Koyla

''Koyla'' ( Coal) is a 1997 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed, co-written and produced by Rakesh Roshan starring Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit and Amrish Puri in lead roles with Johnny Lever, Ashok Saraf, Salim Ghouse, Deepshikha and Himani Shivpuri in supporting roles. Mohnish Bahl makes a special appearance. The film was released worldwide on 18 April 1997 and declared an average grosser at the box office, earning over 28.05 crore worldwide against a budget of 11.90 crore. Koyla emerged as the 8th most successful film of 1997 in India. Critics praised the action sequences performed by Khan. The film also earned Amrish Puri a Best Villain nomination at the 43rd Filmfare Awards. Some scenes were shot in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh. This is the third and final collaboration between Shah Rukh Khan and Rakesh Roshan.

Plot

Handsome but mute, Shankar is raised by the powerful Raja, to whom he is loyal. Raja treats him like a slave though. Raja's brother Brijwa, a violent psychopath habitually beats Shankar.

A ruthless and cruel man with a large appetite for young women, Raja kills anyone who dares to defy him. When Raja sees Gauri, a pretty and innocent villager, he decides to marry her and sends her a photo of Shankar so Gauri will agree to marry.

During the wedding ceremony Gauri discovers that Shankar isn't her groom and faints. Raja however orders the priest to continue. When she regains consciousness, Gauri is shocked to see Raja trying to consummate their marriage. When she resists Raja imprisons her and tortures her.

Gauri tries to commit suicide but Shankar saves her. She accuses him of ruining her life but soon realizes he is innocent. When Gauri's brother Ashok visits them, Raja forces Gauri to lie that she is happy. Shankar reveals the truth to Ashok by writing in the dirt Raja and Brijwa kill Ashok when he tries to rescue his sister. Ashok makes Shankar promise that he will save Gauri and dies.

Gauri and Shankar flee Raja's mansion. Enraged, Raja sets a search in motion with the help of a corrupt DIG. After a long chase through the jungle and mountains, Shankar kills Raja's men. Gauri and Shankar begin to fall in love. Raja captures them by shooting Gauri in the arm.

Shankar is brutally beaten by Brijwa, and the corrupt DIG, and Raja slits his throat, leaving him to die in the mountains. Gauri is sold to a brothel after Raja discovers she loves Shankar. There, Bindiya, Raja's former lover who was disowned by him after she too fell for Shankar saves Gauri. Brijwa at his brother's orders, humiliates Bindiya in public and stabs her.

Shankar is saved by a village boy who brings him to his grandfather (a healer), who operates on his throat while he is still unconscious. The healer, who discovers that Shankar is not mute by birth, is able to repair some of the damaged nerves in Shankar's throat, enabling him to speak. While recovering, Shankar recalls that when he was a boy, his father discovered diamonds in the coal mine and then his parents were murdered by two mysterious men; when young Shankar threatened to tell the news to family friends someone shoved hot coals into his throat, rendering him mute.

Shankar returns to the mansion and kills Brijwa. He rescues Gauri from the same men that had killed his parents, killing one of them in the process. Shankar discovers that Raja was responsible for making him mute and ordering his parents to be killed so he could steal their wealth. He reunites with Raja's doctor and son and with their help kills Raja's henchman and reveals Raja's crimes to the coal miners.

Gauri arrives with her uncle and aunt, forcing them to admit their involvement in making her marry Raja. Raja's doctor and his son turn against him, revealing that he not only deceived Gauri, but is also responsible for numerous killings and rapes. Chaos follows among the mine workers. Shankar corners Raja, who begs for his life. After dodging a pickaxe thrown at him, Shankar kills Raja by spilling oil and coal around him and setting him on fire with a burning rock. Shankar and Gauri embrace each other.

