Guru, The

Written by Robert Kirkwood // 11/04/2005 // Comments

"Name one Indian famous in America" "That guy from The Simpsons!" Story. The movie starts with Ramu Gupta (Jimi Mistry) as a young boy sneaking out of an Indian musical movie to a neighbouring screen where he's captivated by John Travolta and Olivia Newton John belting out 'The......

"Name one Indian famous in America"

"That guy from The Simpsons!"

Story.

The movie starts with Ramu Gupta (Jimi Mistry) as a young boy sneaking out of an Indian musical movie to a neighbouring screen where he's captivated by John Travolta and Olivia Newton John belting out 'The One That I Want' from Grease. The young Indian boy falls head over heels with not only the movie, but the culture and the country.

Several years later, the young boy is a fully grown dance teacher, leaving India for his chance at stardom in America. After a bizarre audition, he almost accidentally finds himself in the lead of a triple-X rated movie, starring opposite the lovely Sharonna (Heather Graham). Incredibly he just can't rise to the occasion and loses the job, but not before Sharonna has spouted some new age sexual advice in order to prevent this happening again.

Take an attempt to get a waiters job, a drunk swami and a socialite's daughters (Marisa Tomei) birthday party (stay with me here) and he ends up repeating Sharonna's sexubabble to a crowd of New York's rich and beautiful. In the style of Chance De Gardener, his audience take his ramblings as inspired insight ... and so begins, with Sharonna unknowingly helping, his rise to become 'The Guru of Sex'.

Movie.

Ok, I liked this movie. I mean, any film with both Marisa Tomei and Heather Graham wandering around in underwear can't be bad, but there were a couple of things that didn't quite gel. First of all, it was a surprisingly gentle romance between the two leads (it won't take you long to figure out who's going to end up with who), a gentle story that didn't really sit well with the XXX background. Perhaps the porn setting, and the presence of Heather Graham reminded me too much of Boogie Nights, but I just felt that all involved were just to nice and fluffy ... especially the fluffer. Secondly,for a blend of Bollywood and Hollywood, there just wasn't enough of the former. I'll admit that I've never sat and watched an Indian musical ... or any other genre of Indian movie for that matter, but after a few minutes I found myself tapping my feet along with the songs and marvelling at the incredibly colourful spectacular. There were three numbers, one a clever mix of Indian dance spectacular and the Grease soundtrack, but they were very short and seemed at times a little reserved. I would have liked the producers to have gone all out with these scenes and perhaps to have ended the movie on a huge dance extravaganza. Strange that an aspect of the movie that initially put me off watching was the one part that it didn't have enough of.

Take away the Bhangra elements and you are left with a bog standard American rom-com with all the required elements. The girl he's with, the girl he wants to be with, the inadequate fiancée, the comic relief (the three fellow immigrants he shares a flat with) and the onlookers ... parents, priests and passer-by's. Although some characters are criminally underused, some overused, and some shouldn't have been used at all, the action never strays too far from the predictable route the movie is taking. There are cheese and clichés in abundance, but in the case of this movie, it isn't necessarily a bad thing. The Bollywood experience is a new thing to Hollywood audiences. The Indian musicals may have been based on the old MGM features, but by the time they have come full circle, back to the American realm, they are exotic, foreign and probably a long way removed from what we are used to. The Guru presents Bollywood on a very American, predictable, acceptable platform ... you are never too far away from the familiar. To put it simply, think 'Chips with Curry Sauce' as opposed to 'Tandoori Murgh' ... a touch of spice, but nothing too adventurous.

Disc.

I must mention the colours ... wow! With a Fugifilm master and a perfect transfer, the Indian scenes really jump off the screen at you. There's a vibrancy seldom seen outside animation with no colour bleed whatsoever. Want to see how your player will cope with fast moving, bright, dazzling colours? This is the movie.

The sound was as good, nice and beefy during the musical numbers, clear and sharp during the dialogue, but your 5.1 system isn't going to be pressed too hard.

As for extras ... there's two commentaries, one with Jimi Mistry and the other with director Daisy Von Sherler Mayer and writer Tracey Jackson ... a selection of deleted/extended scenes, a music video for 'Round Round' by the Sugarbabes, a photo gallery and trailers. Teaser/Theatrical for 'The Guru', and two extra teasers for Johnny English and Ned Kelly). A very well rounded package of bonus material that compliments the movie nicely. No 'making of...' or 'behind-the-scenes' features, but with two commentaries there's enough background information for anyone.

Overall.

A simple enough romantic tale, with some very funny moments and some banging bhangra tunes, but perhaps not enough of either to stand out from the rest. Rom-com meets Bollywood and had a nice time ... no invites back for coffee or anything, but they had a nice night ... and so will you.