Gurugiri v/s Gandhigiri

Gurubhai gurubhai aavye che
Dhoom dhadaaka karenge che

A villager. A visionary. A winner. Impressive tagline for a much more impressive movie. Watching movies, especially in a theatre, is an ordeal for me – but Guru was different – I enjoyed it – all of it – the exquisite architecture of Turkey – the fantastic music by Rehman – the coyness of Aishwarya – the dare of Abhishek – the dignity of Mithun – the Gujarati slang – the intricacies of Licence Raj – the tactics of Guru Bhai.

I found only one aberration in this otherwise sensible piece of moving art – towards the end, Guru Bhai, through a vehement, heart-wrenching, emotional speech, smartly manages to make the government seem like the real culprit, which literally dragged an otherwise innocent Gurukant Desai into the sleazy world of corruption – and what more – he manages to evoke a huge applause from the people in the court room (and the audience in the theatres). His speech made it seem as if the movie was trying to justify all the shady deals of Guru Bhai – albeit subtly. I feel that if the traders were unhappy with the over-regulation of trade during those times, FBT and high corporate taxes give them sleepless nights these days. The government was the villain then – it continues to remain the spoilsport now. If things were to proceed according to the whims of the traders and corporates, laissez faire would be prevalent in India within a blink of the eye. Fortunately for people and unfortunately for the traders, that can never be the case out here – but that makes a case for a totally different post.

Anyway, Guru reminded me of another movie released in 2006, which also managed to create a similar buzz – Lage Raho Munnabhai. Gandhigiri became the buzzword in 2006. Truth and non-violence were supposed to be in. Gurugiri seems to be the buzzword in 2007 till date. Gurukant stands for everything that Gandhi was against. For Gurubhai, profit is the only motive. The means to achieve the motive do not really matter. As Guru himself explicitly states in the film – ‘main koi bapu nahin’. But, Guru has managed to create his own fan club, amongst the youth, which could not stop raving about Gandhi, last year. So, the question that intrigues me after watching Guru – which line of thought do you choose?

The fundamentalists would jump right away and say that Gandhigiri rules and that Gurugiri can be safely forgotten. The pragmatists would think a while and then candidly confess that while Gandhigiri mostly made sense in ideology, only applying a little bit of Gurugiri could make you successful in the real world out there. The diplomats would prefer to stay away from the debate.

This brings me to the real question behind the question – do you have to categorize yourself into one of these three slots? Is there only a black and a white to this debate? Are there no shades of grey to this question? Can Gandhigiri and Gurugiri cross paths? If yes, what would be the fundamental doctrine of the hybrid line of thought? If no, would you label the line of thought of the current society as conservationist? Is it a simple choice? Which one would you pick?