'Guru': Cinderella story of a villager who makes it big

New Delhi, Jan 10 (IANS) After "Bunty Aur Babli", "Bluffmaster" and "Sarkar", will Abhishek Bachchan live up to the expectations of his fans in "Guru", Mani Ratnam's long awaited film about the journey of an ordinary villager with an extraordinary dream that releases Friday?

While trade insiders debate the question, chances are that Abhishek will hit bull's eye with this film where he stars with Aishwarya Rai in a story loosely based on the life of business tycoon Dhirubhai Ambani, whose endeavours opened gates for new players in a market dominated by handful of privileged people.

Abhishek has good chances of succeeding as he has teamed up with a director of Ratnam's calibre. The actor was languishing before Ratnam's "Yuva" happened to him and gave a fillip to his career.

Set in the 1950s and moving through the decades till the present, "Guru" focuses on an ambitious villager Gurukant Desai (Abhishek) who dreams big and moves to Mumbai with his wife Sujata (Aishwarya Rai) and brother-in-law Shyam Saxena (R. Madhavan) to fulfil his dreams.

When he reaches Mumbai, his only assets are two shirts and Rs.15,000. Much to his dismay, he realises that the business world is a closed community ruled by a handful of rich and influential people who don't believe in giving opportunities to new players.

But he forces his way in with righteous anger and the desire to achieve his goals. He sometimes has to go against the law, which earns him foes but his fairness also wins him admirers like Meenu (Vidya Balan).

Nanaji (Mithun), who runs a newspaper Swatantra, is initially impressed by the aggressively ambitious Guru. However, when he learns that his means to make it big are not pure, he decides to stand up to fight Guru's unjust ways.

The film has all the right ingredients for its success at the box office, except perhaps Aishwarya who has disappointed fans in "Umrao Jaan" and "Dhoom 2". Abhishek's chemistry with Aishwarya is not as appealing as rumours of their off screen romance.

The film also has Mallika Sherawat, who makes a special appearance in a dance number.

Ratnam's previous Hindi release, the gripping "Yuva", won critical acclaim but lost out in the box office. The director might just make up the loss with "Guru".

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Guru