Madras Talkies- What an image this brand had! 'Roja', 'Bombay', 'Dil Se' are one of the finest piece of art from it which, received a tremendous response from both Critics and Box office. I understand that Critical Acclaim and Box office success seldom go hand in hand (Dil Se being one example).

'Guru' clearly gives an impression as if its sole aim was to raise stacks of cash at Box office. Cleverly chosen star cast includes actors from each geographical zone: East- Mithun Chakravarty. Hindi Speaking (North, Center, West)- Abhishek Bacchan. South- Aishwarya Rai, Madhavan.

Abhishek looks tired; Aishwarya looks too beautiful to fit in this role. The director fails to build convincing characters so such a wonderful cast appears ineffective.

The story starts with the ambitions of a guy and ends with his justifications of taking a devious course to achieve his goals. What message does it give to society? The final scene Court Room drama was totally meaningless. How can over 50 legal claims reduced to 2 just by one supposedly impressive speech by Guru Bhai?

The music is ordinary and stands nowhere in from of the music of Roja, Bombay and Dil Se. Rahman is so complacent by the fact that whatever he makes is admired by Bollywood.

Guru is a wonderful example of what happens when a great filmmaker curbs his instincts to come up with a money spinning effort possibly to support his crumbling production house. There are people (viz. Gulzaar, Shyam Benegal) who have always given priority to critical acclaim over Box office success. I used to count Mani in that class but not anymore.

You come out of the Cinema Hall and curse yourself for watching this flick. Request to Maniratnam fans- Please avoid this or you'll lose respect fro Mani's earlier works as well.

Anyway the meaningless film is a big hit along with its ineffective music. It bagged quite a lot of awards as well. But I strongly believe that people who have understanding of art would agree with my point of view.