Stars: Jimi Mistry, Heather Graham, Marisa Tomei, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Michael McKean, Christine Baranski, Rob Morrow, Malachy McCourt

Director: Daisy Mayer

Summary: Dance instructor, Ramu Gupta, leaves India for America in search of fame and fortune. He arranges to stay with his rich and successful cousin in New York, but when he arrives, Ramu realises that his cousin was lying about his wealth and he lives in a squalid flat above a shop. With no cash to fall back on Ramu finds himself working as a waiter in an Indian restaurant and he attends every audition going. Due to a bizarre mix up Ramu is mistaken for a spiritual leader - 'The Guru of Sex'.

THE GURU, from director Daisy von Scherler Mayer, begins with a young Ramu Gupta (Jimi Mistry) in a Delhi movie theater, rejecting the extreme song and dance notions of the local Bollywood cinema for the more glamorous American film musical GREASE. This transformative experience eventually leads Ramu to travel to New York, where he plans to launch a career as a dancing actor like his idol, John Travolta. Though things don't initially work out, he soon finds different kinds of success, both as "The Guru of Sex" (catering to an aimless socialite played by Marisa Tomei) and in wooing the woman he loves (Heather Graham), a porn actress with a heart of gold.
While Ramu rejects the playfully surreal, over-the-top musical style of Bollywood, director von Scherler Mayer uses it to dual-edged effect in THE GURU--at various times, the scenes set in America suddenly burst into rococo musical production numbers, simultaneously emulating and poking fun at the Indian cinema tradition. A final number even manages to fuse Bollywood techniques with a send-up of GREASE, resulting in a humorous double homage.

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Jimi Mistry hits the screens again in The Guru, but instead of East is Easthere we have east-meets-west, a combination of Hollywood's fish-out-of-water comedies with Bollywood Breaks. Based loosely on director Shekhar Kapur's experiences as a young man moving to Britain in order to meet "pretty blondes", Mistry plays Ramu Gupta, an Indian in love with Hollywood who teaches the Macarena in a local "Modern School of Dance". Dreaming of bigger and better things (mainly the desire to re-live Travolta's role in Grease) he shoots off to the USA, but finds the American Dream does not hold true when he lands the lead role as an "adult" actor in a Ramrod Production. By a bizarre twist of fate, Ramu ends up impersonating a Guru at the birthday party of Lexi (Marsa Tomei), where the only wise words he can find are those of his Porno costar Sharonna (Heather Graham, without the roller skates), about improving sexual performance. All this catapults him to stardom as "The Guru of Sex" and he is left begging Sharonna for more wisdom to offer the rich and lost in New York.

The collaboration of Bollywood and Hollywood styles--including a fantastic Bollywood rendition of "You're the One That I Want"--should have resulted in an interesting and enlightening film about the struggles a young Indian faces to create an identity in America. Yet something is missing. It's clear this is Tracey Jackson's first major screenwriting venture. Humorous only in places, the script is not really substantial enough for the strong cast members to get their teeth into. The editing is also amiss, with the camera hovering on scenes for far too long, leaving a slightly uncomfortable feeling. However the music will stay with you for months and the ending is up there with the best rom-coms. --Nikki Disney

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Year:	2002
Release Date:	June 1, 2009
Runtime:	91 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	9070559
Keywords:	Comedy, General, Romantic, Guru
Genre:	Comedy