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The Guru (film)
Encyclopedia
The Guru is a 2002 British-French-American romantic comedy film
written by Tracey Jackson and directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer
. The film centers on a dance teacher who comes to America from India
to pursue a normal career but incidentally stumbles into a brief but high-profile career as a sex guru, a career based on a philosophy he learns from a pornographic actress
.
The film stars Jimi Mistry
as the eponymous character, Heather Graham as the actress he learns from, and Marisa Tomei
, who helps him reach his guru status among her socialite
New York City
friends.
), a dance teacher, leaves his native city Delhi
, India
, to seek his fortune in the United States
. He is lured by the exaggerations of his cousin, Vijay, who has already moved
to New York City. Vijay's deception is the first of several that drive the plot.
Seeking work as an actor, the naïve Ramu unknowingly lands a role in a pornographic film. That evening he accompanies Vijay and his roommates on a catering
job at a society birthday party. When the Indian swami
hired to address the party falls into drunken oblivion, Ramu takes his place. Lacking a real philosophy, he improvises by repeating advice he had been given by Sharonna (Heather Graham), an adult film actress he met earlier. Lexi (Marisa Tomei
), the birthday girl, is so impressed that she promotes him as a New Age
sex guru to her friends.
Ramu hires Sharonna, ostensibly for advice on how to be an actor in adult films, though what he really wants is more ideas he could use in his new role as the guru of sex. A personal relationship develops between the two, though Sharonna is engaged to a firefighter who thinks she's a school teacher. Complications ensue from these and other deceptions.
, though a few scenes were filmed in Delhi
.
Locations in New York City included Times Square
, Manhattan's Chinatown
, Central Park
, Hunts Point
, Queens
, Brooklyn
, and the George Washington Bridge
. Ramu’s Broadway debut was filmed at Reverend Ike
's United Palace Theater
, while the setting for the finale was Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
-style song-and-dance numbers, including one where Ramu and Sharonna sing a version of Kya Mil Gaya from Sasural
that morphs into a version of "You're the One That I Want
" from Grease
. The song "Every Kinda People
" by Jo O'Meara
of S Club 7
fame is used in the film's end credits, and also included is "Don't Say Goodbye
" from Paulina Rubio
's Border Girl
album.
score was 47 ("mixed").
After viewing it at the Edinburgh International Film Festival
, Derek Elley, reviewing it for Variety
, called it a "generally entertaining but rather old-fashioned romantic comedy
" whose "basic plot of a naive Indian stumbling through white U.S. society...shows little advance in attitudes and humor on Blake Edwards' 1968 comedy The Party
." A BBC
review said it "stirs together Bollywood and Hollywood, satire and romance, to create an appealing masala
dish of a movie."
After its U.S. premiere, Stephen Holden
of The New York Times
called it a "nervy conceptual hybrid" that "lurch[es] between a loudmouthed sitcom
and a crude social satire" and noted that "behind its Hollywood-meets-Bollywood
banner, The Guru... is a grindingly conventional comedy that insists on tying up its subplots in pretty ribbons and bows."
Romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy films are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. One dictionary definition is "a funny movie, play, or television program about a love story that ends happily"...
written by Tracey Jackson and directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer
Daisy von Scherler Mayer
Daisy von Scherler Mayer, sometimes credited as Daisy Mayer is an American film and television director.-Biography:...
. The film centers on a dance teacher who comes to America from India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
to pursue a normal career but incidentally stumbles into a brief but high-profile career as a sex guru, a career based on a philosophy he learns from a pornographic actress
Pornographic actor
A pornographic actor/actress or a porn star is a person who appears in pornographic film. Most actors appear nude in films...
.
