Koyla (1997) is not an ambitious film. It follows the
Generic Bollywood Action formula almost perfectly; there’s a saintly
hero avenging family wrongs in often ironic ways, a spunky heroine whose
virtue is in near constant danger, a truly despicable villain, a bad
girl who finds redemption in the hero’s goodness, generous comic relief,
the requisite song and dance numbers, and numerous explosions. If
you’re looking for innovative filmmaking, this isn’t it. Still, a
formulaic film can work if the execution is good, and in Koyla’s case . . . well, I’m getting ahead of myself.
Raja Saab (Amrish Puri, looking scarier than usual in a stringy white wig) owns the local coal mine. While Raja likes to play the benevolent ruler in public, speaking of his workers and their families as his children and making public amends when his brother (Salim Ghouse) harasses a girl. In private, of course, Raja is a monster of cruelty, casually murdering the father of the girl in question and then throwing the body to his dogs.
Cruelty isn’t Raja’s only vice; he keeps a woman (Deepshika) on hand to satisfy his monstrous lusts, but he can never quite manage to “complete the transaction”, leaving her to gaze longingly at Raja’s mute servant Shankar (Shahrukh Khan, looking more than a little like Rambo). One of his other servants (Ashok Saraf) suggests that the problem is her fault (riiiiight) and what he really needs to do is get a different girl. And it’s about this time that Raja catches sight of the lovely Gauri (Madhuri Dixit), who happens to be stoned out of her gourd thanks to a bizarre and pointless sequence involving marijuana-laced laddoo.
Raja decides that he must have Gauri. He sends an offer to her aunt and uncle, and they gleefully agree, but Gauri won’t marry anyone unless she sees him first. Mindful of his own hideousness, Raja sends a photo of Shankar instead. Gauri is suitably impressed, and the match is made. However, during the ceremony, Gauri catches sight of Shankar serving drinks; she peeks under Raja’s veil, and promptly swoons.
It’s not too hard to guess how things progress from here: Shankar and his ventriloquist best friend (Johny Lever) take pity on Gauri’s plight. Gauri is drawn to Shankar’s inner nobility. Forbidden love blossoms. When Gauri’s brother (Mohnish Bahl) tries to save her and winds up getting killed, Shankar and Gauri run into the jungle and manage to hide out successfully for a time, but in the end they’re caught. Raja cuts Shankar’s throat and tosses him off a cliff, then imprisons Gauri in a brothel, not realizing that Shankar has survived, and will be taking righteous vengeance very, very soon.
There are serious problems with the plotting in Koyla. Many revelations come too late; by the time Shankar’s tragic past is revealed, he’s already planning on killing the bad guys, and the only real result is that a few names are added to the hit list. And even then, the film seems to lose interest in ironic justice, so the last couple of killings happen in the same place and at nearly the same time.
Still, theme is handled very competently. The title is used quite effectively during the climax on both a literal and symbolic level (Koyla translating as “coal” or “ember”, as near as I can tell). More impressively, there’s a very well-presented undercurrent of deception running through the film that goes well beyond Johny Lever’s ventriloquism and Raja’s stunt with the photos. Every major character in the film pretends to be someone or something else at one point or other.
Speaking of Johny Lever, he has an unusually good part in Koyla. While he does indeed provide comic relief, his character is not a buffoon. He’s compassionate, reasonably intelligent and competent, making an effective sidekick. Even the ventriloquism is presented as a useful skill rather than an annoying quirk.
I found Koyla more entertaining than it really had any right to be. The pacing is off, the characters are paper-thin, the brothel subplot is more than a little exploitative, and even the action and special effects are mediocre at best. Still, there’s a tremendous energy to the production, and I couldn’t help but be caught up in it. it’s a formula picture, but it uses that formula well.
Raja Saab (Amrish Puri, looking scarier than usual in a stringy white wig) owns the local coal mine. While Raja likes to play the benevolent ruler in public, speaking of his workers and their families as his children and making public amends when his brother (Salim Ghouse) harasses a girl. In private, of course, Raja is a monster of cruelty, casually murdering the father of the girl in question and then throwing the body to his dogs.
Cruelty isn’t Raja’s only vice; he keeps a woman (Deepshika) on hand to satisfy his monstrous lusts, but he can never quite manage to “complete the transaction”, leaving her to gaze longingly at Raja’s mute servant Shankar (Shahrukh Khan, looking more than a little like Rambo). One of his other servants (Ashok Saraf) suggests that the problem is her fault (riiiiight) and what he really needs to do is get a different girl. And it’s about this time that Raja catches sight of the lovely Gauri (Madhuri Dixit), who happens to be stoned out of her gourd thanks to a bizarre and pointless sequence involving marijuana-laced laddoo.
Raja decides that he must have Gauri. He sends an offer to her aunt and uncle, and they gleefully agree, but Gauri won’t marry anyone unless she sees him first. Mindful of his own hideousness, Raja sends a photo of Shankar instead. Gauri is suitably impressed, and the match is made. However, during the ceremony, Gauri catches sight of Shankar serving drinks; she peeks under Raja’s veil, and promptly swoons.
It’s not too hard to guess how things progress from here: Shankar and his ventriloquist best friend (Johny Lever) take pity on Gauri’s plight. Gauri is drawn to Shankar’s inner nobility. Forbidden love blossoms. When Gauri’s brother (Mohnish Bahl) tries to save her and winds up getting killed, Shankar and Gauri run into the jungle and manage to hide out successfully for a time, but in the end they’re caught. Raja cuts Shankar’s throat and tosses him off a cliff, then imprisons Gauri in a brothel, not realizing that Shankar has survived, and will be taking righteous vengeance very, very soon.
There are serious problems with the plotting in Koyla. Many revelations come too late; by the time Shankar’s tragic past is revealed, he’s already planning on killing the bad guys, and the only real result is that a few names are added to the hit list. And even then, the film seems to lose interest in ironic justice, so the last couple of killings happen in the same place and at nearly the same time.
Still, theme is handled very competently. The title is used quite effectively during the climax on both a literal and symbolic level (Koyla translating as “coal” or “ember”, as near as I can tell). More impressively, there’s a very well-presented undercurrent of deception running through the film that goes well beyond Johny Lever’s ventriloquism and Raja’s stunt with the photos. Every major character in the film pretends to be someone or something else at one point or other.
Speaking of Johny Lever, he has an unusually good part in Koyla. While he does indeed provide comic relief, his character is not a buffoon. He’s compassionate, reasonably intelligent and competent, making an effective sidekick. Even the ventriloquism is presented as a useful skill rather than an annoying quirk.
I found Koyla more entertaining than it really had any right to be. The pacing is off, the characters are paper-thin, the brothel subplot is more than a little exploitative, and even the action and special effects are mediocre at best. Still, there’s a tremendous energy to the production, and I couldn’t help but be caught up in it. it’s a formula picture, but it uses that formula well.
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