After Dil Se and Yuva, Manirathnam's much-awaited Hindi venture Guru will hit the screens on 12 January, 2007. The Tamil version of the movie would be released simultaneously.

The veteran director is known for his ability to strike a balance between art and commercial cinema with brilliance in technical aspects like art direction, cinematography and background music. Guru has script by Suhasini Manirathinam and Vijay Krishna Acharya.

Guru is the story of a young man in a small village of Idhar in Gujarat, who goes from rags to riches due to his sheer determination.

Abhishek Bachchan plays the title of Guru Kant Desai, a villager who goes on to decide the fate of the nation. Aishwarya Rai plays Sujatha, wife of Guru. The veteran actor Mithun Chakraborthy plays the owner of a newspaper in the movie. Madhavan is cast in the role of a young journalist while Vidya Balan plays his wife. The movie is set in the picturesque beauty of Mumbai in 1958.

Reports are that the movie is loosely based on the life of business tycoon Dhirubhai Ambani. Madhavan, a protege of Manirathinam, says, "I don't think the movie is based on Ambani. But it revolves around Gurukant Desai, an industrialist, who wants to change the nation."

"As far I am concerned, I had to lose a lot of weight and I had lost 8 kilos for my role in Guru. Looking at Mani working in the sets gave me the high that I needed."

Mallika Sherawat appears for an item-number in the film.

The movie is produced and directed by Mani Rathnam. Music is by A R Rehman, with lyrics by Vairamuthu. Cinematography is by Rajiv Menon.