Introduction
Guru is a 2007 film written and co-directed by Mani Ratnam. The film starred Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. The film throws light on the life of Dhirubhai Ambani, the biggest business and industrial tycoon of India. The film wonderfully shows the hardships that Dhirubhai Ambani had to go through to carve his way to the top. The movie shows that success did not come to Ambani but he had to face obstacles. The fact that he acted with confidence and courage, even in times of adversity made him a successful business tycoon.
Plot of the movie
The film starts in the small village of Idar, Gujarat in the year 1951. Gurukant Desai, the protagonist, was in Turkey, doing a blue-collar job. When he gets promoted, he turns down the job because he wanted to do something of his own. When he conveys his decision to his father, who is the headmaster at a village school, gets furious at Gurukant Desai and tells him that one should not dream too big as dreams never come true. After that, Gurukant Desai marries Sujata, mainly for dowry purposes. Taking that money, Sujata, Gurukant, and his brother-in-law moved to Mumbai, where they enter the then stock market and start their manufacturing unit, in the name of ‘Shakti Corporation’.
As Guru’s business expands, he relentlessly runs behind success, and sometimes, ethics take a back seat for him. He starts smuggling machines from outside the country for his polyester business. He also manipulates the stocks to make greater and higher profits. He also illegally creates goods.
Nanaji or Manik Dasgupta plays an important role in the movie. When Guru had moved to Bombay, he had come across Manik Dasgupta when he was on the verge of losing everything. Dasgupta boosted the morale of Guru and, over time they both developed a close bond with each other. Guru used to look at Nanaji as his father and Nanaji, likewise used to look at Guru as his son. Nanaji was editor-in-chief of a newspaper ‘Swatantra’. When Dasgupta learned that the ways through which Guru is achieving success are not always ethical and honest, he sets on a journey with Shyam Saxena- a journalist to expose the ugly face of Guru’s business. Shyam Saxena started publishing articles about Guru and how he was illegally doing his business. These raised allegations and court cases against Guru.
The stress that Guru undergoes to fight the battle with this newspaper complainant causes him a stroke and he gets paralyzed from his right side. After two months, Guru was supposed to appear before the private government inquiry for the 29 charges that, he was charged against. On the first day of the inquiry, Guru said nothing even when he was told by the court that on the second day, the media will be present and anything that he would say can be used against him in the courts of law. Still, Guru went ahead with the risk and spoke the next day.
Guru told the court that he was a simple man who had come to Bombay from a small village. He was a small man in this humongous city of Bombay with big dreams. He never learned to dream small and, this was the result of his dreams that, he was dragged to this corrupt city. He said that when he had come to Bombay from his village, he had no idea what this excise duty, customs duty, taxations, etc. meant and he just knew that he had to do his business, no matter what. He just wanted to do his business but, the corrupt system of the city did not allow a man from a small village to climb his way to the top. As a result, he had to resort to corrupt means. Shamed by this, the court dropped 27 out of 29 charges that were charged against him and, he only had to pay compensation for the remaining two charges. He was allowed to join his company back.
When he came back, he conducted a meeting with the shareholders of the Shakti Corporation. He said that people should tell his father that dreams do come true. When asked if they want to remain India’s largest company, the shareholders refused and said that they would like to go ahead to become the world’s largest company.
Conclusion
The story inspires us to dream big. It shows that one should never hesitate to dream big because if one puts in proper hard work, persistence, effort, and perseverance, dreams do come true. The confidence that Gurukant Desai used to work with is what we should learn and try to develop that confidence. This movie is truly inspiring.
:By-Achal Suchak
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