Guru (1997 film)

Guru
Poster
Directed by	Rajiv Anchal
Written by	C. G. Rajendra Babu
Story by	Rajiv Anchal
Starring	Mohanlal Suresh Gopi Madhupal Sithara Kaveri Murali
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematography	S. Kumar
Edited by	B. Lenin V. T. Vijayan
Production company	Janasammathi Creations Pvt Ltd.
Distributed by	Janasammathi Release
Release dates	12 September 1997 (1997-09-12)
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

Guru (literally: The Teacher / Spiritual Guide) is a 1997 Indian Malayalam-language fantasy film directed by Rajiv Anchal and written by C. G. Rajendra Babu. Mohanlal played the lead role in the film, while Nedumudi Venu, Srinivasan, Suresh Gopi, Sithara, Kaveri Muralidharan and Sreelakshmi appeared in supporting roles. Guru is a fantasy film which is highly symbolic and makes a statement on terrorism by religions and the evils of the world.

The original musical score and songs were composed by Ilaiyaraaja. His symphonic score was conducted and performed by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Hungary. This was the first time in Indian cinema, the background score of a film was recorded completely outside the country. The film was selected as India's official entry to the Oscars to the Best Foreign Film category.^[1][2][3]

Plot

The story starts in small peaceful village in India. There is peace between the Hindus and the Muslims that live there. They all get along like family. Raghurāman (Mohanlal) is the son of the local Hindu temple's priest. When an ambitious politician's (NF Varghese) goons disguised as Muslims cause trouble at the local temple, tensions break out between the two communities. The tensions soon flame into a religious riot. Muslims and Hindus began killing each other for the sake of their own religions. Raghurāman joins Hindu gang which is about to attack a group of Muslims who have taken refuge in a guru's asram (a place where a holy guru lived and worked). But at a point Raghurāman has an out of the world experience in the asram.

He is now in the world of the blind. He is taken to a world where everyone is blind (Religious) and where people do not believe in the sense of sight (Logic/commonsense). Raghurāman saves a man from death and befriends him. He is astonished by the perfect activities of the citizens. They actually believe it as a sin to think that there is a thing called sight. Their children are taught that there is no world of sight from childhood (brainwashed by parents religion). When Raghurāman tries to tell them that there is a world of sight (common sense) and that he can see, they don't believe him. They consider him evil because he can do things that they can't.

Raghurāman eats a common fruit (Ilaama pazham: Symbolic of religious beliefs) that they have in that land. He finds out the hard way that this tasty addictive fruit is the cause of their blindness. Now that he is blind (religious) and helpless. The kings soldiers, whom he had evaded before because of his sight, captures him. The king (Suresh Gopi) sentences him to death by drinking the extract from the seeds of the same fruit that made him blind. This form of punishment has never been given to anyone before. The seeds (commonsense) of the addictive fruit that Reghuraman eats is considered to be fatally poisonous and bitter (Atheism). After the soldiers carry out the sentence he is left to die. But instead he sees that his blindness is cured by the seeds extract.

He then spreads the message throughout the kingdom that their beliefs were wrong. They still refuse to believe him. Some people take the seeds and experience sight. The people with sight try to take revenge on the people without sight. Raghurāman stops this with a wonderful speech. In the end everyone including the king is convinced to take the bitter seed (truth) than delicious fruit (Lie). He is brought back into the normal world by the Guru's spirit. Raghurāman realizes that his thirst for revenge by the sake of religion is a sin. He stops the riot gang's plan to kill the Muslims by blasting a bomb. And help people without seeing their religious status.

Cast

Production

Rajiv Anchal cite his influence for the film to H. G. Wells's short story The Country of the Blind, which tells the story of a man who finds himself in a valley of blind men. Anchal is a disciple of the spiritual leader Karunakara Guru, founder of Santhigiri Ashram in Pothencode, Thiruvananthapuram. The film is based on the Guru. The idea for the film came 7 years ago (since the release) after he met guru. The film is the message guru strive to convey to the materialistic world. Anchal first read the book when he was doing his college education. He was awestruck by its story and the description of the valley of the blind. He used the Wellsian theme to picturise the human condition, that of "darkness overpowering the soul". The fund for the film was raised by 60 of the disciples in the Sathigiri Ashram that including Anchal. The film was made on a production cost of ₹30 million.^[4]

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack contains 6 songs, all composed by Ilaiyaraaja and Lyrics by S. Ramesan Nair. The orchestration for the film's songs and background score were composed and conducted by Ilaiyaraaja, and performed by Hungary's Budapest Symphony Orchestra.

Awards

Screen Videocon Awards^[5]

• Best Cinematography (South) – S. Kumar
• Best Director (Malayalam) – Rajiv Anchal
• Best Actor (Malayalam) – Mohanlal

See also

• List of submissions to the 70th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
• List of Indian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

References

External links

• Guru at the Internet Movie Database