The Guru

A fictionalized version of George Harrison's first visit to India, THE GURU is the story of a British rock star who makes a sojourn to India to learn the sitar from the master guru Ustad Zafar Khan. The spiritual serenity of the guru's home is then wrecked by a seige of female would-be students who want more of the rock star than the sitar.

Tom Pickle (Michael York) is the British rock star who travels to India to learn the sitar from Ustad Zafar Khan (Uptal Dutt). Much to the dismay of his aggressive agent Chris (Barry Foster), he leaves the money-making music world behind to learn about the exotic Indian instrument. Khan believes Tom lacks focus but has the talent, and a young hippie girl arrives (Rita Tushingham) who has the focus but not the natural talent that Tom possesses. There is a romantic angle between the hippie-girl Jenny and Tom, but it is more implied than demonstrated. Soon the Guru Khan is besieged by women who all try to capture his attention. He becomes frustrated over the lack of spiritual commitment of his students, as the rocker contemplates his return to swinging London town.