LesterKitamura4 at 17:08, 23 March 2026

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{{about|the 1997 movie|the village in Bangladesh|Koyla Union}}
{{short description|1997 film by Rakesh Roshan}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Koyla
| image = Koyla.jpg
| caption = Poster
| director = [[Rakesh Roshan]]
| producer = Rakesh Roshan
| writer = Anwar Khan (dialogues)
| screenplay = Ravi Kapoor [[Sachin Bhowmick]]
| story = Rakesh Roshan
| starring = [[Shah Rukh Khan]] [[Madhuri Dixit]] [[Amrish Puri]]
| music = [[Rajesh Roshan]]
| cinematography = Sameer Arya
| editing = [[Sanjay Verma]]
| studio = Filmkraft Productions Pvt. Ltd.
| distributor = [[Yash Raj Films]] [[Sony Pictures]]
| released = {{Film date|df=yes|1997|04|18|India}}
| runtime = 167 minutes
| country = India
| language = Hindi
| budget = {{Estimation}} {{INR|12 crore}}<ref name="BOI financials">{{Cite web |url=https://www.boxofficeindia.com/movie.php?movieid=2690 |title=Box Office India – Movie Financials |website=BoxOfficeIndia.com |access-date=5 June 2025}}</ref>
| gross = {{Estimation}} {{INR|28.05 crore}}<ref name="BOI financials" />
}}

'''''Koyla''''' ({{Translation}} Coal) is a 1997 Indian Hindi-language [[action film|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 Nagpal]], 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 {{INR}}28.05 crore worldwide against a budget of {{INR}}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 [[Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role|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 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.

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 that 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 who 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 when the DIG throws grenades at them only to be stopped by Shankar who later chases after and corners Raja, who begs for his life, pointing out that he raised Shankar but Shankar disregards this by saying it was to make him a slave. 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==
*[[Shahrukh Khan]] as Shanker
*[[Madhuri Dixit]] as Gauri
*[[Amrish Puri]] as Raja Saab
*[[Salim Ghouse]] as Brijwa Chaudhry
*[[Johnny Lever]] as Chhote
*[[Ashok Saraf]] as Ved "Vedji" Narayan
*[[Deepshikha Nagpal]] as Bindiya
*[[Jack Gaud]] as Ranbir Chauhan
*[[Ranjeet]] as Dilawar Bapat
*[[Mohnish Behl]] as Ashok Singh, Gauri's brother. (special appearance)
*[[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 (actor)|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 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 (sound system)|DTS]] [[5.1 surround sound]].

===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) & [[Jaswant Singh Rawat#Sela|Sela Lake]] near [[Jang Town]] north of [[Sela Tunnel]]/[[Sela Pass]] in [[Tawang district]] of [[Arunachal Pradesh]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Riba |first1=Moji |title=Lights, camera and anticipation {{!}} The Arunachal Times |url=https://arunachaltimes.in/index.php/2019/06/30/lights-camera-and-anticipation/ |access-date=15 July 2022 |publisher=The Arunachal Times |date=30 June 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Jung Falls: A Sensational Setting! - Be On The Road {{!}} Live your Travel Dream! |url=https://www.beontheroad.com/2011/01/jung-falls-sensational-setting.html |website=www.beontheroad.com |access-date=15 July 2022}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.filmfare.com/features/stars-and-their-injuries-14914-2.html | title=Stars and their injuries }}</ref> 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 ==
{{Infobox album
| name = Koyla
| type = [[Soundtrack album]]
| artist = [[Rajesh Roshan]]
| cover =
| alt =
| released = 1997
| recorded =
| venue =
| studio =
| genre = [[Film soundtrack|Feature film soundtrack]]
| length = 42:40
| label = [[Tips Music]]
| producer =
| prev_title =
| prev_year =
| next_title =
| next_year =
}}

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.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%;"
! # !! Title !! Singer(s)!! Length
|-
| 1.
| "Dekha Tujhe Toh"
| [[Kumar Sanu]], [[Alka Yagnik]]
| 07:32
|-
| 2.
| "Ghoongte Mein Chanda"
| [[Udit Narayan]]
| 06:17
|-
| 3.
| "Badan Juda Hote"
| Kumar Sanu, Preeti Singh
|10:30
|-
| 4.
| "Saanson Ki Mala"
|[[Kavita Krishnamurthy]]
| 06:47
|-
| 5.
| "Tanhai Tanhai"
| Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik
| 05:35
|-
| 6.
| "Bhang Ke Nashe"
| Alka Yagnik
| 06:07
|}

== Box office ==

''Koyla'' grossed {{INRConvert|25.91|c}} in India and $600,000 ({{INR|link=Indian rupee}}2.14 [[crore]]) in other countries, for a worldwide total of {{INRConvert|28.05|c}}, against its {{INRConvert|12|c}} budget. It had a worldwide opening weekend of {{INRConvert|5.39|c}}, and grossed {{INRConvert|9.60|c}} in its first week.<ref name="BOI financials" /> It is the 9th-highest-grossing Bollywood film of 1997 worldwide.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.boxofficeindia.com/hit-down.php?txtYearlyData=1990-1999&year=1997|title = Top Hits 1997 - - Box Office India}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7OxBCwAAQBAJ&dq=Koyla+Shah+Rukh&pg=PT212 | isbn=9788187108269 | title=Shah Rukh Can: The Story of the Man and Star Called Shah Rukh Khan | publisher=Om Books International }}</ref>

===India===

It opened on Friday, 18 April 1997, across 275 screens, and had a record opening of {{INRConvert|15|c}} nett. The film shared the record for the highest opening day with the previous record opener ''[[Trimurti (1995 film)|Trimurti]]'' which also grossed {{INRConvert|1.06|c}} nett on its opening day. It went on to break {{INRConvert|3.07|c}} nett opening weekend record set by ''Trimurti'', and recorded the highest ever opening weekend of {{INRConvert|3.10|c}} nett. It had a first week of {{INRConvert|5.52|c}} nett. The film earned a total of {{INRConvert|14.88|c}} nett.<ref name="BOI financials" />

===Overseas===

It earned $600,000 ({{INR|link=Indian rupee}}2.14 [[crore]]) outside India.<ref name="BOI financials" />

==Home media==

The film, after its 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.

{| class="wikitable" style="float:centre; width:45%; text-align:center;"
|+ ''''Koyla'''' worldwide collections breakdown
|-
! Territory
! Territory wise Collections break-up
|-
| rowspan="3" | India
| ''Nett Gross'': {{INRConvert|14.88|c}}
|-
| ''Distributor share'': {{INRConvert|8.36|c}}
|-
| ''Total Gross'': {{INRConvert|25.91|c}}
|-
|| International ''(Outside India)''
| $600,000 ({{INR|link=Indian rupee}}2.14 [[crore]])
|-
||'''Worldwide'''
| {{INRConvert|28.05|c}}
|}

== Awards ==
[[Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role]] - [[Amrish Puri]] - Nominated

== References ==
<references/>

== External links ==
* {{IMDb title|id=0136352|title=Koyla}}

{{Rakesh Roshan}}

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

Koyla - Revision history

LesterKitamura4 at 17:08, 23 March 2026