Bollywood's Pursuit of Polyester

In India, the latest Bollywood film, "Guru," was about as secret as that country's nuclear program. Its two leads are stars are so famous that their presence attracted an entire solar system of paparazzi. Abhishek Bachchan is the son of India's biggest celebrity and his co-star, Aishwarya Rai, is considered by her fans, who include Julia Roberts, to be the most beautiful woman in the world. Rumors spread that they were secretly married during filming. The paparazzi swarmed. Release dates shifted. Bollywood held its breath. Hardly what you'd expect from the biopic of a man who made a lot of money selling ... polyester?

Based on the life of recently deceased textile tycoon Dhirubhai Ambani, "Guru" is directed by Mani Ratnam, one of India's best and most political filmmakers. Mr. Ratnam recently dedicated his career to cheerleading India's development, but being an old leftie, his heart's not really in it.

As a result, "Guru" has more clashing tones than a marimba: It's an economic hagiography, it's an anti-greed manifesto, and for long stretches, it's as boring as what you'd expect the biography of a textile manufacturer to be.

A poor kid from an impoverished village, Guru (Abhishek Bachchan) marries Sujatha (Aishwarya Rai), goes to Bombay, and becomes the king of polyester. By the intermission he's living the dream. This is where "Pursuit of Happyness" ended, but Mr. Ratnam still has half a movie left, so he turns Guru into a monster who bribed and blackmailed his way to the top. This can't last — it's like turning Superman into Lex Luthor halfway through his own movie — and at the last minute Mr. Ratnam washes away all of Guru's sins in a gush of pro-business sentimentality. It's fascinating to see a filmmaker this ambivalent about his subject, but it doesn't make for a good movie. Still, it's probably the most interesting movie about polyester that's ever going to get made.