Koyla

I remember I saw this movie when it first came out in 1997 it was on TV and my eyes were locked on the screen during the opening credits with the fire all around and heart touching music. It was about 3 hours and I enjoyed every second. The film was so emotional and I loved the story about Raja a sadistic rich old man and has a dumb servant Shankar who gets treated like a dog. One day Raja seen a young village girl Gauri and sent her a photo of Shankar. Gauri liked him and agreed to marry but Raja was in his place during the so called marriage and now she is trapped in his mansion. Shankar felt really sorry for Gauri and after a really bad incident Shankar was provoked, he took Gauri & ran out and that is where the action starts with many unpredictable twists & turns. Koyla was inspired by many action movies including Rambo: First Blood & Hard Target but it doesn't mean that the film is bad. Directed by one of my most favourite directors Rakesh Roshan, his films always took Bollywood to a new level e.g. Koi Mil Gaya was the first Indian sci-fi & Krrish is the first superhero movie. Overall Koyla is a very unforgettable film, it is 10 years old & I still love it.

That's what the movie is, actually. The acting, the story, and the action are all over the top. SRK and MD are the only thing salvageable (besides the guy from Temple of Doom ^_^). Seriously, though, my main beef with the movie stems from the fact that it unabashedly uses the soundtrack from 1492:The Conquest of Paradise and DOES NOT CREDIT THIS USAGE. If you're going to use a theme over and over again in the movie, please, credit it somewhere. If you're going to use the exact music from the movie, then I do expect them to add it somewhere in the credits. If I am wrong, please correct me. As a fan of Vangelis, I'm insulted.

How incredibly lame.

I was forced to see this movie by my college professor. I didn't like the idea of seeing a foreign file with english subtitles and thought it would be boring. I, along with my classmates, was completely wrong. The movie was wonderful. It was truly a heartbreaker and so non-American (if you know what I mean). It's a wonderful movie, see it if you have the chance-you won't regret it.

I feel that this film, while it had potential, failed to live up to expectations. While the first was entertaining, containing romance, drama, and several good songs, the second half dragged considerably. I would warn potential viewers that this film is graphically, and often unnecessarily violent, especially against women. The performances.... Madhuri was good as ever, although she was not given nearly enough to do in the second half, seeming to fulfill a decorative function only. Amrish Puri plays a typical bolly villain with his usual booming voice. Shahrukh plays the cute, mute hero well, however his transition to angry, avenging young man seems too far fetched. on the whole, i would not rate this film as a wonderful or warm movie.

"Bloody ape!!!", Rajasaheb (Amrish Puri) mutters.

Folks, Bollywood action films are NEVER merely action films--they are often a fabulously preposterous melding of action, romance, comedy, and musical genres INTO ONE FILM! In fact, many of the Bollywood films I've had the pleasure of seeing simply do NOT conform to any of the narrow genres that U.S. audiences are accustomed to. Sure, we have hybrids such as the "romantic-comedy" and "comedy-horror", and perhaps even "action-thriller-romance"...but we ain't got NOTHIN' equivalent to the glorious Bollywood-type films from south asia (India in particular).

One moment Koyla is a brutal action flick a la Bronson (gratuitous and graphic violence and carnage), the next moment Shah Rukh Khan is lip-syncing cheezy-yet-infectious pop music to the woman he loves (yes, my friends, musicals CAN kick butt), followed by Shah Rukh Khan's comedic thwarting of his persuers, only to be jolted back by the ruthlessness of Rajasaheb (an over-the-top-to-the-point-of-insanity performance by the veteran actor Amrish Puri, who played Mola Ram in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom").

Amrish Puri can certainly play a villain: but whereas the character of Mola Ram is a generic, arbitrary villain, the character of Rajasaheb is truly despicable because the audience witnesses the injustices he perpetrates. ("Give me a compelling reason to hate the bad guy and root for Indiana", I demanded. Spielberg fails to do so, and so i have always rooted for Mola Ram in "Temple of Doom". Similarly, I rallied behind the Decepticons and C.O.B.R.A. in my youth as a T.V. casualty. But honestly, what did you expect from a crapmaster like Spielberg?).

Ahh, Rajasaheb is a bad-guy you love to hate! Actually, "bad guy" is an understatement--he's a "loveable elderly sadist"--and I guarantee that you, too, will love to hate Rajasaheb! A convincing antagonist is a crucial ingredient for any action film because it drives the whole drama of the film. Unfortunately, few films successfully succeed in delivering a villain you love to hate. Koyla delivers.

Shah Rukh Khan is great as well and really hams up his performance playing Shanker. (I must, however, admit that i am a sucker for any film starring Shah Rukh Khan. I encourage you to see all his films--even the countless bollywood "romantic-comedies" that he is in--you will rarely be disappointed).

KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN for one of the most ludicrous, ridiculous, & insanely POOR special effects occurring at the CLIMAX of this film. Without spoiling this cinematic delight, let me simply say that it involves an axe, slow-motion, etc... Even if we ignore the poorly executed FX, the heavy-handed use of slo-mo harkens back to the glory days of prime-cheeze-USA-action films circa 1980's.

SEE THIS FILM NOW. Even if you hate the film, you'll dig the musical sequences with the bangra-hindi-pop music. Yes, the actors are lip-syncing to other artists' songs--but you won't care.

Bonus trivia: "Koyla" means "coal", by the way. Now do you see the significance of the this film's title?

IF YOU LIKE KOYLA, but want more blood and less comedy, then I recommend Shakti: The Power (2002). Shah Rukh Khan has a minor part in it, providing the only levity in an otherwise brutal film (the spirit of Cannon's action films of the 80's lives on!!!)