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The Guru DVD |
Posted By: Andrew Kirby on September 30, 2003 - 10:00 PM |
The Guru DVD
By Andrew Kirby
The Guru
Universal Films; DVD released 2003
Directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer; Music by David Carbonara
While the theatrical release of The
Guru was relatively brief, its appearance on DVD offers an
opportunity to re-examine Hollywood's first attempt to borrow from the
extensive catalog of Hindi films, often referred to rather dismissively
in the West as "Bollywood." Although burdened with a recycled plot (it
is not so far removed from Midnight
Cowboy, albeit with a much happier outcome), The Guru tries hard to take some of
the energy, spectacle and music of the Indian form and give it an
American veneer. Unfortunately, the slickness of the content,
especially on the soundtrack, produces an intriguing, but ultimately
unsatisfying concoction.
The film has a promising start. In a flashback, we see central
character Ramu as a child in a movie theater in India, inexplicably
bored to tears by a spectacular song and dance number (specially
recreated in a Harlem theater, using a scratchy 1961 Hindi song). All
is revealed as he sneaks into the next theater to watch John Travolta
in Grease, singing "You're
the One That I Want," with Hindi subtitles, A quick cut reveals the
contemporary Ramu (Jimi Mistry), now a dance instructor, who is living
one part of his dream by teaching the Macarena to elderly Indian
matrons. He announces his departure to fulfill the second part of that
dream -- namely to move to the U.S. -- and in a very economically
filmed sequence in Delhi, we see him preparing to leave his family. By
the time the opening credits fade, Ramu is deposited in New York to
make his fortune.
After this breathless introduction, with an unpredictable juxtaposition
of dance music from three continents and three decades, the viewer is
primed for a fresh take on the immigrant experience. And there is one
more genuine pleasure to be had, as Ramu innocently auditions with
Michael McKean for a film role in a low budget adult film. While McKean
wants only to see Ramu drop his pants, the latter manages to
misinterpret this and offers as his screen test his homage to Tom
Cruise, replicating the latter's dance moves but singing Bob Seger's
"Old Time Rock and Roll" in Hindi.
Once hired, Ramu is genuinely shocked by his predicament, but before
being tossed from the set is given a lesson in personal philosophy by
Heather Graham, his leading "lady." This assortment of sexually charged
bromides becomes important as Ramu falls back on more traditional
employment -- a waiter in an Indian restaurant, and then a caterer's
assistant. When the guru employed to amuse the party guests passes out,
Ramu is wrapped in a turban-and-sheet ensemble and offers some
platitudes, about sex, to the ensemble. Despite his and their initial
disbelief, he quickly leads them in a rousing song and dance routine to
the catchy "Chori Chori Gori Se" before going home with troubled
socialite Marisa Tomei.
The second half of the movie involves, inevitably, an unsupportable
contradiction, as Ramu both embraces his faux guru status and becomes
an ardent consumer of all New York has to offer. Poised somewhere
between Deepak and Tupac, and the confusing nostrums of the two female
leads, he becomes both progressively richer and more confused, until he
realizes at the last moment that he must forsake his fake
philosophizing and take the hand of Heather Graham, which is
accomplished at the last moment by halting a church wedding. To
illustrate his redemption, the couple reprises "Chori Chori Gori Se"
(this time with Ramu offering his own vocals) before flying off --
literally -- in a Mercedes.
For the full story (and more on the
music), see FSM Vol. 8, No. 7...
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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Today in Film Score History: March 28 |
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Alf Clausen born (1941) |
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Arthur Bliss died (1975) |
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Carmen Dragon died (1984) |
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Gerald Fried records his score for The Baby (1972) |
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Jay Livingston born (1915) |
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Maury Laws died (2019) |
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Waldo de los Rios died (1977) |
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