Latest / Breakdown Besties | Bollywood Screenwriting Podcast / E09: Guru Breakdown
Transcript
- Breakdown Besties Podcast: Hi again bestie, how's it going? For our next episode we're breaking down another Abhishek Bachchan film and it also has Vidya Bhalan like we did in Guru and we have with them Amitabh Bachchan ⁓ I'm gonna put the guessing to end Next week we're breaking down Pa! So see you next Thursday Ananya: Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of the Breakdown Besties Podcast. I'm Ananya. Akshay: I'm Akshay. Ananya: And we are your breakdown besties. Together we have about 14 years of experience writing for shows like Mismatched, Wedding.com, Ishq in the Air, Grahan, Rana Naidu, Inside Edge and a host of other things which have gotten stuck in development hell. But will see the light of day one the Breakdown Besties podcast, we break down the techniques and the tips that make our iconic Bollywood movies, well, iconic. We analyze all the craft, all the tricks, all the things that were used on the page to make the movie come alive on the screen. We go into breaking down scenes, the logline, the hero's journey, theme, plot, everything else. This is a screenwriting classroom experience. delivered to you film school style. We're doing this for ourselves because we never got to go to film school and we're doing it for you because hey, it just might be helpful. So come along for the ride. And today the film that we will be analyzing is a 2007 favourite, audience favourite written by Mani Ratnam and dialogues by Vijay Krishna Acharya. It is Guru. The movie with the most phenomenal soundtrack ever. Just did not like fast forward through that which I do through every almost Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: same sounding song with Varun Dhawan and Ananya Pandey and all the girls who I couldn't pick out of a line up, no offence to them, they're all great looking, it's just everything looks the same, everything feels the same, like everything sounds the same nowadays. Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's what they say, you Zarafication of culture has happened. So yeah, essentially that. Ananya: Exactly, yeah. Basically, yeah, essentially that. So, Guru is the story of, as Wikipedia says, Dhirubhai Ambani ⁓ or this film, Guru Krant. ⁓ And film follows story of his humble beginnings in a village Gujarat, how he goes abroad to work before he finally comes back. to India and decides to move to Bombay to build his fortunes. And that is really the story that this film is taking us on. That's the journey. It's nothing more than that, right? But of course, it's never just that. So simple. But it's simple because all the mechanisms underneath are just working so well for the film. And ⁓ that's what we're going to break down now to see how what's on the page. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: ends up being on the screen or how what's on the screen begins with being on the page. Akshay: Both are correct. It's active voice versus passive voice. It's that song, that dabang song-- tere mast mast do nain, mere dil ka le gaye chain. And the next line is "mere dil ka le gaye chain, tere mast mast do nain." Ananya: ⁓ cause and effect remains the same. In what I said, the cause and effect doesn't stay the same because I don't know, maybe I don't know, I over thought that. Never mind, this is not an English class. So, this is a screenwriting class. So, without further ado, despite the much ado that we have done, we shall get into the most essential building block of our screenplay, the most important technique, the log line. Okay, so if this is your first episode, your first time with us, we want to tell you about the log line and how we define it and what the most important elements are. The log line is your entire film summarized in one line. It is your guiding light. It tells you exactly what elements need to be there to make the movie successful. Every scene, every sequence, sometimes even pieces of dialogue. have to mimic what the log line is trying to do and achieve it. A successful log line contains four important elements. Goal, conflict, flaw and stakes. What are these elements now? The goal. The goal is the reason the movie is being made. It's the journey we're following our character on. Without them, there is no story to go. The characters won't achieve anything. So you need the goal. Then, you need to have the flaw because if your character is perfect there's no character arc and the movie is boring or even if they're very boring right or even if there ⁓ flaw you either have to have a block or a wound, something that will come in the character's way that will stop them something that comes from within Akshay: Very boring, yeah. Hmm. Something will have to overcome right essentially yeah. ⁓ Ananya: exactly in order to achieve their goal. But the real goal is actually overcoming this flaw. That's the need. Then you have the conflict, which is the force which attacks this flaw of your character and creates a story engine. You know that your character is going to constantly be coming up against this conflict, against this antagonist and as they fight them, we take the story forward. Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: And then you have the stakes. The stakes are what the character will lose should they not achieve their goal. You can't just ⁓ lose the goal because you didn't have it in the first place. You have to lose a little something something that's driving you to achieve this. And those are your stakes, right? Akshay: Right. Ananya: Perfect. So can I read out the log line I have? When an ambitious and sharp villager decides to come to Bombay to make his fortunes, he must contend with the business hegemony of the generationally wealthy or lose his livelihood. Akshay: Yeah. Yeah, more or less it's there. I just feel the stake in a film like this is so intangible. It's like in this case, it's not about he will lose his livelihood. He will lose the way he wanted to live his life or his life. And that's the grief. Ananya: Hmm. through his vision for his life. Akshay: in itself right like in some way like you know they say the thing the life you couldn't leave you to grieve for that so that's kind of a the stake would have been this ⁓ but again to put that in a log line it's just almost unnecessary at that point Ananya: Hmm. Yeah. Sure. Sure. Yeah, it's not tangible, right? I think that's the thing. So it's hard to kind of sell it. But yeah, yeah, I see what you mean though. He will lose all the belief he had in himself or you know, like his ambition, that sort of thing. Akshay: Huh. Huh. Huh. yeah and i think it's hard to establish like the stake is a slightly hard to establish in a biopic film of sorts like you know because our lives are generally not written as movies, right? Hence I feel like very few biopics are coherent. what in the sense that generally what they make a biopic is like from the childhood to his death show everything, right? Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: The best biopics are sort of like they capture one time frame or some like particular so that gives you the stake like Let's say so so person was the peak of their life How do they deal because then they have the they can fall it fall down so that could be the stake But in a film like this, it's not I don't think so ⁓ Ananya: Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Correct, correct, yeah, yeah, for sure, yeah. But the other elements, so we know that the stakes are somewhat vague over here. The goal is to make his fortunes. ⁓ The block is that he's a villager, I mean, and by villager I mean, unpolished, unprivileged, you know, all of that. And the conflict is... Akshay: Huh. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: old money, the generationally wealthy. They are the antagonists, the driving force in this film, right, of conflict. Okay. So that is our logline, I believe. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Yeah. Hmm. Yeah, I think so. I think it summarized it quite well, I think. Ananya: Great, great. Okay, so let's get into the hero's journey. Okay, so what is the hero's journey? The hero's journey is a storytelling structure. One that tells us what beats need to be hit at what particular moments in the film so that your audience is getting an emotional hit throughout the story at given points in time. If your story is weak in some ways, which may or may not be the case, This structural spine of the hero's journey will ensure that your audience is coming with you on your hero's journey. let's get into the hero's journey of ⁓ Guru and this essentially the hero's journey mapped across Guru's life. So, what begins with his ordinary world? Now, I believe his ordinary world. What is the ordinary world? The ordinary world are the hero's circumstances before he decides to go on this journey. who he is, where he lives, know, essentially the five W's. Who, where, what, why, how is not a W, when. Yes. Yeah. You look so proud of yourself. Akshay: Hmm. When? I'm very I'm happy. ⁓ These are small joys life. ⁓ Ananya: So, you establish these five W's of your setting, you give context to the audience. So, in our ordinary world, we see that Guru is, ⁓ a fairly long sequence. He's first maths professor's in the village who has failed his, seems like class 10th or 12th exams ⁓ and decides and his dad is ⁓ Akshay: Hmm. ⁓ Ananya: angry so he goes to Turkey to work much to his dad's chagrin and finds a job there. He does really well at the job. We establish many many things about his character which we can come to and we go into like the character development techniques and he comes back to ⁓ India. Would you? Akshay: Huh. Yeah, he even makes a choice that he did get, he rose up the ranks there. He was getting promotion and he decides that he wants to do something of his own. He wants to make his own business. ⁓ And in a regular film, I feel like this would be like, say, a call to action where an opportunity has come to him. But I feel in a film like this, where you already know that he's going to be a businessman. It's not something different. It's not Ananya: Yeah. business. Yeah. Akshay: I think it's part of his regular life like it's definitely... No? Ananya: Okay, no, I'm curious. Tell me why you think so. Akshay: because it wasn't a moment like nothing really led to him to decide that this is I want to do this like if let's say if somebody humiliated him that ⁓ this is what you'll be after working under me for eight ten years or you if he was denied a promotion and he realizes that ⁓ you know what I have to do a business now of my own but Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: It just came such matter of fact in the film. Maybe I missed something. I don't know if there was some inciting thing to this. But it just felt like this is who he is. He is like he has some sort of a knack. Ananya: So, you wouldn't say that the moment when he decides ki business karna hai is a call to action. Akshay: No, I don't think so. Ananya: Okay, so let's get into call to action then. ⁓ to action is when your hero gets an invitation to join the new world. Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: He may refuse this call, he may accept this call. Usually this call does come from the outside. And I believed in this film that this was a call that came from the inside. Like him deciding that I want to do, it's time to do a business is the call to action. And I think the refusal of the call doesn't come from him. It comes from his father. Akshay: Hmm hmm yeah hmm hmm Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Yeah. Ananya: who says that you will not make any money in your life, you are a fool to have quit your job and come back to India and to want to go to Bombay and make your fortunes and you will never be worth anything, right. So, where are you and I differing on the call to action here? Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Yeah, yeah. I, for this film, I noticed one thing that the call to action and refusal sort of go, they come multiple times. It's not one moment that he has decided that I'm doing this and there is not one refusal. It's like one call, one refusal, one call, one refusal, one call. They all keep like escalating until like that one refusal to call moment happens. Ananya: Hmm. Yeah. Akshay: it's his ⁓ first actually you're right it starts in Turkey when like he says I have to go and there's this manager at Turkey he says ⁓ you will not be able to do anything then he comes back to his town in Gujarat he tells his dad his dad tells him no and then ⁓ even like the stockbroker guy when he comes to Bombay he says no ⁓ Ananya: Yeah. That is after he has crossed the threshold there. So I think you're going too ahead now. Okay. And then I have the meeting the mentor beat, which is where he meets his best friend, ⁓ Jignesh, whose dad is a money lender. Akshay: ⁓ okay. So maybe like, ⁓ my cross and attach on something else. Okay, we'll talk about that. Yeah. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: he says we'll partners in business but his dad is not lending money anymore. He says that he's saving all his money to get my sister married off to pay his dowry. So if you marry my sister, like, ⁓ no, doesn't say that. ⁓ Abhishek character, Guru says that, fine, I'll marry your sister. And he's like, I'm ready for marriage anyway and I'll take it for, ⁓ as to start my business. ⁓ Akshay: Fuck. Hmm... Hmm... Hmm. Hmm. Huh. