''Guru'' () is a 1980 Indian action adventure film directed by I. V. Sasi. The film, a bi-lingual, was made in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

and Telugu-languages. The film stars 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 Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

film '' Jugnu''.

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, who 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 Muthuraman Radhakrishnan (4 July 1929 – 16 October 1981) was an Indian actor who predominantly appeared in Tamil language films. He was a leading actor during the 1960s and 1970s and was fondly called as ''Navarasa Thilagam''. He had paired w ...

as Raghu, father of Ashok (Tamil) **

Kaikala Satyanarayana Kaikala Satyanarayana (25 July 1935 – 23 December 2022) was an Indian actor, producer, director, and politician who predominantly worked in Telugu cinema. He appeared in over 750 films and served as the Member of Parliament in the 11th Lok Sa ...

(Telugu) * M. N. Nambiar as head of the anti-social group (Tamil) ** M. Prabhakar Reddy (Telugu) * Major Sundarrajan as Commissioner of Police, Sujatha's uncle (Tamil) **

Kanta Rao Tadepalli Lakshmi Kantha Rao (16 November 1923 – 22 March 2009) was an Indian actor and producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. Regarded as one of the finest method actors, Rao starred in more than four hundred feature ...

(Telugu) * Mohan Babu as Ramesh * Y. G. Mahendran as Mahesh, Guru's friend *

Poornam Viswanathan Poornam Viswanathan (15 November 1921 – 1 October 2008) was an Indian actor who predominantly appeared in Tamil films. He started performing on stage at age 18. He worked as a reader for All India Radio and went on to act in films such as ''C ...

as Raghu's father *

S. V. Ramadas S. V. Ramadas (1921-2004) was an Indian actor who appeared in Tamil-language films, most often as a villain. He acted in more than 700 films in a career spanning over four decades. Film career Among popular movies, he acted in Aayirathil Or ...

as Sujatha's father * Ceylon Manohar as Henchman *

Vennira Aadai Nirmala Vennira Aadai Nirmala (born as A. B. Shanthi in Kumbakonam) is an Indian actress who has appeared in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films. She was a prominent lead actress from 1960s and 70s. She is credited as Ushakumari in Malayalam film indust ...

as Parvathi *

Pandari Bai Pandari Bai (1930 – 29 January 2003) was an Indian actress who worked in South Indian cinema, mostly in Kannada cinema during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She is considered Kannada cinema's first successful heroine. She has acted as both heroi ...

as Sujatha's mother *

Jayamalini Jayamalini (or Jaya Malini) is an Indian actress who has acted in more than 500 Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi movies. Career She was introduced to Tollywood in 1975 by Vittalacharya in the movie he produced, ''Aadadani Adrustam ...

as Mahesh's love interest

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja.

Release and reception

''Guru''s Tamil version was released on 18 July 1980; the Telugu version was released the day after, on 19 July. Both were critically and commercially successful. The Tamil version was also successful Sri Lanka. Kanthan of ''

Kalki Kalki ( sa, कल्कि), also called Kalkin or Karki, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is described to appear in order to end the Kali Yuga, one of the four periods in the endless cycle of exist ...

'' appreciated the performances of the cast, particularly Haasan.

Legacy

The visuals for the songs "Paranthalum Vidamatten" and "Endhan Kannil" became iconic for the "technical marvel" in the former, and Sridevi's drunken comedy in the latter. In retrospect, Haasan has been critical of the film, calling it "crap".

References

External links

* {{I. V. Sasi 1980 films 1980s action adventure films 1980s Indian superhero films 1980 multilingual films 1980s Tamil-language films 1980s Telugu-language films 1980s vigilante films Fictional vigilantes Films directed by I. V. Sasi Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Indian action adventure films Indian multilingual films Indian vigilante films Tamil remakes of Hindi films