Funny, light hearted rental

A hit in England, THE GURU is a low-budget film lovingly made with the production quality and ambition of a big old fashioned musical.

Starring Jimi Mistry (EAST IS EAST), Heather Graham, Marisa Tomei and Christine Baranski, THE GURU is the story of Ramu, a young Indian man (Mistry) who dreams of becoming a star in America. When he gets to NY, he finds that life isn't as glamorous as he had hoped it'd be. Working as a waiter in an Indian restaurant, he eventually auditions unknowingly for a porn movie where he meets Sharona, the porn-star-with-the-heart-of-gold (Graham) who teaches him her philosophies about love, sex and romance.

Using the 'love lessons' from Sharona, Ramu accidentally becomes a guru of sex and starts to build a following in New York's high society crowd, all anxious to latch onto the next spiritual movement. He finds wealth and fame, all the while learning from Sharona.

THE GURU is a very funny movie. It has a great comic cast with Marisa Tomei as the spoiled Park Avenue princess who throws everything away to follow her love guru. The movie is a loving ode to musicals as well - Ramu falls in love with America after watching GREASE in India. And Ramu also loves those elaborate Indian musicals.

THE GURU tries for the sharp ethnic humor that made EAST IS EAST so funny but is just off target with its predictability. There's a tried and true Sandra Bullock love formula at work here though the Indian guru and porn star is probably the most original spin on this for a while.