Cast

*Shah Rukh Khan as Shankar Hariya Thakur
*Madhuri Dixit as Gauri Singh
*Amrish Puri as Raja Choudhury
*Salim Ghouse as Brijwa Choudhury
*Johnny Lever as Chhote
*Ashok Saraf as Ved "Vedji" Narayan
*Deepshikha Nagpal as Bindiya
*Jack Gaud as Ranbir Chauhan
*Ranjeet as Dilawar Bapat
* Mohnish Bahl as Ashok Singh
*Himani Shivpuri as Chanda Bai
*Suresh Chatwal as Sanjay Singh
*Shubha Khote as Sumitra Singh
*Razak Khan as Anand Godbole
*Kunika as Rasili
*Vikas Anand as Hariya Thakur
* Pradeep Rawat as Police Commissioner Kashinath
*Dev Malhotra
*Rammohan Sharma

Production

Development

Rakesh Roshan got the idea of making ''Koyla'' when he was shooting for his other directorial venture '' Karobaar: The Business of Love'' in 1992, which got delayed and finally released in 2000. ''Koyla'' tells the story of a simple-hearted village girl who falls in love with her torturing husband's mute servant who then takes revenge against his boss. The film was also Rakesh Roshan's first film to feature DTS 5.1 surround sound.

Casting

Roshan had approached Sunny Deol for the role of Shankar after watching the latter's action scenes in the 1996 films '' Jeet'' and '' Ghatak: Lethal''. Due to unknown reasons, Deol rejected the role. Roshan offered the role to Shah Rukh Khan, who had worked with him in '' King Uncle'' (1993) and ''Karan Arjun'' (1995).

Sonali Bendre was the initial choice to play Gauri but Roshan later signed Madhuri Dixit. Koyla marked the second collaboration between Khan and Dixit following ''Anjaam'' (1994) after which they also starred in ''Dil To Pagal Hai'' (1997), '' Gaja Gamini'' (2000), ''Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam'' (2002) and ''Devdas'' (2002).

Filming

Principal photography of ''Koyla'' began in June 1996. A song of the film, ''Tanhai Tanhai'', and some of the scenes, were shot at the Nuranang Falls (the Jang Falls) & Sela Lake near Jang Town north of Sela Tunnel/Sela Pass in Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh. Other scenes were also filmed in Hyderabad and south areas of Ooty.

During the shooting of the film's one of the popular songs, ''Ghungte Mein Chanda'', Khan fractured his leg. The other song of the film, ''Dekha Tujhe Toh'', was to be therefore exited from the film because of his fracture, but after Khan's leg got fully well, the song was shot. The sound of real pots were used for the background music of ''Dekha Tujhe Toh''.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was very popular especially track "Dekha Tujhe Toh" & "Ghoongte Mein Chanda". According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 18,00,000 units sold the soundtrack became the thirteen highest-selling album of the year.

Box office

''Koyla'' grossed in India and $600,000 (2.14 crore) in other countries, for a worldwide total of , against its budget. It had a worldwide opening weekend of , and grossed in its first week. It is the 9th-highest-grossing Bollywood film of 1997 worldwide.

India

It opened on Friday, 18 April 1997, across 275 screens, and had a record opening of nett. The film shared the record for the highest opening day with the previous record opener ''Trimurti'' which also grossed nett on its opening day. It went on to break nett opening weekend record set by ''Trimurti'', and recorded highest ever opening weekend of nett. It had a first week of nett. The film earned a total of nett.

Overseas

It earned $600,000 (2.14 crore) outside India.

Home Media

The film after release, saw a home media launch on VHS, VCD and DVD over the next ten years of its release. There has not been a Blu-ray Disc, or subsequent release since then.

Awards

Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role - Amrish Puri - Nominated

References

External links

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{{Rakesh Roshan

1997 films
1990s Hindi-language films
1997 action thriller films
Indian action thriller films
Films shot in Arunachal Pradesh
Indian films about revenge
Films directed by Rakesh Roshan
Films scored by Rajesh Roshan
1990s masala films
Films with screenplays by Sachin Bhowmick
Films about rape in India
Indian rape and revenge films
Tawang Town