The film stars Jimi Mistry
Jimi Mistry
-Early life:Mistry, was born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England to an Indian Hindu father and an Irish Roman Catholic mother. He was brought up a Roman Catholic and attended St. James' Catholic High in Cheadle Hulme before his family moved to Cardiff where he attended Radyr Comprehensive School...
as the eponymous character, Heather Graham as the actress he learns from, and Marisa Tomei
Marisa Tomei
Marisa Tomei is an American stage, film and television actress. Following her work on As The World Turns, Tomei came to prominence as a supporting cast member on The Cosby Show spinoff A Different World in 1987...
, who helps him reach his guru status among her socialite
Socialite
A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
friends.
Plot
Ramu Gupta (Jimi MistryJimi Mistry
-Early life:Mistry, was born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England to an Indian Hindu father and an Irish Roman Catholic mother. He was brought up a Roman Catholic and attended St. James' Catholic High in Cheadle Hulme before his family moved to Cardiff where he attended Radyr Comprehensive School...
), a dance teacher, leaves his native city Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, to seek his fortune in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He is lured by the exaggerations of his cousin, Vijay, who has already moved
Indian American
Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestral roots lie in India. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Indigenous peoples of the Americas who are commonly referred to as American Indians.-The term: Indian:...
to New York City. Vijay's deception is the first of several that drive the plot.
Seeking work as an actor, the naïve Ramu unknowingly lands a role in a pornographic film. That evening he accompanies Vijay and his roommates on a catering
Catering
Catering is the business of providing foodservice at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, public house , or other location.-Mobile catering:A mobile caterer serves food directly from a vehicle or cart that is designed for the purpose...
job at a society birthday party. When the Indian swami
Swami
A swami sometimes abbreviated "Sw." is an ascetic or yogi who has been initiated into the religious monastic order founded by Adi Sankara, or to a religious teacher.The Oxford English Dictionary gives the etymology as...
hired to address the party falls into drunken oblivion, Ramu takes his place. Lacking a real philosophy, he improvises by repeating advice he had been given by Sharonna (Heather Graham), an adult film actress he met earlier. Lexi (Marisa Tomei
Marisa Tomei
Marisa Tomei is an American stage, film and television actress. Following her work on As The World Turns, Tomei came to prominence as a supporting cast member on The Cosby Show spinoff A Different World in 1987...
), the birthday girl, is so impressed that she promotes him as a New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
sex guru to her friends.
Ramu hires Sharonna, ostensibly for advice on how to be an actor in adult films, though what he really wants is more ideas he could use in his new role as the guru of sex. A personal relationship develops between the two, though Sharonna is engaged to a firefighter who thinks she's a school teacher. Complications ensue from these and other deceptions.
Cast
- Jimi MistryJimi Mistry-Early life:Mistry, was born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England to an Indian Hindu father and an Irish Roman Catholic mother. He was brought up a Roman Catholic and attended St. James' Catholic High in Cheadle Hulme before his family moved to Cardiff where he attended Radyr Comprehensive School...
– Ramu Gupta - Heather Graham – Sharonna
- Marisa TomeiMarisa TomeiMarisa Tomei is an American stage, film and television actress. Following her work on As The World Turns, Tomei came to prominence as a supporting cast member on The Cosby Show spinoff A Different World in 1987...
– Lexi - Michael McKeanMichael McKeanMichael John McKean is an American actor, comedian, writer, composer and musician, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Squiggy's friend, Leonard 'Lenny' Kosnowski, on the sitcom Laverne and Shirley; and for his work in the Christopher Guest ensemble films, particularly as David St...
– Dwain, a director of adult films - Christine BaranskiChristine BaranskiChristine Jane Baranski is an American stage and screen actress, and is perhaps best known for her Emmy Award winning portrayal as "Maryanne Thorpe" in the sitcom Cybill, and her Emmy nominated portrayal of "Diane Lockhart" in The Good Wife...
– Chantal, Lexi's mother - Dash MihokDash MihokDashiell "Dash" Mihok is an American actor.-Life and career:Mihok was born in New York City, New York, the son of actors Andrea and Raymond Thorne . He attended the Bronx High School of Science and was raised in Greenwich Village. While at the Bronx High School of Science, Dash played baseball as...
