India West (USA) Apr 18, 1997
Koyla: The Movie Which Nearly Killed Shah Rukh
"After Karan Arjun I was wondering what story I would make into a film," film maker Raakesh Roshan reminisces. He had to be careful, he said, because he would have to think through what would work about a year and a half later, which is the typical gestation period for a film. He went around, keeping a careful eye on what other film makers were up to.
"One day I was taking a walk, and this idea came to me," he said. "It was going to be an intense love story," he reminisced. As a backdrop to the story, he settled on the dark and grisly socio-economic reality of coal fields.
Thus was Koyla born, the film for which ShahRukh Khan says he almost got killed doing an intrepid scene for the film, when he was set on fire for a stunt.
The film opens April 18 in major cities in the U.S.
Roshan chose ShahRukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit for the lead roles - "I could not choose newcomers for such an intense film," Roshan says. Shah Rukh plays the role of a mute person, and Madhuri is an innocent village belle. The two fall in love, but fail to express it before they get separated. Amrish Puri and Salim Ghouse play the villains, Amrish a cool, controlled possessive character and Salim a veritable terror who leaves mayhem in his wake. Johnny Lever provides the lighter moments. Rajesh Roshan scores music for Javed Akhtar's lyrics.
Raakesh Roshan has never been one to cut corners, and to shoot the film he literally scoured the length and breadth of India, ending up shooting in a remote part of Arunachal. "When we started from Guwahati, we did not know how long it would take," he said. After a 17-hour drive, they reached a remote outpost just two km away from the Chinese border. "The place is out of the world," he said.
The stunning visuals in the film bear testimony to that: breathtaking mountaintop vistas, a turquoise pool of water, and shadowy shades of mountains that fade off into the horizon, reminiscent of impressionistic Chinese water colors.
The film was also shot in Jaipur, in Ooty in the South, in Hyderabad in "the hottest place in Andhra Pradesh, a place that not many people in Hyderabad are aware off," Shah Rukh quips.
The action scenes are no less spectacular, the film maker says. There's a scene of a helicopter swooping down to nearly hit Shah Rukh, brinkmanship by the edge of a waterfall with a sheer drop, Wild West style stunts on moving trains, and of course, the climax.
The climactic scene became a real-life climax as Shah Rukh tried to do a stunt with himself on fire and burned himself and nearly asphyxiated, Roshan says.
A diffident Shah Rukh told Cine Blitz the whole story: "The shot has never been done in India before, I hear. I was set on fire from head to toe. Normally, people do these kinds of stunts with a face mask on.
"I did it without one. The shot was that Amrishji sets me on fire and flees from the scene of the crime, thinking I am dead. He gets into the train and then sees this ball of fire hurtling towards him.
"Even though you are wearing fire-proof clothes, when you are set on fire, there's is a good chance the fire could burn through them. I had the water gel but that keeps you safe for about 15 seconds.
"I nearly died of asphyxiation the last time I did the shot. When they set me on fire, it just engulfed me. The flames just shot up beyond control. I threw myself on the floor and all these people crowded around me, trying to put the fire off. They threw on wet blankets but that didn't help either. The flames just came back stronger every time they did that.
"Meanwhile, this young kid who was helping the others to douse the fire panicked badly because he thought my face had also caught fire. He started spraying carbon dioxide on my face. I just stopped breathing and couldn't inhale at all.
"It was quite frightening. I had a close shave with death that day."
Happily viewers can have it both ways: they can feel the spine-t
Koyla: The Movie Which Nearly Killed Shah Rukh
"After Karan Arjun I was wondering what story I would make into a film," film maker Raakesh Roshan reminisces. He had to be careful, he said, because he would have to think through what would work about a year and a half later, which is the typical gestation period for a film. He went around, keeping a careful eye on what other film makers were up to.
"One day I was taking a walk, and this idea came to me," he said. "It was going to be an intense love story," he reminisced. As a backdrop to the story, he settled on the dark and grisly socio-economic reality of coal fields.
Thus was Koyla born, the film for which ShahRukh Khan says he almost got killed doing an intrepid scene for the film, when he was set on fire for a stunt.
The film opens April 18 in major cities in the U.S.
Roshan chose ShahRukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit for the lead roles - "I could not choose newcomers for such an intense film," Roshan says. Shah Rukh plays the role of a mute person, and Madhuri is an innocent village belle. The two fall in love, but fail to express it before they get separated. Amrish Puri and Salim Ghouse play the villains, Amrish a cool, controlled possessive character and Salim a veritable terror who leaves mayhem in his wake. Johnny Lever provides the lighter moments. Rajesh Roshan scores music for Javed Akhtar's lyrics.
Raakesh Roshan has never been one to cut corners, and to shoot the film he literally scoured the length and breadth of India, ending up shooting in a remote part of Arunachal. "When we started from Guwahati, we did not know how long it would take," he said. After a 17-hour drive, they reached a remote outpost just two km away from the Chinese border. "The place is out of the world," he said.
The stunning visuals in the film bear testimony to that: breathtaking mountaintop vistas, a turquoise pool of water, and shadowy shades of mountains that fade off into the horizon, reminiscent of impressionistic Chinese water colors.
The film was also shot in Jaipur, in Ooty in the South, in Hyderabad in "the hottest place in Andhra Pradesh, a place that not many people in Hyderabad are aware off," Shah Rukh quips.
The action scenes are no less spectacular, the film maker says. There's a scene of a helicopter swooping down to nearly hit Shah Rukh, brinkmanship by the edge of a waterfall with a sheer drop, Wild West style stunts on moving trains, and of course, the climax.
The climactic scene became a real-life climax as Shah Rukh tried to do a stunt with himself on fire and burned himself and nearly asphyxiated, Roshan says.
A diffident Shah Rukh told Cine Blitz the whole story: "The shot has never been done in India before, I hear. I was set on fire from head to toe. Normally, people do these kinds of stunts with a face mask on.
"I did it without one. The shot was that Amrishji sets me on fire and flees from the scene of the crime, thinking I am dead. He gets into the train and then sees this ball of fire hurtling towards him.
"Even though you are wearing fire-proof clothes, when you are set on fire, there's is a good chance the fire could burn through them. I had the water gel but that keeps you safe for about 15 seconds.
"I nearly died of asphyxiation the last time I did the shot. When they set me on fire, it just engulfed me. The flames just shot up beyond control. I threw myself on the floor and all these people crowded around me, trying to put the fire off. They threw on wet blankets but that didn't help either. The flames just came back stronger every time they did that.
"Meanwhile, this young kid who was helping the others to douse the fire panicked badly because he thought my face had also caught fire. He started spraying carbon dioxide on my face. I just stopped breathing and couldn't inhale at all.
"It was quite frightening. I had a close shave with death that day."
Happily viewers can have it both ways: they can feel the spine-t
