Did you know R Madhavan had to compete with Saif Ali Khan, John and Vivek for 'Guru'?

Mani Ratnam’s Guru movie completes 14 years of its release today, January 13. The movie starred Aishwarya Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Mithun Chakraborty and R Madhavan in lead roles. However, do you know R Madhavan was not the first choice for the role of Shyam Saxena as Ratnam considered several other actors for this role?

According to a report in Hindustan Times, after Mani Ratnam roped in Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai for the lead roles In the movie, there were a lot of names that were considered and discarded for the other male lead. The names which were considered included Saif Ali Khan, John Abraham, Vivek Oberoi and R Madhavan, to name a few. Later, Madhavan was roped In for the role of Shyam Saxena in the movie Guru.

The report suggested that he was Ratnam’s favourite from the time the actor did his first Tamil film Alai Payuthe with Mani Ratnam. In an interview with Hindustan Times, Madhavan even mentioned that he would happily do the part if Mani offered it to him before he was roped in for the role. Madhavan and Mani Ratnam have done several films together including Alai Payuthe, Kannathil Muthamittal and the Tamil version of Yuva where Maddy played Abhishek's character.

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Aishwarya Rai celebrates 14 Years of Guru movie

On January 13, 2021, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan took to her official Instagram handle and shared a throwback collage featuring herself, husband Abhishek Bachchan and Guru’s director, Mani Ratnam. The actor shared the pictures on the occasion of Guru movie completing 14 years of its release. The pictures were clicked during the premiere of the movie.

In the picture clicked at the film’s premiere, Aishwarya can be seen wearing a blue saree looking at hubby Abhishek as he spoke to the press. Mani Ratnam looked dapper in his beige sweater and a green jacket. While sharing the picture, she wrote, “On this day… 14 years GURU FOREVER”. 

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About the movie, Guru

Talking about the movie, it also starred Mithun Chakraborty, Vidya Balan, and Roshan Seth in pivotal roles. The soundtrack of the movie was composed by AR Rahman. Guru had also premiered in Toronto making it the first Indian film to have a mainstream release in Canada. The Abhishek Bachchan starrer film was also a part of the Cannes Film Festival that year. AR Rahman had gone on to receive the Award for the Best Music and Best Background Score for the movie. Guru was largely based on the life of one of India’s biggest industrial icon, Dhirubhai Ambani.

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