Guru Review

Movie: Guru

Producer: Sashikant

Director: Sudha Kongara

Music: Sashikanth

Cast: Venkatesh, Rithika Singh, Raghu Babu, Nassar,Tanikella Bharani and others

Rating: 2.75/5

After a string of innovative promotions, Venkatesh starrer ‘Guru’ had hit the screens. It is an official remake of ‘Sala Khadoos’ and Sudha Kongara who directed the original too retained the major cast. Let us have a look on how the film is.

Aditya Rao (Venkatesh) is a boxer whose career ends because of his attitude and corrupt authorities. Though he is appointed as a coach, he is shifted from Delhi to Vizag because of his bad relations with head coach Dev Khatri (Zakir Hussain) who spills venom on Aditya.He reaches Vizag and finds that his junior coach Punch Paandu (Nassar) promotes his own people. He then finds spark in a vegetable vender Ramudu alias Rameshwari (Ritika Singh) but she is arrogant and hot headed as Aditya. Aditya trains her for the nationals and rest of the story revolves around how she goes on winning the gold medal.

Venkatesh looks perfect in his role with salt and pepper look and macho physique. His dialogue delivery and action looked different from his earlier movies and it impresses everyone. He maintains his attitude throughout which is undoubtedly one the major asset for this film. No wonder why Ritika Singh won National Award for this role. She definitely steals the show and is full of energy. Her performance took the film to a whole new level. The rest of the cast were apt and did their bit required.

There is a lot of freshness in this film. This concept is not explored in Tollywood before though it is quite common in Bollywood. The first half of the film is quite racy and the climax is very well handled.

After a decent first half, the pace of the film dips slightly. There are not many twists and turns in this move and the film gets predictable at times. Editing could have been better as some scenes looked dragged in the second half.

There are not many commercial elements in this film and it may disappoint hardcore commercial lovers.

Cinematography by Sakthivel is amazing and the visuals are eye-pleasing. Music by Santosh Narayan is quite apt and his background score is superb. As said earlier, editing by Satish Surya is decent but some portions could have been trimmed. Production values by Y Not Studios are quite good. Director Sudha Kongara did not make any changes from the original. Her brilliance is visible in some scenes. Her screenplay deserves a special mention as audience get involved in the film right from the word go. Had she injected some interesting elements in the plot, it would have been a classic.

On the whole, ‘Guru’ is a definite watch for people who love sports based movies and experiments. Even other sections of audience too will like it, thanks to the amazing performance from Venkatesh and Ritika. On the flip side, the second half is dragged in some parts which spoil the experience. But, the film picks up during pre-climax and ends on a high note.

Don’t miss to watch this sports drama in the theatres nearby.