• Home
• /
• Entertainment

Is Guru on the life of Dhirubhai Ambani?

Mani Ratnam's film Guru is based on a business family in Mumbai and traces the family's movement through a few years in their lives. But the media glare in Mumbai was a bit too high for Bachchan and Ash to shoot there together as it would have fuelled more tales about their love affair.

And hence the two requested 'Manisir' to shift his location to Chennai. Abhishek had earlier asked another film of his Dhoom 2 with Aishwarya Rai again to be pushed to Brazil.

Art director Samir Chanda too had a job on his hand. He had to create trams on the road, buildings, people and the very milieu projecting the allure 'of the 1950s'.

Joining Abhishek and Aishwarya were Madhavan and Vidya Balan in the lead roles as well compelling wags to state that the film is indeed on the life of Dhirubhai Ambani. The Ambanis are people close to the Bachchan family. But as usual, people connected to the film are tightlipped about the movie, fearing the wrath of Manisir, lest they speak anything about the movie before its release. We were witness to the sets of the film when we visited the YMCA grounds at Chennai where the massive vista erected expressly for this purpose stunned us with its lifelike presence. Old world roads, costumes and a feel of the era gone by have been created for the film. Many of the unit members were stunned when they reached the location, as they were not aware of the magnitude of the sets. Only Abhishek Bachchan who is billed to be the next big superstar after Shah Rukh Khan knew about the largeness of the film, which is set before the 1960s. A small portion of the shooting remains to be canned.

Incidentally Dhirubhai came to Mumbai in 1959 with just Rs500 in his pocket. Abhishek's character in the film starts in the year 1959, when he is 20 years old and his son has been born. Strangley Anil Ambani too was born in 1959. The film traces his life till he is 65 years old. The older Abhishek Bachchan in the film has been characterised as a plump man for which the special make-up takes close to four hours. Industry experts say that Guru will certainly be a milestone character for Abhishek Bachchan, and his value in the industry will only skyrocket.