The Guru [2002]

Director

Daisy von Scherler Mayer

Jimi Mistry hits the screens again in The Guru, but instead of East is East here we have east-meets-west, a combination of Hollywood's fish-out-of-water comedies with Bollywood Breaks. Based loosely on director Shekhar Kapur's experiences as a young man moving to Britain in order to meet "pretty blondes", Mistry plays Ramu Gupta, an Indian in love with Hollywood who teaches the Macarena in a local "Modern School of Dance". Dreaming of bigger and better things (mainly the desire to re-live Travolta's role in Grease) he shoots off to the USA, but finds the American Dream does not hold true when he lands the lead role as an "adult" actor in a Ramrod Production. By a bizarre twist of fate, Ramu ends up impersonating a Guru at the birthday party of Lexi (Marsa Tomei), where the only wise words he can find are those of his Porno costar Sharonna (Heather Graham, without the roller skates), about improving sexual performance. All this catapults him to stardom as "The Guru of Sex" and he is left begging Sharonna for more wisdom to offer the rich and lost in New York.

The collaboration of Bollywood and Hollywood styles--including a fantastic Bollywood rendition of "You're the One That I Want"--should have resulted in an interesting and enlightening film about the struggles a young Indian faces to create an identity in America. Yet something is missing. It's clear this is Tracey Jackson's first major screenwriting venture. Humorous only in places, the script is not really substantial enough for the strong cast members to get their teeth into. The editing is also amiss, with the camera hovering on scenes for far too long, leaving a slightly uncomfortable feeling. However the music will stay with you for months and the ending is up there with the best rom-coms. --Nikki Disney