Mani Ratnam's Guru is beyond words; something to be experienced, not described. It begins with Abhishek Bachchan looking at an empty stadium, and looking back at his roots, how it all began…

Son of a school headmaster, Guru Kanth Desai fails in his high school examination, and goes abroad to work with Shell Oil, selling their motor oil. Right from the beginning, he shows his sharp sense of observation and ability to make a fast buck. On completing seven years in Shell, he is promoted, but quits to come back to India and make money in business.

(Sujatha) Aishwarya Rai is a village girl, who is jilted by her lover and runs away from her home. In the train, (made exactly like a train of the 1950's), she falls on Guru; Guru falls for her, and leaves the train at his destination. Her younger brother is Guru's friend.

On returning to his hometown, his friends and relatives are overjoyed to see him. His father (who had failed in business before becoming a teacher), is disappointed that Guru gave up his lucrative job to enter the risky world of business. Guru is willing to marry his friend's elder sister (Aishwarya Rai), take his friend as an equal business partner, and set up business. They marry, and the three of them leave for the city, where they try to enter the world of yarn trading. But the traders have a closed membership, and only members may trade. Only a textile baron named Contractor may approve of new members.

Guru tries to meet him, is unable to meet him at his office for six weeks, and finally meets him at a golf course. Contractor challenges him to drop the golf ball in the hole in one attempt; if Guru succeeds, he will get the membership letter. Guru displays his lateral thinking, his talent for finding an unconventional solution by bypassing the rules; he lifts the balls, carries it to the hole, and drops it in. Contractor promises to issue the said letter, but fails to do so.

Frustrated and enraged, he looks for a solution and godfather. He finds his godfather in Mithun Chakraborthy, the aging owner of a newspaper, The Independent. The Independent carries articles how some persons are placing entry barriers to prevent newcomers poaching into their highly lucrative business activities. The Yarn Merchants' Association is forced to give membership to Guru, but the trading house is sealed and the activity declared illegal because it falls under the category of bets and wagers (satta trading). All the yarn merchants are now after his blood; but he is not defeated.

Guru transports his bundles of yarn to the residence of the IAS officer (who declared the activity illegal) and dumps all the yarn there, telling the officer that since he is no longer allowed to conduct his legal business activity, he is dumping the goods at the officer of the IAS officer. Late that night, the same officer comes searching for Guru in pouring rain, and agrees to rescind his order. Next day, Guru is declared the messiah of the Traders' Association. Guru starts bringing cheaper yarn from his hometown, trading in it, and making a tidy profit. But he is still not satisfied; he decides to start trading in a new yarn called polyester, seeing it as the yarn of the future. His own partner is against the change in activity, but Guru adamantly forges ahead. He expands his business activity using money taken from friends and business associates, giving them a share of the profits.

Next, he decides that mere trading in polyester is not enough; he must needs manufacture the same. His partner disagrees and leaves. While leaving, he reveals to his sister that Guru married her only for the dowry she brought, and which was the initial capital by which the business was started. She leaves in a huff. Guru is devastated, and brings her back.

They start their polyester factory, and after that, their company continues to grow and grow. They continue to fund their growth by money taken from the public by way of share capital and debentures. Contractor tries to buy Guru's company, but Guru refuses, and gives press releases how Contractor is trying to subdue and kill new enterprises, which give better material at cheaper prices.

But Guru is no saint; his feet of clay are only too evident. He bends rules with impunity to make his activity successful and super-profitable, aided and abetted by persons in power, most of them having a price tag.

His detractors are many; they reveal his shady dealings through the press. Mithun Chakraborthy, owner of The Independent, is the first to do so, in spite of his mentor relationship with Guru. Mithun's granddaughter, played by Vidya Balan, suffers from multiple sclerosis, and is wasting away. Madhavan is a key reporter of The Independent, and Mithun's right-hand man in revealing the ugly truths about Guru and the shady side of his enterprises. He marries Vidya Balan and lovingly looks after her till her death.

The rest of the film is about how these attacks of detractors continue and increase; how they affect Guru's health and he suffers a brain hemorrhage, his right side is crippled, and he is served a notice by the Government on his hospital bed, how he overcomes these challenges, replies to the government charges, and comes out victorious and shining. He is asked to give his reply in a period not exceeding five minutes; his fantastic reply is over with half a minute to spare and he sums up saying he has made a profit of half a minute, which has always been his principle, making a profit of every transaction.

The movie ends with his welcoming his shareholders in a stadium; no other venue is big enough.

Guru is a masterpiece from the guru, Mani Ratnam. The dubbing in Tamil is adequate and with almost perfect lip-sync. Each person has performed superlatively well. It could be the best performance ever for each of them. The songs are wonderful, and A.R. Rahman's music is mesmerizing. His song in the Sufi style is beyond compare. The sets are all uniformly authentic, and most of the smallest details have been taken care of.

Abhishek lives the role; he emotes with his eyes, with his frown, with his neck bent forward, even with his back to the camera. Forget his other films like Bunti and Babli, where he played comic roles and overacted; think of his performance in Refugee and polish it to perfection. He even put on weight for realistic portrayal of part of his role in the movie. When he acts like an aging person, he truly looks much older than his father looks in real life. Truly a miracle of acting with body language, and makeup, including pockmarks.

Aishwarya Rai – again, this may be her best performance. As a carefree village girl dancing in the rain (How come this village girl does not have any tan on her alabaster skin, Mr. Director?), as a jilted girl, as a naughty wife, as a loving wife, as a woman who needs to be wooed, as a responsible matron who is her husband's spokesperson before the Government enquiry, she assays all roles with ease.

Madhavan is also outstanding in his performance as a fearless investigative reporter who marries Vidya Balan, and is her loving, caring and considerate husband.

Mithun Chakraborty was famous for his dancing and overacting antics as a hero. His new avatar is truly astounding. He also lives the role to the hilt. We will be least surprised if this avatar gets many, many roles in the near future, roles which were earlier reserved for Ashok Kumar.

This is a movie to be experienced only on the biggest screen in your neighbourhood. Don't be late for the movie or you will miss Mallika Sherawat's pulsating belly dance and Aishwarya Rai's dance in the rain.

"Mani Ratnam" – Both words mean "gem". Namma guru, Mani Ratnam has truly given a gem of a movie, which will become a classic and garner a slew of awards, both national and international.

Mani's film will open to full houses, and bring mucho money to the distributors!