Guru

Title of Film: Guru

Duration: 1 hour thirty minutes

Syamali, a twenty nine year old dark skinned short woman works with a departmental store in an uneasy job entertaining hundreds of customers’ everyday, feels exhausted even at the start of her professional day in a modern New Delhi shopping mall. Her husband- Dev suffers from a severe bronchitis ailment that has made him home ridden and a non earning member of her small family. Syamali has a beautiful daughter named Jiya who is all of seven years old. Jiya is appealingly outspoken a young girl who seems bubbling with ideas to keep her father smiling, attaining adoration from her neighbors as well. Syamali's income is the only source to feed her small family and to take care of her husband. The mounting cost of Dev's cure has made Syamali a zombie of a worker whose only joy is to meet Jiya at the end of the day as she collects her from the day boarding school. Everyday might come as a burden to Syamali, but the antics of her little child makes her feel lighter and inspired to work. Almost every day Syamali dreams of a happier life with her family- that her husband has recuperated and her daughter has become a celebrity. In her dreams she sees Jiya dancing on a stage in front of a massive audience, with herself and Dev looking admiringly at their daughter- with money raining from the ceiling of the theater.

Dev's condition detiorates as winter approaches. The doctor advises for a costly treatment otherwise the situation will get worse as a cancer. Syamali tries to accumulate funds from her parents and relatives but is only able to secure a lakh of rupees where- the cost of treatment is higher by another lakh. All her savings do not combine to become a mere twenty thousand, when she has no option but to give out on rent a room of her small home for a prospective paying guest. She cleans the house and prepares one room as the place which she would offer to any person who would pay her a decent amount.

The expense of Dev's treatment competes with Jia's education in school. Increasingly the cost of Jia's school fees becomes unaffordable. Syamali misses a couple of deadlines for school fee payment and is warned by the principal that if she is not able to pay the fee further, Jiya will be taken off school rolls. Dev's date of operation approaches and he is hospitalized. All the funds available in Syamali's bank dry up. There is eventually no money with her to pay for Jia's school fee. After a month, Jia is taken off rolls from the school. Syamali is heart broken.

Syamali prints out advertisements declaring a room available for rent with food for a cost of rupees six thousand a month. She circulates copies of the advertisement amongst people she knows, pastes it on the colony and workplace notice boards and even puts it on internet. In response, several people come to see the place. The room she has to rent out used to be the bed-room of Jia, a well lit square that also has the only bathroom of the home. People in general do not like the prospects of sharing their bathroom with the home owners, hence at least many declines to reside there.

One of the people who come to look at the place is Guru Krishna, a thirty three year old dance teacher who wants to open a school. He observes the place to be of his liking. He agrees to pay the prescribed rent on condition that he will be allowed to train his pupils and dance activities. Syamali agrees.

Guru is a short tempered man. Many students come to him to learn dance, but his intolerance towards the lesser talented pupils forces most of them out. He is then faced with a circumstance to vacate the room as he has no money left since most of his students have left- at times he slapped or abused his students. Syamali, though involved in the troublesome circumstance of her ailing husband noted the frustration of Guru. She and Jia secretly watched him training the few students, or even at times as he danced alone in the small room. Jia then started copying his steps, which used to amuse Syamali.

Guru apologized to Syamali that he will not be in position to rent the room any further as the dance school was without funds. Syamali was disappointed, for one that her source of income was going, for other that she valued what Guru was giving to Jia- inspiration. Syamali agrees to reduce the rent to half, on condition that Guru will teach Jia dance.

Guru observes Jia's flexibility and enthusiasm as a dancer. He decided to not only teach her the arts but also the sciences. He taught her English, mathematics and history. Slowly Guru's temper began to simmer down. He became more tolerant. He and Jia became good friends. Jia started learning from him Sanskrit. Guru gave her lesson on the Gita. The uncanny ability of Jia to learn made Guru a better teacher. More students got admission to his small school and Guru was able to earn better than before.

Syamali lost her job with the departmental store as a theft of a few thousand rupees worth of goods got unnoticed from the counter she was handling. Dev returned back to home- feeble and weak. As Syamali took care of her husband, she would inevitably peek into Guru's room to see Jia and Guru dancing. Despite the financial turmoil she was facing, seeing both of them dancing together gave her a high.

