, as he wants to work for himself. Guru returns to his village, he marries Sujata, mainly because of the dowry she brings him. Along with Sujata and her brother Jignesh, Guru migrates to Bombay and starts trading in cloth. Gradually, he expands his business and sets up manufacturing units of his own, under the name "Shakti Corporation". "Nanaji" Manik Dasgupta, who publishes a newspaper "Swatantra" ("The Independent"), treats Guru as his son. Guru likewise looks upon him as a father figure who supported him during his early days of struggle in Bombay. He also develops a strong friendship with Meenu, granddaughter of Nanaji. Meenu develops multiple sclerosis as she grows up, and begins using a wheelchair.