Guru En Aalu


Guru En Aalu is a 2009 Tamil romantic comedy film directed by Selva and produced by K. R. Gangadharan. It stars Madhavan, Abbas and Mamta Mohandas in the leading roles, while Vivek and Brinda Parekh portray supporting roles. The film was a remake of Aziz Mirza's 1997 Hindi film Yes Boss starring Shahrukh Khan. The music was composed by Srikanth Deva with cinematography by U. K. Senthil Kumar and editing by V. T. Vijayan. The film began production in late 2007 and released on 24 April 2009 to mixed reviews, becoming an average grosser at the box office.

Plot

Guru wants to be an MD for a company under his boss Krishna. Krishna is a successful entrepreneur married to Sheila, but his major problem is his playboy nature. Guru hopes that Krishna will make him an MD, so that he can also become a boss and make money. He tries to do everything to please him. Meanwhile, Krishna falls for a model named Seema, whom Guru also fancies. However, coming to know that his boss is interested, he decides to give up on his feelings for her so as to achieve his career goals. Krishna asks Guru to help him woo Seema, and Guru follows his every order. After a sequence of events, he realizes that he cannot forget his feelings for Seema. He soon starts to purposefully sabotage Krishna's attempts of becoming closer to Seema. Whether Seema feels the same way about Guru or Krishna wins her heart forms the rest of the story.

Cast

Following the release of his home production, Evano Oruvan, in December 2007, Madhavan announced his intentions on remaking the 1997 Hindi language film, Yes Boss, which starred Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chawla in the lead roles. The director, a remake specialist, Selvah was assigned to direct the movie which was to be produced by KRG, one of the veteran producers and President of South Indian Film Chamber.
Following cast selection and story adjustions, the film had its launch on 2 May 2008, with only Madhavan and Mamta Mohandas among the cast attending at a small ceremony at Adyar, Chennai. Shooting for the film started at Chennai in May 2008 and continued in various locations in Kerala. Another schedule was filmed at overseas locations, primarily in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The introductory song for Madhavan was shot at the AVM Studios in Vadapalani, Chennai with several extras, choreographed by Babu.
The casting process took four months for the director and producer to settle. Initially it was expected that Nayantara would appear opposite Madhavan in the lead role, however Nayantara opted out due to involvements in bigger projects such as Kuselan, Aegan and Villu. Sameera Reddy was briefly linked to the role, but eventually Mamta Mohandas claimed the lead female role, portraying a model. Jayaram was initially announced to portray a role in the film, but pulled out at the last moment and was replaced by Abbas, and another cast member is Vivek, whom both re-unite with Madhavan after the 2001 blockbuster, Minnale. Another actress, Brinda Parekh, was soon after signed up to play the role of Abbas's pair in the film. A string of supporting cast members were selected among those being Sona Heiden, Poovilangu Mohan, Mayilsamy, Pattimandram Raja, Manobala, M. S. Baskar, Meera Krishnan, and Aarthi.
Apart from Selvah, who directs the film, the cinematographer for the project is Senthil Kumar, whilst the editor is National Award winner V. T. Vijayan. The dialogues for Aziz Mirza's script is handled by L. Venkatesan, director of Jithan Ramesh starrer Nee Venunda Chellam and lyrics are written by Pa. Vijay, Kabilan and Pazhani Bharathi. Srikanth Deva is the music director for the film, renewing his association with Selvah, whom both were crew members of Selvah's previous venture, Thotta.

Release

After being completed but unreleased for one year, the film was released on 24 April 2009, opening to mixed reviews. Behindwoods wrote:"So that’s precisely the USP of Guru En Aalu. Comedy! If you don’t mind a few odd screen minutes while the lead characters trundle their way through a familiar script". Sify claimed that it is "nowhere near the original which was technically superior with super hit songs and locales". Nowrunning wrote:"disappoints on all counts". Rediff wrote:"If you're looking for a re-creation of a feel-good candy-floss romance, then Selva's shoddy screenplay is likely to prove quite a drag". Hindu called it "typical commercial cocktail" and concluded that "If you have watched the original you are bound to be perplexed by unnecessary additions in the Tamil version that drag the film down to deplorable levels".

Soundtrack

The film has six songs composed by Srikanth Deva collaborating with director Selva for second time after Thotta. Lyrics are by three eminent poets - Pa. Vijay, Kapilan and Pazhanibharathy whilst the songs are choreographed by Kalyan, Sridhar and Dinesh. The film's songs were released at a low-key function in Chennai on 26 September 2008. Majority of the BGM scores in this movie were lifted from popular Hindi movies like Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Salaam Namaste, No Entry and Om Shanti Om. "Spun" by Flipsyde is used in the song Chellame Chellame, and "Bebot" by The Black Eyed Peas forms the background score of the whole movie, "Ek Din Aap" from original Hindi film Yes Boss has been lifted here as "Kadhal Kannadiyil".