Guru (1997 film)

Guru
Poster
Directed by	Rajiv Anchal
Written by	C. G. Rajendra Babu
Story by	Rajiv Anchal
Starring	Mohanlal Suresh Gopi Madhupal Sithara Kaveri Murali
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematography	S. Kumar
Edited by	B. Lenin V. T. Vijayan
Production company	Janasammathi Creations Pvt Ltd.
Distributed by	Janasammathi Release
Release date	12 September 1997 (1997-09-12)
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

Guru (literally: The Teacher / Spiritual Guide) is a 1997 Indian Malayalam-language fantasy film directed by Rajiv Anchal and written by C. G. Rajendra Babu. Mohanlal played the lead role in the film, while Nedumudi Venu, Srinivasan, Suresh Gopi, Sithara, Kaveri Muralidharan and Sreelakshmi appeared in supporting roles. Guru is a fantasy film which is highly symbolic and makes a statement on terrorism by religions and the evils of the world.

The original musical score and songs were composed by Ilaiyaraaja. His symphonic score was conducted and performed by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Hungary. This was the first time in Indian cinema, the background score of a film was recorded completely outside the country.

Guru was the first Malayalam film to be selected as India's official entry to the Oscars to the Best Foreign Language Film category.

The story starts in small peaceful village in India. There is peace between the Hindus and the Muslims that live there. They all get along like family. Raghurāman (Mohanlal) is the son of the local Hindu temple's priest. When an ambitious politician's (NF Varghese) goons disguised as Muslims cause trouble at the local temple, tensions break out between the two communities. The tensions soon flame into a religious riot. Muslims and Hindus began killing each other for the sake of their own religions. Raghurāman joins Hindu gang which is about to attack a group of Muslims who have taken refuge in a guru's asram (a place where a holy guru lived and worked). But at a point Raghurāman has an out of the world experience in the asram.