Guru (1980 film)
Guru (transl. Teacher) is a 1980 Indian action caper film[1][2] directed by I. V. Sasi. The film, a bi-lingual, was made in Tamil and Telugu-languages. The film features Kamal Haasan and Sridevi, while M. N. Nambiar, Muthuraman and Mohan Babu play supporting roles. The film opened in July 1980 to positive reviews. It was a blockbuster and completed a 365-day run at the box office. This film is a remake of the 1973 Hindi film Jugnu.[3]
| Guru | |
|---|---|
 Poster of Tamil version | |
| Directed by | I. V. Sasi |
| Produced by | Prakash R. C. |
| Written by | Haasan Brothers |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Ilaiyaraaja |
| Cinematography | Jayanan Vincent |
| Edited by | K. Narayanan |
Production company | Shiv Sakthi Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 159 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil Telugu |
Plot
In pre-independent India, Raghu is a revolutionary who is disowned by his aristocratic father and is presumed dead while fleeing from the police. Ten years later, Raghu's wife is shot dead by a landlord attempting to rape her and her young boy shoots the landlord in retaliation and absconds.
Several years later, the boy has grown up to be Ashok, a rich, reputed philanthropist who runs "Parvathi Nilayam", a shelter and institute for orphaned destitute children, named after his mother. Unknown to all except his close friend and associate Mahesh is the fact that to support "Parvathi Nilayam", Ashok also masquerades as "Guru", an elusive criminal who carries out several heists and is being hunted by the police. Meanwhile, Ashok's grandfather has been raising an impostor, Ramesh as his grandson, who has turned out to be felonious.
Ashok meets and falls in love with a charming girl, Sujatha, the niece of a top police official, strives to win her affection and succeeds. Ashok, in the guise of Guru, also tangles with a notorious mob headed by a one-armed man, one of whose associates is Ramesh. Ashok also has a chance encounter with his lost father Raghu, who is now working as a professor, but Raghu conceals his identity to keep Ashok safe.
In a shocking twist, Ashok finds out that the landlord whom he had murdered as a boy was none other than Sujatha's father and he starts rebuking Sujatha without revealing her the truth, leaving her heart-broken. Distraught and despondent, Ashok plans one last big heist to support "Parvathi Nilayam" permanently, hand it over to his friend Mahesh and seclude himself forever. Whether his plans succeed forms the rest of the story.
Cast
- Kamal Haasan as Guru / Ashok
- Sridevi as Sujatha
- R. Muthuraman as Raghu, father of Ashok (Tamil)
- Kaikala Satyanarayana (Telugu)
- M. N. Nambiar as head of anti-social group (Tamil)
- M. Prabhakar Reddy (Telugu)
- Major Sundarrajan as Commissioner of Police, Sujatha's uncle (Tamil)
- Kanta Rao (Telugu)
- Mohan Babu as Ramesh
- Y. G. Mahendran as Mahesh, Guru's friend
- Poornam Vishwanathan as Raghu's father
- S. V. Ramadas as Sujatha's father
- Ceylon Manohar as Henchman
- ISR
- Vennira Aadai Nirmala as Parvathi, wife of Raghu and mother of Ashok
- Pandari Bai as Sujatha's mother
- Jayamalini as Mahesh's love interest
Soundtrack
| Guru | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | |||||
| Released | 1980 | ||||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | ||||
| Language | Tamil | ||||
| Label | Inreco | ||||
| |||||
The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja.[4][5]
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Aadungal Paadungal" | Kannadasan | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam | |
| 2. | "Parandhalum Vidamatten" | Kannadasan | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki | |
| 3. | "Perai Chollava" | Kannadasan | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki | |
| 4. | "Endhan Kannil" | Kannadasan | S. Janaki | |
| 5. | "Maamanukku Paramakudi" | Gangai Amaran | S. Janaki | |
| 6. | "Naan Vanangugiren" | Panchu Arunachalam | S. Janaki |
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Aadandi Paadandi" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam | |
| 2. | "Nela Ina Ningi Ina" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki | |
| 3. | "Perucheppana" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki | |
| 4. | "Kannula Kipu" | S. Janaki | |
| 5. | "Nimmasettu Needunnadi" | S. Janaki | |
| 6. | "Naa Vandanam" | S. Janaki |
Release and reception
Guru's Tamil version was released on 18 July 1980; the Telugu version was released one day later, on 19 July. Both were critically and commercially successful. The Tamil version film was released in Sri Lanka as same name in later 1980, Guru had a longest theatrical run[6] of 386 days in Sri Lanka, previous record Chandralekha (1948) 383 days.
In retrospect, Kamal Haasan has been critical of the film, calling it "crap".[7]
References
- Gupta, Rachit (7 July 2016). "5 masked superheroes from films". Filmfare. Archived from the original on 19 September 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
This star studded action adventure wasn’t exactly a superhero movie, but it did feature Kamal Haasan in an outlandish costume playing justice seeker and do-gooder.
- Nayak, Satyarth (2019). Sridevi: The Eternal Screen Goddess. Ebury Press. pp. 45–46.
- "Sridevi: 5 times the actress bowled us with her performance". The Times of India. 12 August 2015. Archived from the original on 17 March 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
- "Guru (1980)". Raaga.com. Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
- "Guru (Telugu)". Gaana.com. Archived from the original on 17 March 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
- Ramji, V. (19 July 2020). "கமலின் கமர்ஷியல் 'குரு'வுக்கு 40 வயது! - இலங்கையில் செய்த மெகா சாதனை!". Hindu Tamil Thisai. Archived from the original on 19 July 2020. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
- Rangan, Baradwaj (7 November 2019). "A look at Kamal Haasan's hits and misses in the 80s, before he became the Kamal we know today". Film Companion. Archived from the original on 15 April 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2020.