As the situation of her home grew worse, she once went up to Guru and cried over his shoulder. Dev watches her from a distance and suspects her to have an affair with Guru. Guru pledges Syamali that he will do his utmost to help the family. Guru decides to enroll Jia for a dance competition whose prize was a role in a big budget film. He starts training Jia for the dance competition.

Everyday Guru would give a practice to Jia as Syamali would sit across the window to look at both of them. She gets attracted to Guru, but then looking at her husband relinquishes any thoughts. She also tries to procure jobs but fails. Meanwhile, Dev gets into depression thinking that his wife loves somebody else. One day he confronts Syamali telling her to ask Guru to move out of the house. Syamali resists giving all explanations about what contribution Guru is making to Jia's life. Dev is unable to understand, is frustrated with his own health and threatens either to kill himself or Guru if Guru continues to stay with them. At times, Dev tries to bring himself closer to his daughter Jia but eventually finds that he cannot giver Jia what Guru is able to give her. That is when evil starts stirring in his mind.

As the dates for the competition came near, which was a series of events where the participants had to prove their dancing talents not once but many times, Dev decides to kill himself. Burdened with pain, he confides to his brother- Adi, who tells to leave all matters to him. Adi decides to terminate Guru the day Jia looses the competition.

Jia enters the competition with charm. On the first performance, her dancing ability is judged superior to many participants and she is voted to come to the second round. Guru is optimistic. Syamali is joyous but Dev is burnt with jealousy. Since Jia qualifies for the second round, Guru and Jia are invited by the organizers to stay in a hotel to prepare for the further rounds. Syamali comes to meet Jia and is astounded by the attention Jia gets from the media and the fans. She prays for her good luck and confirms her faith in Guru.

Guru keeps the training process on for the subsequent events. He mentors Jia and makes her believe in her ability to win. Show after show, Jia enthralls the audiences and comes out victorious. After five rounds, Jia is among the top three contenders.

Adi’s plans to murder Guru are kept on hold as he watches Jia winning. He decides to kill Guru on the day of the finale. He goes to the hotel where Jia and Guru stayed and meets them both. He wishes them good luck and asks an appointment with Guru just before the event.

There would be three rounds in the final showdown where two girls and one boy competed for a place in the mega movie- for which Jia had been arduously preparing. While Guru waits behind the sets for the first round to start, Syamali overhears Dev talking to Adi on his cell phone. She realizes that Dev is filled with hatred for Guru and is planning something that should not happen. She immediately rushes to the studio/ venue where the performance is happening.

Jia wins the first round again, thereby confirming herself at least the second spot. Another victory would mean that she would win the competition. As Guru waits for the next round to start, Adi approaches from behind and gives a mighty blow to Guru’s head. With another blow again, he sees Syamali looking at him from across the curtain. He drops the hammer and runs out of the gallery. Syamali rushes to Guru and tries to control his blood flow. Jia alights from the stage and comes across the gallery. She sees Guru crying in pain and Syamali supporting him. Jia is extremely disturbed. She starts crying. An ambulance is then called and Guru is rushed to a hospital. Before Guru would loose consciousness, he tells Jia to promise him that she will win the competition. Jia promises.

Jia is alone behind the stage as she is called to perform for the second round. Having seen her Guru oozing in blood, she is terrified. She constantly remembers the orders of Guru to win the competition- come what may. She goes to the stage and breaks down crying. The eyes of the entire nation are on her, including Dev. The judges ask the small girl what has happened. Jia does not reply and starts dancing with an exceptional fury. She enthralls everybody and collapses on stage. She is taken out of the stage and put to rest on her bed.

The Judges votes Jia as a champion dancer. Jia recovers after fifteen minutes and runs out of the studio crying. Several media persons and fans follow her as she runs in the middle of the road. She is photographed and telecasted live on national media. When she is asked why she is crying? She responds by asking feverishly- where is my Guru? Where is my Guru?

She continues to run wildly as the crowds cheer her wherever she went.

The End

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Address Poverty before Terrorism.