Coolie

"Coolie" is a film with something for everyone. We have plenty of action for macho guys, a love story for the ladies, and even political and social themes for artsy folks such as myself. Of course this is nothing new for a Bollywood movie, they are designed to reach as wide an audience as possible. What made "Coolie" stand out for me however, was the way "Coolie" turned everything up a notch. There was more action! More Romance! More elaborate musical numbers! It was almost as if the movie was defying other Bollywood films to try and top it. Of course, it's not just the over the top quality that makes the film memorable. "Coolie" combines the spectacular action and musical scenes with a genuine sense of style. Most importantly however, it is the presence of the legendary Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan that makes the film a fulfilling piece of entertainment.

Most Bollywood films are fairly easy to follow, since the producers know what their audience wants, and time and time again recycle the same story elements (examples being "Mother India" [1957] and "Deewar" [1975], two very different films on the surface, but with almost identical story lines). Although Coolie contains many of the classic thematic elements of many Bollywood movies (absent fathers, a quest for revenge, the "little guy" standing up against a powerful villain), it also differs from the norm in many ways. The plot is much more complicated and difficult to follow than most Bollywood movies (there are about five story lines happening at once), but the action set pieces and musical numbers help distract from that minor problem.

Indeed it is the action scenes that are the major attractions of "Coolie". These have to be the most surreal, artfully constructed action scenes I've ever witnessed. In many other Bollywood films, the action is kind of slap-dash, with actors running around hitting each other randomly, while the camera doesn't seem to know what to shoot. Although of course in "Coolie" the action scenes are fast paced and energetic, the directors Manmohan Desai and Prayag Raj infuse smooth tracking shots, slow motion and freeze frames. This could threaten to turn the action scenes into cheesy John Woo style set pieces, where the action scenes look more like a karaoke video, but Desai and Raj wisely keep a sense of humour to the proceedings. Possibly the strangest and most striking action moment comes towards the end. At one point Amitabh Bachchan is thrown against a table. Suddenly, the frame freezes. A title appears on the screen: "Amitabh Bachchan was seriously injured during this shot". The freeze frame ends, and the scene continues as if nothing had happened! Apparently there really is something for everyone, action, music, and even news!

Unfortunately, it's impossible for me to explore the film as deeply as I would like to here, but I wouldn't want to finish before briefly discussing Amitabh Bachchan's star persona. I understand why he is a legend in India. He absolutely commands this film. From his introduction (a hawk lands on his arm, and the camera slowly pans to reveal his face), even those not familiar with him know they are in store for something special. Bachchan proves himself to be adept at not only fierce action, but comedy as well, as evidenced by a goofy but funny scene where his female captive tricks him into getting his legs stuck over his head. Now I'm not trying to say that Bachchan is God's gift to the art of acting, but he does what he does well, and there is no denying that, regardless of your usual cinematic tastes (I'm more partial to Ray, Ghatak, and Sen films myself), Coolie is superior entertainment.

This is a movie which's clips will be shown on every channel when GOD Amitabh comes to die, i hope at least a hundred years from now. Because this is the movie in which that Punneet issar guy almost killed Amitabh bachchan during the shooting. About the movie itself, not the best Amitabh-Rishi movie, not the best Amitabh-Manmohan Desai movie (though not as bad as Ganga Jamuna Saraswati), actually not the best Amitabh movie. Worse is that you have Suresh Oberoi in it. rati Agnihotri is the leading lady. Okay, so they couldn't get Hema, Parveen or Zeenat, at least take jaya Pradha. The director has a song in this movie which says it all about the movie " accident hogaya rabba rabba" . But i may be prejudiced because they actually freeze the shot where Amit gets hurt and you see the man inb pain. And to see that happening to The Man who has given me and so many other people hours and hours and hours of joy in our life through his movies is painful. But to be a real bachchan fan, you need to own this movie just for the historic value

True, this was brilliant movie with a little bit of everything in it. Despite his injury, Amitabh was brilliant and i especially like the ending, he thanked all his fans world wide for the support they gave him after the accident on set. Something worthwhile watching.

well, we all know that Manmohan Desai's movies are completely devoid of logic but yet are entertaining and paisa wasool. Coolie is remembered for Amitabh's unfortunate accident which gave the movie a lot of publicity.

The movie is pretty entertaining,but would come after Amar Akbar Anthony,Naseeb,Suhaag and Parvarish among other Amitabh and Manmohan Desai movies.

The action and comedy scenes are good. Amitabh is excellent as usual, specially his introductory scene is awesome,Waheeda Rehman is pretty good,Kader Khan is alright,Rishi Kapoor does not has much to do,Rati Agnihotri looks beautiful and does a good job. Rest of the cast is just OK, but the guy who plays Amitabh's uncle ,a coolie himself who brings him up does a very good job.

Direction by Manmohan Desai is not at par with his previous work and there are certain parts in the second half of the movie where too many coincidences start taking place,and logic takes a complete backseat which is a bit much even for a Manmohan Desai film.

The music by Laxmikant Pyarelal is average and some songs come as a hindrance in the story narrative, with the song "saari duniya ka bojh" being the best one, which shows the problems faced by coolies in their day to day life

A DECENT AND ENJOYABLE ONE TIME WATCH mainly due to Amitabh's powerhouse performance as the macho coolie iqbal which is the primary reason that this movie became the biggest superhit of 1983.

This is among my favourite Bollywood films of all time. I grew up watching this film and have seen it 100s of time. this is one movie i never get bored watching. Amitabh in a powerhouse performance. This is the movie which shooked India, when Amitabh was injured on sets. In the original script Amitabh was suppose to die, but the script got changed and dedicated to his survival. The movie has great music, my favourite among the songs are Lambujee. It had Action, romance, comedy, family drama and the regular Bollywood Masala. It was an instant classic with a Brilliant Opening. It did great financially and is one of the Biggest Films of the 80s in Bollywood. The actress Rati was pretty good looking and decent. Rishi Kapoor was amusing as the supporting character. Kader Khan is great as the villain of the movie. A MUST SEE