Daisy von Scherler Mayer
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The movie's opening segment cleverly presents Ramu's boyhood captivation with American culture the bored boy sneaks out of a campy Indian movie musical to rapturously watch John Travolta belt out a number in "Grease" in a nearby theater.
They make a charming pair, but under all the frank sex talk and cutesy Grease references, there's no fresh or funny angle to their clichéd, misunderstanding-plagued relationship, and the Bolly-inspired trimmings are too light to inspire much feeling--which not only makes The Guru a tepid Bollywood imitation, but a tepid film, period.
(A typical Bollywood musical production is delightfully segued into a cover of "Grease" number "You're the One That I Want.")
The musical numbers, divided between Bollywood numbers and American knock-offs (Grease) congregate partway through for some high energy and genuinely amusing choreography and anachronistic humor.
While the main character - charmingly played, for the most part, by British actor Jimi Mistry ("The Mystic Masseur," "East is East") - grew up watching and idolizing "Grease," he obviously should have been studying "West Side Story" and its song, "America," about the plight of immigrants in the U.S.
Tom Cruise's underwear dance in "Risky Business" has wrought countless tired homages.
Partly inspired and conceived by executive producer Shekar Kapur (the Indian-born director of "Elizabeth"), "The Guru" reflects Kapur's culture shock and artistic struggle when he moved from India to London.
The script by Tracey Jackson came from an idea by esteemed filmmaker Shekhar Kapur ("Elizabeth"), who probably had something more refined in mind.
Here, the film comes dangerously close to becoming "Orgazmo," Trey Parker's similarly-themed fish-out-of-water-but-in-porn comedy.
Heather Graham, who seems to be working out personal sexual hangups on screen (see "Boogie Nights," "Bowfinger," "From Hell," "Killing Me Softly," "Two Girls and a Guy" etc.) usually projects a wide blue-eyed vacuousness, but here she attains a sweet quality that the film never undermines by crossing into porno world realities.
His porn costar is Sharonna (Heather Graham, experiencing career déjà vu after her work as Rollergirl in “Boogie Nights”), who gives Ramu advice about sex that he uses to invent a persona known as “The Guru Of Sex.” Ramu goes on to become a huge star dishing out advice to love-starved New Yorkers (including Marisa Tomei, Christine Baranski, and Malachy McCourt), all the while questioning his own feelings for Sharonna.
Playing her second porn character - after Rollergirl in "Boogie Nights" - Graham might look the part, but her weak acting and the poorly written part prevent us from caring about whether her and Mistry's characters ultimately get together (as compared to what occurred in "Grease").
Jimi Mistry’s acting skills are pretty weak and Heather Graham , reprising a comedic version of her Boogie Nights roller girl porn star role, is gradually proving that she only had one good role.
While the main character - charmingly played, for the most part, by British actor Jimi Mistry ("The Mystic Masseur," "East is East") - grew up watching and idolizing "Grease," he obviously should have been studying "West Side Story" and its song, "America," about the plight of immigrants in the U.S.
The hotel's manager (William H. Macy, "Edmond," "Thank You for Smoking") is a Bobby follower who forces Timmons to give his staff time off to vote before firing him, but the beloved boss is also cheating on his wife Miriam (Sharon Stone, "Basic Instinct 2"), the hotel's hair stylist, with a switchboard operator (Heather Graham, "The Guru") - Estevez's awkward attempt at a Kennedy stand-in, perhaps?
Reasonably worried over her niece's welfare, Mandy stays behind (she's a house fairy, thus, apparently immobile), but also gives her a gift, the use of her fianc�, Benny (Jimi Mistry, of The Guru), whom she accidentally turned into a book some time ago.