Ace
director Maniratnam marked his name in the
annals of Tamil Cinema History with Nayagan.Nayagan
still remains his best effort till date
and is probably the best gangster movie
ever to be made in Indian cinema.Testimony
to the fact is its selection as one of the
top 100 movies in world cinema by the renowned
TIMES magazine.So it wouldn’t surprise
us if Mani tries to recreate the Nayagan
magic again in silverscreen.And he maybe
doing just that with his upcoming GURU.
Both
movies bear several striking similarities.Both
are based on real life personalities.Nayagan
was of course based on the life history
of Varadaraja Mudaliar,a notorious
Mumbai Gangster.Guru,on the other
hand,chronicles the life and times
of Dhirubai Ambani,the founder of
the Reliance group of Industries.
Both are rags-to-riches stories,which
Indian audiences lap up,whenever presented
in a convincing manner.Another resemblance
lies in the way both these personalities
were perceived by the public.Varadaraja
Mudaliar and Ambani are looked upon
as saviours by some,and as unscrupulous
by others.
The
protagonists of both stories are not heroes
who could strike down 50 opponents with
their physical might,Instead they were strong
willed men who braved hostility and achieved
glory by master-minding their opppostion’s
downfall.
Both movies are set in Mumbai,Maniratnam’s
favourite city. Velu Naicker’s characterization
and its portrayal by Kamal Haasan played
a big role in Nayagan’s success.If
the central role in Guru has the same force
and if Abhishek could immortalize his role
like Kamal’s Velu Naicker,Maniratnam
may well have a winner in his hands with
Guru..
Mani,an MBA graduate himself,should be at
relative ease filming the life of India’s
greatest entrepreneur.We hope Guru lives
up to its billing and enthralls Bollywood
& Kollywood audiences alike,as its predecessor
Nayagan did,20 years back.