– Rusty, Sharonna's fiancé - Emil MarwaEmil MarwaEmil Marwa, born in 1974, is a Norwegian actor, known for his acting in films like Izzat, East Is East, and The Guru. -Awards:-Selected filmography:-External links:...
– Vijay Rao, Ramu's cousin - Ronald GuttmanRonald GuttmanRonald Guttman is a Belgian actor, theatrical producer and film producer.Guttman was born in Uccle. He has appeared in TV shows such as Lost, Lipstick Jungle, Heroes, The West Wing, and Sex and the City. He had a recurring role as Alexander Cambias, Sr...
– Edwin, Lexi's father - Malachy McCourtMalachy McCourtMalachy Gerard McCourt is an Irish-American actor, writer and politician. He was the 2006 Green Party candidate for governor in New York State, losing to the Democratic candidate Eliot Spitzer. He is the younger brother of Frank McCourt.-Personal life:Born in Brooklyn, New York, McCourt was raised...
– Father Flannigan - Sanjeev BhaskarSanjeev BhaskarSanjeev Bhaskar, OBE is a British Indian comedian, actor and broadcaster, best known for his work in the BBC Two comedy series Goodness Gracious Me and as host of The Kumars at No. 42...
– Chef - Rizwan ManjiRizwan ManjiRizwan Manji is a Indo-Canadian actor. He is chiefly notable for his role as Rajiv in the now cancelled NBC Universal TV series Outsourced....
– Party Waiter - Ajay NaiduAjay NaiduAjay Kalahastri Naidu is an American actor.Naidu was born in Evanston, Illinois He attended Evanston Township High School. As an actor, he trained with the American Repertory Theater's Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University.His first professional acting job was the film ...
– Sanjay - Anita GilletteAnita GilletteAnita Gillette is an American actress, most notable for her work on Broadway and as a celebrity guest on various game shows....
– Mrs. McGee, Rusty's mother - Pat McNamara – Mr. McGee, Rusty's father
- Dwight EwellDwight Ewell-Career:Ewell was born in Williamston, North Carolina to teenage parents. His father fought in Vietnam and served six years in the United States military while Dwight's mother took care of Dwight and his younger sister. Unhappy in her marriage, at 21 years old, Dwight's mom took the children up...
– Peaches, Sharonna's friend - Alex Khan – Young Ramu
Production
The Guru was filmed in two months, mostly on location in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, though a few scenes were filmed in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
.
Locations in New York City included Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
, Manhattan's Chinatown
Chinatown, Manhattan
Manhattan's Chinatown , home to one of the highest concentrations of Chinese people in the Western hemisphere, is located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City...
, Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
, Hunts Point
Hunts Point, Bronx
Hunts Point is a low-income neighborhood located on a peninsula in the South Bronx in New York City. It is the location of one of the largest food distribution facilities in the world. The neighborhood is part of Bronx Community Board 2. Its boundaries are the Bruckner Expressway to the west and...
, Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, and the George Washington Bridge
George Washington Bridge
The George Washington Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting the Washington Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City to Fort Lee, Bergen County, New Jersey. Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1/9 cross the river via the bridge. U.S...
. Ramu’s Broadway debut was filmed at Reverend Ike
Reverend Ike
Reverend Ike was an American minister and electronic evangelist based in New York City. He was best known for the slogan "You can't lose with the stuff I use!"-Background:...
's United Palace Theater
United Palace Theater
The United Palace Theater, originally known as Loew's 175th Street Theatre, is a church and live music venue located at 175th Street and Broadway in Washington Heights in New York City.-History:...
, while the setting for the finale was Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
Music
The film features several BollywoodBollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
-style song-and-dance numbers, including one where Ramu and Sharonna sing a version of Kya Mil Gaya from Sasural
Sasural (1961 film)
Sasural is a 1960 Hindi movie produced by L. V. Prasad and directed by T. Prakash Rao. The film stars Rajendra Kumar, B. Saroja Devi, Mehmood and Lalita Pawar. The music is by Shankar Jaikishan...
that morphs into a version of "You're the One That I Want
You're the One That I Want
"You're the One That I Want" is a song written by John Farrar for the 1978 film version of the musical Grease. It was performed by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John....
