# Guru (2017 film)

Guru (transl. Mentor) is a 2017 Indian Telugu-language sports drama film written and directed by Sudha Kongara and produced by S. Shashikanth on YNOT Studios banner. The film stars Venkatesh and Ritika Singh with the music composed by Santhosh Narayanan. The film is remake of Kongara's own film Irudhi Suttru/Saala Khadoos (2016).

## Plot

Aditya alias Aadi is a failed boxer who, despite being very talented, falls victim to the dirty politics in the boxing association. Many years later, Aadi, now coaching the women's boxing teams, is extremely angry and frustrated with the partiality in selection. Due to his rift with the association head Dev Khatri, he is falsely charged with sexual harassment and transferred to Vizag. Despite the very poor infrastructure, Aadi manages to find talent in a roadside vegetable seller, Rameswari alias Ramulu, who he along with his assistant coach Punch Ponds notices while she is thrashing the judges during her sister's tournament.
Ignoring Rameswari's elder sister Lakshmi alias Lux, who has been boxing for 8 years, Aadi offers to train Rameswari for 4 hours daily. But the two do not get along due to Aadi's ruthless training methods and Rameswari's aggressive nature. As a result, Rameswari intentionally loses a local match. Aadi later asks Lakshmi and Rameswari's parents, to send them to stay in a hostel with him so their daughters can work hard on training. Rameswari misunderstands him, but later regrets it when she finds out that Aadi has sold his bike to buy new training equipment for her. Rameswari then starts training with Aadi rather intensely with dedication and develops feelings for him. On the day of a qualifying match, she reveals her feelings to Aadi, and he promptly rejects her. During the warm-up before the match Lakshmi, who is now jealous of her sister, injures Rameswari's hand causing Rameswari to lose. Aadi thinks that Rameswari lost intentionally again and throws her out of training camp.
Dev Khatri takes advantage of the situation by calling Rameswari to Delhi for a cultural exchange tournament and makes her fight with a heavyweight Russian boxer, who knocks out Rameswari in a few seconds. A demotivated Rameswari is then approached by Dev Khatri with an indecent proposal, to which she reacts by injuring him. Dev Khatri takes revenge by getting her arrested on false theft charges.
Aadi comes to the rescue and bails her out. He later takes Rameswari to Delhi to get her a wild-card entry into the World Boxing Championship. Rameswari works hard and goes on to win the semifinal. On the day of finals, Dev Khatri removes Rameswari's name from the list and asks Aadi to resign immediately if he wants to see Rameswari in the final, with the same Russian boxer who knocked her out in Delhi. Rameswari gets to fight in the final round but is dejected after learning about Aadi's resignation. She keeps losing points in the early rounds and gets badly injured before Aadi shows up at the stadium and indicates her to attack her opponent's arms to make her weak. Rameswari follows the game plan and knocks out the opponent with seconds to go in the final round. Dev Khatri quickly attempts to take the credit for training Rameswari. Still, she punches him and runs towards Aadi and hugs him, showing the emotional reunion of a coach and student.

## Cast

* Venkatesh as Aditya "Aadi" Rao
* Ritika Singh as Rameswari "Ramulu"
* Nassar as Punch Ponds
* Tanikella Bharani as Murali
* Zakir Hussain as Dev Khatri
* Mumtaz Sorcar as Lakshmi "Lux"
* Raghu Babu as Soomulu
* Anitha Chowdary as Rajyam
* Ananth Babu as Boxing Association member
* Sanchana Natarajan as a boxing student

## Production

Principal photography commenced in September 2016 in Hyderabad. Principle filmography took place in Vizag, Hyderabad, and Goa. The film has completed shooting in the first week of December 2016. While Santhosh Narayanan and Sathish Suriya was retained as music director and editor from the original version of the film, there are some changes on other technical teams. Art director Jacki was roped into the project, replacing T. Santhanam from the original adaptation.

## Soundtrack

Music composed by Santhosh Narayanan. Music released on Lahari Music Company. Except "Jingidi", all other songs were reused from the original Tamil film's soundtrack. The song "Jingidi" marked the singing debut of actor Venkatesh.

## Reception

Ch Sowmya Sruthi of The Times of India rated the film three-and-a-half out of five stars and wrote, "The movie, being a sports drama that comes with heavy and loaded climax sequences finally ends on a calm and simple note but not before putting a smile on the viewers’ face. The movie is a must-watch this weekend for not just people who are fans of Venkatesh but also for the sports enthusiasts and movie buffs who appreciate good cinema." Suhas Yellapantula of The New Indian Express gave the film three out of five stars and noted that "Director Sudha's execution is terrific and the performances stretches the film beyond its potential".
Priyanka Sundar of The Indian Express gave the film three out of five stars and wrote, "Overall, it is a good watch. It is a good sports drama with an important message. Venkatesh’s frustration with the politics in the sports committee, Ramudu’s rapport for her coach, and the dialogues are the highlights of this film." Suresh Kavirayani of Deccan Chronicle wrote, "Guru is a good sports drama and not a regular formula or commercial film. There are some similarities in theme with Dangal, which released recently, but the subject of Guru is completely different, except for the sports politics. This is the first Telugu film with sports as the backdrop and shows Venkatesh in a completely new avatar. Watch it."
Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu wrote, "Sudha Kongara’s story doesn’t throw up surprises. Yet, her keen eye for detail and well written characters keep us riveted. She extracts winsome performances from her cast and her technicians are in sync with the rugged terrain." Hemanth Kumar CR of Firstpost wrote, "At a run time of just under two hours, Guru gives you plenty of stuff to brood upon long after you watch the film. Venkatesh delivers a nuanced performance as a boxing coach, but it is Ritika Singh who lands a sucker punch in the end. A big thumbs up."