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: And then he goes, he speaks to to-be father-in-law. The to-be father-in-law said, ⁓ your dad said you're a fool for wanting to like go into business. You will definitely make a profit because your dad knows nothing about money and gives him his daughter who is Aishwarya Rai, his hand in marriage. And I think crossing the threshold was a very obvious crossing the threshold for me. Akshay: Hmm. ⁓ Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: when they both get into, everyone gets into the train, the three of them, Jignesh, Aishwarya Rai's character, Sujata and Guru get into the train and go to Bombay. Akshay: ⁓ I thought I made it a little too ahead actually I also thought him coming to Bombay wasn't feeling monumental to me like again like that's his trajectory already he's decided it's not something he thought right now that he's going to go to Mumbai like like as a character he had planned something that a little bit ahead in his mind so i actually felt the refusal keeps coming till he actually reaches Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: Arzan contractors this thing ⁓ where he's told that sure I'll you'll get the letter of entry into the club ⁓ but he doesn't get it Ananya: But then that by that logic even that's a refusal. Akshay: Yeah, that's what I was saying. all of that until this moment becomes call to action and refusal, like a mixture of one big sequence. And to me, I thought the meeting of mentor was Mithun Chakraborty's character. Ananya: Hmm. I agree with you in the sense that he is the mentor character. I don't think from a structural point of view he is a mentor. We have had this discussion before in one of the episodes I think in Badmaash Company ⁓ He is definitely the mentor and he plays another role also which I will go into in the character ⁓ Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. ⁓ I know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And because I thought the more monumental moment was of crossing the threshold for me, it felt like the moment where he knows the market got shut because he spoke badly to the president of that association and he sort of puts all the sacks of goods somebody's in the IAS officer's house. and that sort of establishes his ⁓ power in the place. I thought that was crossing the threshold in a sense, is very true to his character that he is going to do these like difficult, almost grey things to get really what he wants. Like it was almost like building off, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this, and ⁓ is what I'm going to do. So to me in my... Ananya: Power. Hmm. Akshay: where how I see it is that but that's the thing about movies like these Ananya: Hmm. Yeah, because for me all of this comes in tests, allies and enemies that they are learning what the new world is about. He's learning that the new world is not going to let him in as easily as he thought it is. So, he's learning that these are the ways I will have to enter the new world. He's learning about himself, what kinds of tricks he's going to play in this new world. So, it's that discovery process. ⁓ Akshay: Huh. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm Ananya: which for me is tests allies and enemies and that goes all the way from ⁓ getting into the Traders Union, getting rejected, getting the place shut, doing things he shouldn't do to get it opened again, meeting the character of the editor-in-chief of Mathura Das who becomes his mentor going on. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: of spreading, of writing an article, getting Arzhan contractor fired. Arzhan contractor is a representative of old money, generational wealth, is controlling everything. It's, what else? They become successful, they decide to open a factory. He and Sujata have a falling out. All of that, until they go to, there he goes, he wins her back. Great song, Tere Bina, ⁓ my god, I loved it so much. Akshay: Huh. Hmm. Yeah and also so well shot like you know the thing with all the shadows and stuff they did it was so nice Ananya: so good here and so well. So good. And goes and brings her back, they lay the foundation stone of their first ⁓ They start to have an IPO, they start doing really ⁓ ⁓ then they go to a wedding, they're invited to Arzan contractor's daughter's wedding and he tries to buy Guru out. He says everyone has a price. And that is the final beat of Tests, Allies and Enemies for ⁓ Akshay: Fully agree, that's exactly what I've written. Finally, we got the same mind. Ananya: Yeah, think these are the important beats where you need to align, ⁓ these kind of, especially approach to the innermost cave and ordeal. I think these are the two most, ⁓ you have, because they build the most amount of, what do call them, tension and action and all of that. Like even if you look at it, third act, like yeah, Akshay: Huh, yeah. Yeah. with for third act yeah so like yeah they say you know like act two is the most difficult because act one is so much set off set up ⁓ and ⁓ act three is the payoff so is easy but the stuff in this middle is so hard to crack but the fact that we both align on that these are the beats for at least these three things and like Ananya: Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Akshay: that's important so you know this is like your centerpiece of the film. Ananya: And approach to the innermost cave is wiping out Arzhan contractors name, his reputation, going all out in the press, buying all the newspapers that they can calling all the editors saying, ⁓ ruin his reputation, essentially delivering a big blow to ⁓ old money and fuck you. Right. Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. and also ⁓ it's another level higher than his character we've seen before so far like this is properly the moment when you realize Gurukant Desai is not going to stop by hook or by crook he is gonna do anything possible to like reach where he wants to reach Ananya: Yeah. Yep, yep, exactly, for sure. And then you have the ordeal, where they have to deal with the consequences of approaching the innermost cave, right? Of taking on the dragon in the cave. And over here, it is him getting into a war with his own mentor, with his own father figure Mathura Das, the editor-in-chief of the Independent of Swatantra Samachar. Akshay: Hmm, yeah. Hmm. Ananya: ⁓ which is, which and his biggest principle, Mathura Das's biggest principle is telling the truth. And he hates the fact that Guru bought up his newspaper in his absence and had them publish libel, essentially slander against the contractors. And now he gets in a journalist who is R. Madhavan's character to go after guru throughout the film, throughout the next one third of the film and take him down. It becomes a, it turns into a war between the father figure and the son, right? And this escalates consecutively all the way until he has to go meet a minister to get a license for petrochemicals, right? And the reward is finally opening, getting the petrochemicals license. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Okay, I'm glad we're aligned on that. So the way back is Madhavan's character going into the factory. him interrogating one of his factory managers, the factory manager blurting out the truth about all the underhanded dealings, all of it coming out in the press, ⁓ the shareholders realizing he is a thief, the factory manager trying to commit suicide, Gurukant getting a paralytic attack and finally getting summons for a commission where his case is going to be heard, right. And even attending the commission, Akshay: Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: trials, the meetings, whatever they are, the questioning, the panel, all of that, the way back. until he gives a speech, ⁓ one that ⁓ gets everyone revved up, the power of the common man, how rich people don't like it, that... Akshay: Yeah. it all falls under that yeah yeah Ananya: we now have power that what they have made in 150 years we made in 10 years that is his resurrection and he yeah. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: ⁓ And then have the return with the elixir, which is the closing image of the film, where he is now ⁓ in ⁓ cricket holding an AGM and saying, let's go even bigger. ⁓ Akshay: Yeah and the bigger life we are all seeing today as per Wikipedia. Ananya: As per Wikipedia, no? ⁓ Yeah, So that is our hero's journey, right? I think now what I really want to get into, because I think this is big part of the film, is the character techniques. Right? ⁓ And go into building Guru's character. Because ⁓ at no Akshay: Hmm, yeah. Okay. Ananya: at no point do they allow you to lose empathy for him. There is not a moment when you're on this character, where this character is on your bad side. And I want to talk about the first 10 minutes of this film and the techniques they have used to build empathy. And then I'll go into more of them later, very specific moments. Okay? The first is the opening image where he says, Sapne Mat Dekho. Akshay: Yeah, yeah. Hmm, yeah. ⁓ Yeah. Okay. Hmm. Hmm. Huh. Ananya: Sapne kabhi poore nahi hote, mere bapu ne kaha lekin maine sapna dekha. The first lines of the film. Immediately established as a rebel. You like a rebel character. They're an underdog. You don't know if they're going to achieve instant empathy. One point there. Then, he's failed his exams but he's got a job. He finds a solution. He's ambitious. He wants to go and make money. We like ambitious character. There, done. He has a fractured relationship with his dad. Something everyone relates to. Goes. Take one more point for him. Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: Despite having a fractured relationship with his dad, he is always happy as a character. You never see him lose faith in himself. Nothing. He's not uptight. He goes to a dance bar in Turkey. All of that. He's fun. Even the other characters say when he's leaving that, you know, that you're going, you'll to So he's not even like an uptight workaholic. He is sharp. They play the game with like the scammers on the streets of Turkey where if he gets under which cup, there's the ball. Akshay: Huh. Hmm. Hmm. Huh. Hmm. Ananya: He wins that twice in a row. And this is just in the first 10 minutes of the film. All these techniques to build character, like relationships that we relate to, ambition, being the underdog, being smart, that's something we admire, being fun, that's something we like and we relate to, all used, all of them. And if you notice, Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: All the times in the film they allude to like later on in the newspaper that he's bribed someone, he's done this, he's done that. Not once do you see him do anything that is categorically wrong. You know, like you see him playing in the grey a little bit and they play those things with a lot of fun. Like he's delivering bales of polyester to the IAS officer's house. That still falls in the category of fun. But do you see him outright give someone a bribe? Akshay: Hmm. Yeah. Hmm. Hmm. ⁓ Hmm. Ananya: Do see him outright like export things, those empty cartons with limestone which Madhavan's character uncovers? No. You never see it from his eyes. You only let it go as a reveal. So you can't build any... You're always on your character's side. Like always. ⁓ Akshay: Huh. Huh. Hmm. Yeah. Yeah, except for one time we see him do like something almost like a blackmail of sorts is I think with the minister when and which makes total sense because after that is the downfall. So yeah. Ananya: Yeah. downfall exactly yeah yeah until then at every moment you are on this character's side. So, what I do think though is that I will argue for and against this point that I making. What they have done is sacrificed some character depth. Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Hmm. Ananya: This character is very, he is very smart and sharp and all of that, but he is superficial. You never see another layer to him. And what is a layer? What do I mean by a character trait versus character depth? Character trait is, okay, I am fun, I am ambitious, I am sharp, all of that. But a character depth is having two traits which are almost, almost being the keyword opposite of each other. Akshay: Hello. Hmm. so what you're saying is essentially would be amazing if we had a moment like he is so out there he's strong he's bold but that one moment of like can I even do this like that would have been really ⁓ self-doubt or just feeling nervous or is there a preparation phase which goes behind it yeah I know what you mean hmm that's so interesting I never thought about that ⁓ Ananya: Exactly. That's now a close second. Yeah. Yeah, so this, but I will also argue like I said against what I am saying, which is the tone of the film. Now, the tone of the film is until you have I think almost the last, the third act, the share or the suicide attempt, the paralytic attack, all of that, until that point it's all very happy. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: everything is treated almost like a game, like a puzzle piece. They do not go into anything heavy, dark and sad. And I think if Guru, the character we are so deeply, whose story, whose journey is intertwined with our viewing experience, if we were to give him that moment of down, we would also feel down with him. And I think they very deliberately didn't want to do that as a tonal choice. They wanted... Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Huh. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: to be a fast film because they've used a lot of scenes that are repetitive which we'll get into when we talk about scenes. But for you to go through them fast, to go along for the ride, they don't want to take you down and make you sit with any emotion. Akshay: Hmm. yeah yeah hmm that's very true i i felt that yes we never see him question do questionable things but it's always alluded and but i've noticed this this sort of like crazy drive movies you know what i have realized what they do to like sort of build so much empathy of course all the plot points you mentioned is absolutely bang on but Two things I've realized is that they do very very consciously is that one is that they have to have their heart on the sleeve. You know in the sense that he is very he's very respectful towards Mithun Chakraborty's character. He is extremely loving to his wife. He has that Mithun Chakraborty's granddaughter Vidya Balan's character. He has a good relationship with her. Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: ⁓ Like he feels so strongly for the people he's working with. ⁓ So all that really falls into this that he wears his heart on his sleeve. Ananya: ⁓ Akshay: ⁓ and the second trait I've realized in these sort of like overconfident narcissistic almost characters is that they use really charm and humor they really keep amping up throughout the film so we mean we know he has the gift of the gab in this movie right like whether it's talking to say ⁓ mithun's character or even the way he convinces ashwarya like it's so easy to him like even the his final speech is so like well thought of well crafted like and time to time it's also funny you know Ananya: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Akshay: I think they make your character very redeemable. Almost you root for them a lot. So that was also an interesting technique which I thought ⁓ it's common across all these kind of like characters. ⁓ Ananya: Yeah, for sure. Yeah, very cool. Nice. Okay. Now, contrary to what I said about depth, in Guru's character, I think Aishwarya Rai's character, they have shown depth. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. She was so good. Like her character was so good. Yeah. Ananya: So good, so good, yeah. Like we start with her introduction which is a song, Barsore Megha Megha. And throughout the song you only see her being playful, nothing else. She is dancing in the rain, she is herding goats, she is riding a bullock cart, she is playing with kids, she is, you know, on a swing, all of those things, right? And you think she is ⁓ just this frivolous, gaon ki ladki. Then you realize, Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: that she's a rebel too. She is running away from home. So you realize there is another layer to her. She's not frivolous. She's actually a deep thinker. She makes decisions for herself. She wants freedom. And then when she gets abandoned by the guy she was going to run away with, she doesn't lose her nerve and say, I'm going back to the village. It's like I made this decision. I'm a stick to my guns, even though I'm very scared. Akshay: Hmm. ⁓ huh. Alright. Ananya: Even though I am very scared, I choose to be brave. That is more depth. Like, that's what I love about Aishwarya's character in this. This is just in her introduction. They have established so much complexity through the action she takes. Akshay: Bye. Hmm. Yeah, yeah. Ananya: And character I want to talk about, not from a character building point of view, but from a role point of view, is Mathura Das's the editor-in-chief of The Independent of Swatantra Samachar. ⁓ Sure, his character is a mentor, that's important, but I think I want to talk about the role he plays almost structurally. ⁓ When we are in village, we have a literal father character. Akshay: Huh. Huh. Hmm. Ananya: He is kind of our antagonist. The man that while Guru doesn't want to actively, he doesn't want to give him what the man wants, but he wants to please him. He wants his father's love and appreciation, right? Akshay: Hmm. ⁓ hmm. Ananya: Now, when we take him out of the village, that force goes away. We can't keep cutting back to the village. There is no sense. So the writers also have to bring in another character. Who will play that same role? Akshay: Hmm. Huh. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: from trope point of view in this film and that's where Mathura Das's character comes in. He's an instant father figure. He's also very principled. He also has his rules. His equivalent of it is you will not lie. That is his primary principle. Like for that, for the father character, it's like be a, you know, man of like who lives a normal life. Akshay: Hmm. Huh. Huh. Ananya: education, get a job. Here it's you will not lie and he's trying to meet those principles every time but he does fail and he does disappoint him. There is always a man whose ideals he needs to meet and that is the role this character plays I think here. So the technique here is essentially that you cannot take away an antagonist like this or whatever you want to call this character right. So if you're moving away physically Akshay: Huh. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: What is the replacement to continue this engine forward? How do you keep providing the same sort of conflict and drive? Akshay: Hmm. Yeah. Ananya: So yeah, anything else on character? Akshay: I have something on Mathura Das's character only but I'm going to bring that up in the world building part of the section. Ananya: Cool, let's go on to world then. Bring it on. Akshay: Okay, so now because we're talking about this character only, what there's something real about the way this I thought this relationship was shown about ⁓ Guru's relationship with this father slash mentor figure of Mathura Das when you're at that stage where you're so big like in this case both the characters are sort of like front-facing for the entire country right like he is this big corporation like where he was 30 lakh people he's answerable to and Mathura Das's character runs the press right But there's also a personal relationship that you have with the same set of people. And that's something nobody sees, you know, and I thought that that ⁓ Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: think they did very nicely with Mathura Das's character in terms of the world, I thought. The duality of public life versus personal life is that something which this film sort of like ⁓ a little bit meanders on in some way. Ananya: Hmm. Yeah. something in this world is about showing the ⁓ duality public and private life which is very true. Akshay: Huh. Ananya: the other things I found very true the world is in the beginning of film especially when he's in Turkey and he doesn't speak any English and he has a translator, I think that is solid. I think ⁓ when he says that I will marry her for the dowry, ⁓ I like this on two Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: A, it's not setting it up to be a romantic relationship and then you get a very romantic relationship. So it's like, you you start at a contradiction and then you build from it. So which is all how good relationships' are. But aside from that, from a world point of view, that's just true to the world, right? Back in the age in which they're operating and the not just the time, but the location of village, Gujarat, it's like, yeah, I have to get married. Akshay: Hmm. Yeah. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: and I'll do this for the dowry because it helps my business. I don't care who the girl is. And even Aishwarya, she brings this up later when they have their fight where she says, I thought you married me to save my reputation because I was someone who ran away and then got ghosted, who got stood up. Even she didn't bring up love there. Love was something that happened to happen. So that is very true to the world and time too. Akshay: Huh. Huh. Hmm. Yeah. Mmm. Ananya: ⁓ I also really liked seeing the trading bullpens of the cloth market, very true to the world, right? The AGMs being held physically and ⁓ are very true to the world. And what I really liked about these AGMs is they built on it. The first was outdoors in a smaller place, then it was at Marine Drive, then at the end it's in the stadium. So they've shown the growth visually of the world. Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: And these were literally places where AGMs were held, Like stadium, all of that. And there's one thing which ⁓ is about the world, which I'll talk about, is in Abhishek and Aishwarya's relationship, Sujata and Guru. And I'm going to talk about the train, because they've used that as a motif. But I'm first going to talk about it here from a world point of view. Then we can talk about it later in a genre tropes point of view. ⁓ Akshay: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Huh. Huh. Ananya: So whenever you see Sujata and Guru's character in a house, they are usually in a house which has space. Usually it's a lot of empty space, but the two of them are always playing hide and seek to not get caught. But then they're put in a train and trains are by default really crowded spaces. And then they're squeezed together for no fault of their own. And that's when they have their moments of like... Akshay: Huh. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: looking at each other, stealing glances etc. And I thought this was very true to the world because in the world in which they exist, in your house which would have more space, they can't be close. But in public where you are pushed together, that's when you can be and that's when it's a blessing in disguise. So they've used the worlds in which the characters exist very well here. Akshay: Yeah. Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Hmm, very nicely observed, very cool. Ananya: Thanks, yeah, thanks. Yeah, so that's what I have on world. Akshay: Hmm hmm. Ananya: And then do you want to go into genre tropes? Mostly because I have written down here what next. Akshay: Yeah, is generally in a movie like this, spans like, say, decades, you know, in the childhood, there is that one moment in the early you see in which the character was really unique which shows the nature of his whack mind, his acumen and it's not a trigger in the story like that's a different thing you see like sort of the early roots and colors of what the journey would become so it's that moment with the in Turkey when they're playing ⁓ It's the cup and ball thing happening where you immediately see like like before that it was all big calls that I've failed my exam I'm going to Turkey I'm working here but this is that one character moment where he's like ⁓ can see like I can do I can get the business done better than everybody here, you know, ⁓ again It's not a trigger but it's something which is very common in a lot of genre like this genre film like I remember life of pie had the sequence where you know ⁓ like the entire thing about the character Pi was that he was very weird and very quirky in his own way so we have this scene in the childhood where he's writing the number Pi up till like thousand decimal numbers again very inconsequential to plot but it's that just one more extra layering of sorts in to see what this character was like in their childhood and it happens in like lots of like different films Ananya: Why do you think they put that in there? Like what's the idea? Like why is this a genre trope? Akshay: I feel like it shouldn't seem to the audience that this character suddenly became this. Like it's almost like this character was always supposed to be a certain way. Ananya: Yeah, their ordinary life is something weird and quirky. That's why we are watching this story. Akshay: The other genre trope actually comes very fast after this is that you know in Turkey he's on the trading floor of sorts ⁓ which is the younger actor playing Gurud. The camera turns to the public when you come back to character now it's the aged actor you know and it's something which you write in the script that this is the moment your characters now become like the older character and you see this trope in like movies like we saw one in Koi Mil Gaya like he hits the ball it's the younger Rohit but he hits the ball again it's the older Rohit you know ⁓ this is a very true genre trope of like how do you like ⁓ of ⁓ Ananya: cream. Yeah. Yeah. image. Akshay: aged actor essentially Ananya: Yeah. Nice. Then I want to bring in rom-com genre tropes because we have the B plot which is the romance plot between Aishwarya and ⁓ Abhishek. Now ⁓ in the first I want to bring up the meat cute. Yeah, so Aishwarya is ghosted by her lover, she gets onto the train anyway and she sits on a seat that she thinks is empty except that she has sat on Abhishek's legs. Akshay: Hmm. meat killed. Yeah. Ananya: and instantly a squabble starts over there and then she starts crying but he starts giving her unsolicited advice but even that unsolicited advice she doesn't take. So there is constant conflict, banter, she's going to, she wants to crumple a letter from her lover and throw it but he's like throw it when the train stops because it won't come back in with the wind and she's like dude shut the fuck up like... Yeah. Akshay: You ⁓ Oh, she feels like she doesn't stop talking. Ananya: Yeah. And why is this a genre trope is because movies are built on going on a journey, right? Aishwarya and Abhishek's arc only to begin with. You don't expect romance because of the time and all of that. over here, you need to see more conflict so that the romance actually lands. Akshay: ⁓ Yeah. Yeah Yeah Ananya: So, this is why even in a rom-com you have to have them get off on the bad foot so that you're starting from negative to be able to go into the high numbers and have the high number have impact. And the next is their own space, the train, coming back to that. So, they meet on the train. Then the ⁓ first time they actually start falling in love is on the train when they off to Bombay. Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Huh. Ananya: Then the first time you start seeing cracks in their relationship, he is alone on the train going with bales of polyester. Then the moment they have their big fight, a tram goes between them. And then Aishwarya goes back alone on the train with her brother. So they have used this very well and yes, I'll tell you why I think this is a trope more than anything else because I was watching another show right now to the Buccaneers and even there they always isolate a couple of characters to the beach. Akshay: Huh. Yeah. Huh. Huh. Huh. Ananya: even though their story is mainly a romance about them. But the reason they do it is because you know that in that moment, no other storyline is going to be focused on. You as a viewer have to turn your attention to this storyline. It is almost like we are conditioned by the filmmaker to know that when they're in a train, don't expect business talk and stuff. Like I will show you an example of this because they have the scene. Akshay: Hmm. Uhhh Ananya: where Aishwarya and Abhishek are in bed and he starts tickling her, they start slapping each other and all and then finally comes onto her and it turns into business. She is like, what will we eat? Where will we sleep? And he is like, will open a polyester business. But when they are together on the train and stuff, it's only stolen glances, it's only them thinking of each other. So it isolates the emotion of that track. Like no other part of the world can touch them. Akshay: Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hmm. Ananya: So it tells the audience that get into this story now in this mode, focus here. Akshay: ⁓ yeah that's very interesting like i never thought from a space point of view Ananya: So yeah, this is