" from Grease
Grease (film)
Grease is a 1978 American musical film directed by Randal Kleiser and based on Warren Casey's and Jim Jacobs's 1971 musical of the same name about two lovers in a 1950s high school. The film stars John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, and Jeff Conaway...
. The song "Every Kinda People
Every Kinda People
"Every Kinda People" is a 1978 song originally performed by Robert Palmer in his Double Fun album. It was Palmer's first hit song in the U.S., reaching the Top 20...
" by Jo O'Meara
Jo O'Meara
Joanne Valda O'Meara is an English singer-songwriter, television personality and actress. Formerly one of the lead singers of pop group S Club, she launched a solo single after the group's split in 2003, which cut short the production of a proposed album following an appearance on Celebrity Big...
of S Club 7
S Club 7
S Club, formerly known as S Club 7, were a pop group created by former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller, consisting of members Tina Barrett, Paul Cattermole, Jon Lee, Bradley McIntosh, de facto lead singer Jo O'Meara, Hannah Spearritt and Rachel Stevens. The group rose to fame by starring in their...
fame is used in the film's end credits, and also included is "Don't Say Goodbye
Don't Say Goodbye (Si Tú Te Vas)
"Don't Say Goodbye" is a song written by Cheryl Yie and Joshua Rubin for Paulina Rubio's sixth album Border Girl . It was produced by Doug Morris, Bruce Carbone and Sal Guastella and released as the album's first single in North America and Europe .It received large promotion in countries that were...
" from Paulina Rubio
Paulina Rubio
Paulina Susana Rubio Rue is a Mexican singer and actress. Rubio achieved international stardom with her fifth studio album, Paulina...
's Border Girl
Border Girl
The album has received mostly positive reviews.Ken Micallef from Rolling Stones Magazine gave a positive review, rating the album four out of five stars, and saying "her taste for combining techno, pop and Mexican flavors quickly asserts her unique potential." Jose F...
album.
Reception
The Guru received a 58% Tomatometer rating, with 50 of 86 reviewers giving the film a "fresh" rating. Based on 30 reviews, the film's MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
score was 47 ("mixed").
After viewing it at the Edinburgh International Film Festival
Edinburgh International Film Festival
The Edinburgh International Film Festival is an annual fortnight of cinema screenings and related events taking place each June. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival...
, Derek Elley, reviewing it for Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, called it a "generally entertaining but rather old-fashioned romantic comedy
Romantic Comedy
Romantic Comedy can refer to* Romantic Comedy , a 1979 play written by Bernard Slade* Romantic Comedy , a 1983 film adapted from the play and starring Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen...
" whose "basic plot of a naive Indian stumbling through white U.S. society...shows little advance in attitudes and humor on Blake Edwards' 1968 comedy The Party
The Party (film)
The Party is a 1968 comedy film directed by Blake Edwards, starring Peter Sellers and Claudine Longet. The film has a very loose structure, and essentially serves as a series of set pieces for Sellers's improvisational comedy talents...
." A BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
review said it "stirs together Bollywood and Hollywood, satire and romance, to create an appealing masala
Masala (film genre)
Masala is a term given to films of Indian cinema that mix various genres in one film. Typically these films freely mix action, comedy, romance, and drama or melodrama. These films tend to be musicals that include songs filmed in picturesque locations...
dish of a movie."
After its U.S. premiere, Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, film critic, and poet.Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called it a "nervy conceptual hybrid" that "lurch[es] between a loudmouthed sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
and a crude social satire" and noted that "behind its Hollywood-meets-Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
banner, The Guru... is a grindingly conventional comedy that insists on tying up its subplots in pretty ribbons and bows."