The Guru (2002)

A fairly large proportion of this films detractors could not even find India on a map, and probably still believe the nation had a hand in Custer's massacre.This is a light hearted musical comedy about Bollywood meeting America, and Bollywood is all about song, dance, bright costumes and boy meets girl. The ending is always happy. If you've never seen a Bollywood movie then you need to explore new horizons, especially if you gave this a truly bad review because you are speaking from ignorance.For those Indians who hate it and use words such as 'negative typecasting', please read the second paragraph again. This film is portraying B.O.L.L.Y.W.O.O.D. and Bollywood is part of Indian culture and presented to the world, by India, as such.

Mistry stars as an immigrant from India who, through letters from a family member in America, dreams of fame and fortune and a life in cinema and song. Yet, when he ends up on a porno set, he can't perform on direction and his co-star takes him under her wing to show him how to command his body to perform to his own direction and he ends up selling that information, pretending to be the "Guru of Sex." This film is not my cup of tea. It had some funny moments in the film, but it was not a funny movie. The direction of this film was all over the place, but then that's maybe what the director was trying to achieve, in, which case, he succeeded. Marisa Tomei co-stars as a woman who holds his hand, thinking he's some spiritual guide, and Heather Graham co-stars as the woman who holds his heart, all the while, pretending that she hasn't touched it. Do I believe it? No. Did I like it? Yes, but I didn't love it, and the ending was a little too predictable.4 out of 10 stars.

I don't attend that many movies at a theater, but if I hadn't seen the preview for "The Guru" while attending to see another movie, I probably would never even have heard of it. But the preview piqued my interest, and after stopping to see this film when it came to town, I was very glad I did. It is a fun story, and has one of the qualities I particularly like to see in a film: a totally-engaging, likable cast and characters portrayed. Jimi Mistry is excellent in the title role, and Heather Graham and Marisa Tormei are beautiful and enjoyable, as both normally are. Michael McKean gives his usual fine performance, as do the supporting cast, both American and East Indian. We all probably should maintain a better "look-out" so as not to miss movies like this, which appear with little fanfare - especially in view of the significant proportion of "9-figure," 2nd-rate productions, which regularly come onto the scene with far more trumpeting than merited.

The movie starts as a joke to immigrants- legal or illegal who are attracted to the Promised Land with "American Dreams" but the story gradually turns into revealing the shallow American society and its wrong notions about Indian culture and religion. The most sarcastic scene is when guru dances on the tune of a cheap Hindi song and people follow him. It is really hilarious how the Ramu is a shadowy Guru, while the real Guru is a porno-queen.Jimi Mistry's "Pretty- face, less acting" performance is compensated to a great extent by Heather Graham's superb performance.Dances and songs are appropriately wounded up in the story and does not interrupt its flow. Great Movie, if you are looking to laugh heartily, but if you are looking for some Romance or Indian culture & values this is not for you!