Guru

The latest movie by Mani Ratnam starts with a message which reads something like this:

ALL CHARACTERS IN THIS MOVIE ARE FICTITIOUS AND ANY RESEMBLANCE TO ANY PERSON DEAD OR ALIVE IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL

That message is crap. But the movie isn’t. The movie is not simply “inspired by Dhirubhai Ambani’s life”. It is as close to a biography of Mr. Ambani as Mani Ratnam could dare to make. The movie is very good and deserves to be seen by every Indian. Inspirational stuff, especially for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Like many other people, I had an opinion in which I used to see the Tatas as the ideal businessmen, full of ethics and values and I used to see Reliance as an example of how not to do business. This movie has made me think a bit on this and now I see things in a different light. I see that all is not black and white in this world. Sometimes breaking the law is not the wrong thing, in fact it is the right thing. To borrow a line from the movie, 70 years back a man broke the law of the land, and today we call him Bapu. Dhirubhai might have done a lot of things that may be termed as fraud or illegal or unethical. But he did what he did, in order to grow despite the stupid license - quota laws that were prevailing in the country at that time. When you put in your sweat and your hard earned money and risk it all to do business, it is but natural that you don’t want an illogical system to stop you.

Ambani was successful at a time when it was a sin to make huge amounts of money- unless you were rich with your forefathers’ wealth. Though he himself became hugely rich, he also made thousands of common shareholders rich. Not only that, he gave employment to a lot of people and inspired countless entrepreneurs. He gave confidence to businessmen across the country and played an important role in building the nation.

India is very lucky to have had Dhirubhai Ambani and others like him. To overcome all those odds and still succeed, takes guts and determination. Dhirubhai had ample amounts of both. Thanks to people like him, today India has a stature of its own among the nations of the world. There have been others too, who have given the country as much, Narayana Murthy being a top of the mind recall. And I feel naturally proud that I am born in the same land as such great men.