MovieChat Forums > Guru (2007) Discussion > Inspired by The Aviator

Inspired by The Aviator

posted 17 years ago by digitally1
24 replies | jump to latest

The movie Guru, as I see, has lots of resemblance with 5 Academy Awards winner The Aviator starting from Mallika's club song to the impeachment scene.

Backdrop for Aviator was 1930s, similarly for Guru it was 1950s.

Abhishek :: Leonardo - Both innovative thinkers, perfectionists and sensitive.
They do not like the word "NO" as an answer. Both had a certain signature mannerisms. Leonardo turns mentally unstable when he faces failure whereas, Abhishek become partially paralyzed for turning him down by the public.

Ashwarya :: Cate Blanchett - Both passionate, strong, supportive women.

Impeachment scene at the end is almost identical in both the movies.

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I enjoyed both the movies equally though.

[–] trigger_jam 17 years ago

will you please shut up? another "inspired" conspiracy...

[–] digitally1 17 years ago

Dil pe mat le yaar... haath mein le. My review was for those people who watched the movie Aviator!

[–] gujju1990 17 years ago

I have seen movie Aviator, and Guru. I don't see too many things in common.

[–] ccphus 16 years ago

This is clearly inspired by the Aviator. There are many similiarities..
I dont see anything wrong though. I dont think that was a cheating accusation there. Clearly the court scene is straight from that movie.
But Aviator was a much better movie.. Guru was like a half hearted attempt with misplaced songs and bad script and many underdeveloped and superfluos characters and very poor direction.

[–] KS_FilmFreak 17 years ago

I just wrote this same point in my other post, I saw an uncanny resemblance in the court / impeachment scene. But except for that scene, I don't see any other resemblance.

[–] nevertrustagirl 17 years ago

this movie is a reflection Dhirubhai Ambani's life......
how in the hell can u tell tht this movie is inspired by The Aviator???
i have seen tht movie and they r not similar....

[–] millunewyork 8 years ago

Well go warch it again bruh!

The man is speaking the fact, why r u guys being emotional, I don't understand.

Guys, EVOLVE!

If a movie is inspired, so be it. Doesn't alter the greatness of Mani nor does it for Logan.

[–] Razor_2005 17 years ago

-In fact, it's also similar to Iqbal. The protagonist in Iqbal dares to dream like Guru although there talents were different. Iqbal ends in a cricket staduim and so does Guru.
-How about Lagan? Guru decides to go against the flow like Bhuvan.
-The scene where Guru is talking to the minister is inspired from Schindler's List.
-Guru is also similar to James Bond for his presence of mind.
-Actually the scene in the village with students also was inspired from several bollywood films.
-Guru's father's character bore resemblance to fathers in other bollywood movies.

I am sure you can smell sarcasm.

For god's sake don't compare Gurubhai to that eccentric pervert Howard Hughes in Aviator.

[–] jasperk2 17 years ago

mani ratnam movies over the history have always been inspired from hollywood or some other foreign movies.. even the recent movie 'ayitha ezhuthu' was a remake of "Amores Perros" a mexican movie.. mani thought no one in india would have seen a mexican movie.. but i guess he was wrong..
he later began to accept he was inspired.. so just wait.. you'll come to know which movie he has been inspired( meaning copied) from :))

[–] dur_horizon 17 years ago

ppl do some research before talking. Guru is based on the life of Dhirubhai Ambani. Just do a little research on Dhirubhai's life and you will come to know. And this info was all out in open even before the movie was released.

[–] mekeItellu 16 years ago

Bravo!! I am glad to know it is originally based of a real person.

And I never felt the Aviator was even interesting enough to watch.

Leonardo DeCaprio is nothing but a puppy, wet behind the ears!

[–] next_change 15 years ago

The movie is loosely based on the life of Howard Hughes (i.e aviator) except difference in the area of operation and his OCD.I have watched the biography of Howard Hughes and the last part of the movie is 'inspired' from his life...the part in which he is admitted to the hospital and the court hearings...same as seen in the biography

[–] Egon_Spengler 17 years ago

I doubt if you have seen both 'Ayitha Ezhuthu'/'Yuva' and 'Amores Perros'.
It was certainly not a remake. Only the non-linear narration sytle of the first scene were similar.