what I have on genre tropes. Akshay: Hmm hmm. Very cool. Ananya: ⁓ Cool, next what do you want to get into? Akshay: So we do scenes and sequences. ⁓ I want to talk about again coming back to Aishwarya Rai's ⁓ and Abhishek Bachchan's Sujata and Guru's relationship is that when when we start seeing Guru progressing in life it's Ananya: Sure, yeah. Akshay: It's like we could have had hundred shots of like, you know, him getting a bigger space and like, you know, him going around the market, like talking to a hundred people, actually wealth increasing like in his bank account, a hundred other ways we could do. But it's very nicely consciously done with Ashwarya Rai's, his wife's character that, you know, let's say he, um, him going to the, like when he's going to his village to sell the polyester, like he's alone on the train and she's home waiting for him. when we see a letter come, like she writes a letter to him back, he comes to hug her back, they buy a new car. All of these are moments which show his progression and sort of sees there around, but the lens is through a romantic relationship. And I thought it was very nice, but I realized the importance of this much later in the next scene is because they have the fight after this moment. is when she comes to know that he married her just because there was like a huge amount of money put on her dowry, you know? And these moments sort cemented and only to see the impact of that fight immediately. So I thought this Ananya: Yeah. Yeah. Akshay: sequence was done really nicely. ⁓ It's almost like reminding the audience that what their relationship is so that when it falls apart it breaks. There's impact. Ananya: That's impact. It's again contradiction for impact, like two different ends of the range for impact. Yeah, for sure. Akshay: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So this sequence I really loved. ⁓ Shall I say more? Then there is that, there's a scene of helicopter and the minister scene. I know we spoke about it in terms of that, that it being the reward sequence, you know, and that's the only sequence we also see him a little bit nervous ⁓ when while he's on the way. Ananya: Yeah. Sure. Akshay: the plane but I did not understand anything of that sequence like what it was what it was not like I had no idea and I sort of tried to look about and Ananya: Meaning though. Mm-hmm. Akshay: I went back to do some research about it ⁓ and they said that it was actually a very important meeting back in the day which ⁓ was between Dhirubhai Ambani and Rajiv Gandhi. and nobody knows what happened in that meeting but it was a very short 10 minute meeting and that's exactly what is alluded in the film so I do think now this is where I feel a film becomes a little bit pandering and almost a little harmful to the structure of the film when you start including scenes which happened either in public like you know the audience remembers this and you want to recreate this almost in some way like scandalizing the situation, right? In some way like, ⁓ this is that meeting everybody was talking about. Like it almost makes you like lean in, like for us who had no context of that. I was like, what is happening? Like, why do I know nothing about this? Ananya: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, there was no explanation, no head or tail to it. Like, I was gonna ask you, like, what do you think happened in that scene? Like, even from, if you ignore the conversation and stuff, there wasn't even any emotion there for us to understand what was going on. And I think because it's so related to an event that went down in real life, it doesn't even age well. That's the problem. Akshay: Yeah Hmm, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What could be a very interesting premise is that the entire film is about that 10 minute of interaction would be so fucking cool to see, right? Like the preparation up to that moment what happened and what happens in that meeting in the aftermath. Like that would be like a very cool way to structure a biopic, you know? Ananya: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Akshay: ⁓ Another sequence scene, which I think the technique is unpredictability, ⁓ is comes in the court hearing when it's just a private hearing ⁓ and the judge says, ⁓ tomorrow the cameras will be there. The public will be there. if you want to say something say it today and ⁓ Guru's character who wasn't talking at all so far he like comes ahead everybody leans in he does this to mike and he says i just wanted to say namaste and goes back so again so clever in that moment that you think ⁓ my god this is gonna be the big speech now or you know he's gonna say but no it immediately draws you back into his character again so Ananya: Yeah Yeah. Yeah. Akshay: I thought that was a good unpredictability in a scene. Ananya: scene definitely for sure yeah. So another scene I want to talk about is conflict over logic again. So ⁓ Abhishek Bachchan meets Sujata's character in the train. They don't recognize each other. Later you realize she is his best friend's sister. I'm like how did you not recognize her? Akshay: Huh. ⁓ Hmm. Sister. Yeah. Ananya: Then I gave it some logic in my head and I went all, arey he left when he was so young. When he came to the village, someone told him, arey tujhe to pehachana hi nahi. So same way usne to isse bhi pehachana bhi nahi. But they've not drawn any attention to it. They've not bothered getting into it. Nothing. And I think the learning there is that as long as you have conflict, you don't care if it doesn't have logic or if it's a coincidence. Akshay: Hmm. Huh. Yeah. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: Abhishek and Aishwarya, their whole relationship starts out on conflict. They don't get on. He is literally kind of like off other dowry. There's all that conflict that's riveting. So you don't care that logic has lost there. So, no real logic. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Hmm, yeah. Movie logic. I say all the time, it's movie logic. It's not supposed to be logical, it's movie logic. Ananya: ⁓ But there has to be like a understanding of why. Akshay: Of course, course, of yeah, yeah, yeah. Ananya: ⁓ Then another scene I really liked which is again a different way of playing out a scene of turning thinking of scenes different ways is when he goes into the journalist's house, Madhavan's house towards the end of the film to give him a earful and to fight with him and he's like dude what do you think you're doing, what's going on like you can't come after me like this and then he sees the photo of and Balan's character married. Akshay: Huh. Huh. Ananya: And the whole tone of the scene changes in that. He's like, wait, you're not married? What? You didn't find anyone else to get married to? Like, this one? And he goes, Vidya Balan's character joins the scene. Madhavan brings her down to meet Abhishek Bachchan because he knows those two have a relationship. It turns into a very soft scene. And then at the end of it, Madhavan simply says, nothing between us is changing. Akshay: Hmm. So changed. Yeah. Yeah. Hmm. Huh. Ananya: And that could have been a screaming scene. You know, where they're both screaming at each other and they come, there's a status quo is unchanged, nothing is changing. Instead of doing that boring scene, they're like, how else could we play this? And they're like, he might not know that they're married. Let's use that to turn the scene around, but come to the same conclusion that the status quo is the status quo. Akshay: Yeah. Hmm. Yeah. