Koyla is the agonizing love story of two people damaged by an evil tyrant (Amrish Puri, who despite having to say, "Bloody fool" about 1000 times too many, is a quite dynamic insane villain). SRK plays this role of the mute, slavishly loyal, horribly abused Shenkar with his usual zest and charisma, somehow pulling off sexy despite all odds. (how does he DO that????)
Madhuri takes a tough role (the victim is always underrated) and makes it convincing, beautiful, strong, and empathetic, also against all expectation. This film vascillates widely between DDLJ, Forrest Gump, and Rambo. It is in turn sensual, achingly romantic, horribly bloody, and heartbreaking. By the end, I was so tired I was almost too exhausted to cheer the happy ending. But that didn't stop me from loving, LOVING this film.
This is actually the second go-round for me on Dil To Pagal Hai, and I still can't quite decide how I feel about it. There were some moments of greatness:
SRK was yummy throughout the film, managing to make even a ridiculous fear of dogs and a TOTAL lack of sensitivity to his in-love best friend (played pretty well by Karisma Kapoor) adorable. Madhuri's dancing is just lovely, showing off her amazing versatility. The two of them have ka-BAM on-screen chemistry. And yet, for all that, this movie just doesn't make it to the "Tier 1 Must-See" list for me. Some of it I can pinpoint: while many of my favorite Bollywood films are very dated in costuming, makeup, and hair, this film seems to have an unusual problem in that regard. Those dance outfits???? Yeesh - painful. And along the same lines, some of the dancing has a strange, out-of-time quality: it's as if they were trying to catch the vibe of the late 80's, but missed it somehow. The opening scene of the movie, the dancing of Pooja's (Maya's) first rehearsal, the Thunderdome-style dance-off between the girls: all of this left me surprisingly cold. Maybe my age makes me particularly sensitive to these items - it might just be that they're too close for comfort! I have to admit that, as a die-hard, still working through my puppy love fan of SRK, I enjoyed this film; and, if you are a fan of either of these actors, you will too. If you're just getting into Bollywood, it's a fun starter film.
However...If I were to watch one of these over again, it would be Koyla. There's just something delicious about that slightly nutty Shah Rukh Khan that gets me every time...and I'm fairly sure that it says something disturbing about my personality!
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