Koyla

About the film

Koyla (transl. Coal) is a 1997 Indian Hindi-language action drama film directed, co-written and produced by Rakesh Roshan. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit and Amrish Puri in lead roles with Johnny Lever, Ashok Saraf, Salim Ghouse, Deepshikha Nagpal, and Himani Shivpuri in supporting roles. Mohnish Bahl makes a special appearance.

The film was released worldwide on 18 April 1997 and was declared an average grosser at the box-office, earning over ₹28.05 crore worldwide against a budget of ₹12 crore. Koyla emerged as the 8th highest-grosing film of 1997 in India.

Plot

Shankar, a handsome and kind hearted young man who is also mute, has been raised by the powerful Raja, to whom he is loyal, since the death of his parents when he was a child. Raja treats him like a slave, though. Raja's brother Brijwa, a violent psychopath habitually beats Shankar.

A ruthless 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 that 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.

Production

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 was 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.

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 was used for the background music of Dekha Tujhe Toh.

Soundtrack

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

Box office

Koyla grossed ₹25.91 crore (US$2.7 million) in India and $600,000 (₹2.14 crore) in other countries, for a worldwide total of ₹28.05 crore (US$2.9 million), against its ₹12 crore (US$1.3 million) budget. It had a worldwide opening weekend of ₹5.39 crore (US$560,000), and grossed ₹9.60 crore (US$1.0 million) in its first week. It is the 9th-highest-grossing Bollywood film of 1997 worldwide.

It opened on Friday, 18 April 1997, across 275 screens, and had a record opening of ₹15 crore (US$1.6 million) nett. The film shared the record for the highest opening day with the previous record opener Trimurti which also grossed ₹1.06 crore (US$110,000) nett on its opening day. It went on to break ₹3.07 crore (US$320,000) nett opening weekend record set by Trimurti, and recorded the highest ever opening weekend of ₹3.10 crore (US$320,000) nett. It had a first week of ₹5.52 crore (US$580,000) nett. The film earned a total of ₹14.88 crore (US$1.6 million) nett.

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

Key details