[–] mrane1 17 years ago

The main story is fully based on Dhirubhai's life including the characters:
Gurubhai: Dhirubhai
Sujataben: Kokilaben
Manikdas Gupta: Ramnath Goenka
Shyam Saxena: Arun Shourie
Arjaan Contractor: Nusli Wadia
Ghansham Bhai: Chamapklal Damani
All the major incidents in Gurubhais character were things that happened in Dhirubhais life albeit with minor changes... Here are some
1) The fathers were school teachers who were opposed to starting own business
2) Both go outside India for job... Dhirubhai went to Yemen... Gurubhai goes to Turkey.
3) Dhirubhai worked for A. Besse and Co which distributed Shell oil where he worked at the filing station at Yemen port. Gurubhai works at Burma shell doing similar work.
4) Both briefly ventured into spices business.
5) Both married for a dowry of Rs 15000 which was used as the seed capital for their business
6) Both had difficulties getting licence for conducting business
7) Both decide on textile as their business.
8) Entire business war between Wadia and Dhirubhai is similar to the war between Contractor and Gurubhai
9) Role of press with Ramnath Goenka against Dhirubhai and Manikdas Gupta against Gurubhai initially started as friendship. I still remember the newspapers back in the 80's... Times used to publish articles against Wadia and Express used to publish article against Ambani... It was ridiculous!
10) Both play dirty.
11) Cult figure with stock holders.
12) Dhirubhai used to host his shareholder meetings in stadiums... smae as in the movie
13) Both had long list of litigations against them and somehow managed to escape wwithout much damage (Dhirubhai played dirty and got out which was ofcourse altered in the movie).
14) Both were against licence raj.
15) Dhirubhai has 2 sons.. Gurubhai has 2 daughters
16) Both are extremely ambitious and wanted to create the worlds largest company. Incidentally, if Dhirubhai had been alive today he would have been richer than Bill Gates by a margin of $30 Billion! Combined net worth of his his 2 sons after spiliting the companies is $92 Billion. To give another perspective... it is always said that if Sam Walton (owner of Walmart) was alive today he would be the worlds richest man. The combined networth of his 5 successors is about $70 Billion, still a hefty $22 Billion short of Dhirubhai!

[–] exinator 17 years ago

why do people take things sooooo personally? If a movie is inspired, accept it and move on. You people get so annoyed but i agree that it is inspired from the aviator. The stories of both the movies are totally different but a lot of points were noted down from the aviator while filming Guru and quite honestly, what's wrong with that? Give credit to those that deserve it instead of crying it out loud. Guru was based on Dhirubhai Ambani's life but a lot of facts were fictionalized and vice-versa. What the poster means is that Mani borrowed a lot of characteristic and flavour from The Aviator, I agree to it.

[–] sashamenon 16 years ago

dumbass...the aviator was based on howard hughes...who had a mental disorder he suffered from OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder)...where as guru was based on dhirubai ambani's life...they had nothing in common.."perfectionist" is a word I cant beleive u used to compare both the characters as one was always rich and mentally ill and the other had a passion and a desire...it just shows your limited perspective of the situation...

[–] BanduDandu 16 years ago

being inspired by the concept is different from plagiarism! He was inspired by the way the 3 stories in Amores Perros was told...thats about it...the 3 stories and characters in his film Yuva ('ayitha ezhuthu' ) was totally different! Directors always look to each other for inspiration and influence in style, storytelling technique etc...thats not wrong at all!

[–] sharjeel-anis 16 years ago

u are soo rite...i got the same feelin after watchin the impeachment scene....

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Bengali_Princess 16 years ago

I'm pretty sure it's not inspired by any film other than being loosely based on the life of Dhirubhai Ambani

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[–] big_malique 15 years ago

No the movie Guru is inspired by scarface.
it's a ordinary "from rags to riches" type of movie. I'm being sarcastic.

Come on man, why does every single bit of Indian cinema that is worth mentioning have to be a copy of something Hollywood has already done.

I think Mani Ratnam has done great justice do the script and same goes for Abishek whom I've started admiring after I've seen this movie.

Plus what great music by Rahman saab!!!