Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Guru and Dhirubhai Ambani: Who Cares?

When people have nothing to do then they waste their time for meaningless debate. Yes, this is what is happening now about the upcoming Bollywood movie Guru (2007). Some people are engaged with the debate whether Guru depicts the life of one of the most successful businessmen in Indian history Dhirubhai Ambani.

Reuters wrote:

Dhirubhai Ambani is India's best known rags-to-riches billionaire, but the makers of a new Bollywood film about a villager who rises to the pinnacle of the corporate world insist the movie is not about him.

"Gurubhai", the name of the lead character in "Guru", rhymes uncannily with the name of the deceased founder of the Reliance group, and both men come from a poor village.

On their journey to the top, both founded their companies in 1958 in India's financial hub of Mumbai and displayed a penchant for getting things done without taking a 'no' for an answer.

One of the promo lines of the film reads: "Think big. Think ahead. Think fast", which matches word-for-word the corporate motto of Ambani.

But the film's director Mani Ratnam told reporters "Guru", which opens on Friday, was largely fictional.

"It is about the journey of a man at a point of time in India who is trying to reach where he wants to reach," Ratnam said.

"When you pick a film you pick it because there's an idea which you think will make a film. A lot of stories have a real-life feel and are related to the common man."

Really, I am at a loss to figure out about what is the benefit of this meaningless debate. If you are sure that Guru is indeed based on the life of Dhirubhai Ambani then what is the benefit or what is loss? Who cares and why should we even bother? What is important is that whether the movie is of good quality and people like it!

0 comments:

Hobby Economist