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: So. But another scene I liked a lot, a moment I'd say, is when we're in the courtroom slash committee hearing for Guru's first hearing and the judge or the leader of the commission speaks in ⁓ English, it's almost accented English, And then these two, Aishwarya speaks on behalf of Guru where she's like, we are simple village people, speak in Hindi, And ⁓ then you think that... Akshay: Hmm. English Hmm. Yeah. Ananya: this is and the reason they do this, they always play this card, right? We're the common man! We're the common man! You don't relate to us. You don't like us. And the judge switches to perfect Hindi. And he's like, if you're trying to prove something here, you're going to fail at doing this. And what they do in this moment is they say that this cannot be a class war anymore. You are not being judged by people who are the antagonist. You're being judged by people who are like you almost in that sense. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Huh. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Huh. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: So you can't play that card to elicit empathy for yourself anymore. So this is a good way of raising almost the conflict in this game that you have equal. So they've taken away the power card. So you take away your last sort of move that ⁓ has. So him alone doesn't work. That's why at the end, he has to bring in the whole public who support him in the court. Akshay: Huh. Yeah. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Huh. Huh. Huh. Ananya: Otherwise, it's 1 is to 1. Now it's many is to a small group. Akshay: ⁓ yeah yeah yeah nice Ananya: That's what I write. And ⁓ then I want to talk about the AGM and everyone is angry with him, right? And I think the choice there of holding it in the rain. So, all the shareholders are really angry at him. And if you think of it from a normal perspective, okay, if it's raining, no one's going to come for your open air AGM. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Mm-hmm. Huh. Ananya: But here everyone comes with an umbrella to scream at him. So that goes to how angry everyone is. ⁓ under what circumstances can your emotion be even more amplified is the question you have to ask when you're writing these scenes. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. I told. Ananya: So, how can you up an emotion? Akshay: Huh. yeah Ananya: And ⁓ now one thing, ⁓ it's not really a technique or anything, but something I noticed which they did and which we could never pull off. but Mani Ratnam can pull off because he has the budget and he is Mani Ratnam is okay. So now Aishwarya and Abhishek have had a big fight. She has learnt that he essentially married her for dowry, all of that. She's left. She's gone back to the village in Gujarat. Now, Abhishek isko kaise manaega? Right? That is the next question. If even a writer at our level, what would I try to do? I would try to seed some setup in earlier. Akshay: Yeah, yeah Huh. Ananya: Like Aishwarya wanted ABC, it's a very bad example but she wanted ABC. He goes, it's very hard to get. So, he goes, does some personal sacrifice, loses something in the process, gets it for her and comes back and wins her over. Okay? But over here, because this is a beautiful Mani Ratnam film, they have a song sequence of Tere Bina, where they tell you through the lyrics of the song. Akshay: Huh. ⁓ Huh. ⁓ huh, ⁓ Ananya: Like they tell you that there's longing. And so you don't have to establish that he has to win her over. You know that they're both longing for each other. All he has to do is show up and get her. And he does that. Now most of us don't have the liberty because when we do tell not show we get kind of rogered. But if you do it through a beautiful song sequence Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Yeah. Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: I think it's valid. And one more thing I really liked about the song sequence is while the lyrics are of yearning of longing, most of the visuals are of them together. It's of how they want to be. So again, keeping it in line with the tone of the film that even a song of longing has visuals of togetherness and joy and beauty. So I thought that was very well done. Akshay: ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: Just had a couple of notes more on dialogue. I think I want to point out a line of subtext. ⁓ Akshay: Huh. Ananya: which is very fleeting but very well done this happens at their meet-cute. Sujata has just been left by her lover, ghosted, up by her lover who has said that I can't run away because what will the village people think?! ⁓ And she gets the train ⁓ and Abhishek says to her that I am going to the village or something like that and she says "why is it that you guys are ever hung up on is life in the village?!" ⁓ Akshay: Huh. Huh. Huh. Hmm. Ananya: And it's like she wants to live this big life, this big world. This has just happened to her. And instead she's stuck, like instead everyone around her only cares about like a small life. So I thought the subtext of what she's actually going through is very well done in that one line. So I think subtext is really important to get the characters inner world out. Akshay: Huh. Hmm. ⁓ Hmm, hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Yeah. Ananya: without it being on the nose. Akshay: one very small dialogue which is like he's asked "What was your name?" he says it, "My name IS, not WAS, and always will be, Gurukant Desai" ⁓ like again subtext that something which is so commonly said in the world like what was your name by the way and he says not was it is and it will stay so again you've turned a usual Ananya: again subtext. Yeah. Akshay: saying or a colloquial saying turning a usual saying and to have a spin on it is an interesting thing Ananya: Definitely, yeah, for sure, yeah. And it drives home the underlying idea that you will remember my name, like going forward this movie. I mean the movie is called Guru, right? Literally, it is about remembering his name. Akshay: ⁓ Yeah. Right, yeah. Yeah, yeah. But that's all. Ananya: That's all, yeah, that's all I have on Guru too. This was a fun watch, a nice trip down memory lane for us. Thank you for recommending it Akshay. I wouldn't have thought of it myself at all. Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: So guys, you all know the drill. Hit like, share, subscribe to the channel. Any questions, any recommendations, want us to break down anything, want to have a breakdown, you can do it all in the comments. We'll get back to you. We're your breakdown besties and we'll see you next Thursday on our next episode. Bye. Akshay: Bye bye guys.