We watch Hrithik open-mouthed, playing —if ‘playing’ is the right word for what he does– the mentally challenged Rohit in his father’s new sure-to-score mass entertainer.
As the young engaging actor creates a new definition of screen heroism (wimpy is cool!) Hrithik’s father, not unlike the scientist he plays in Koi…Mil Gaya who invents a computer to make contact with aliens, invents a new genre and definition of mass entertainment.
Koi…Mil Gaya is partly a sci-fi flick. The second-half where Rohit and his friends rescue and befriend a bereft extra-terrestrial are profoundly influenced by Steven Spielberg’s ET. The robot that the Australian designers James Colmer and Lara Denman have built for Rakesh Roshan isn’t the last word in whiz –kick.
But what the ‘hick’! We’re emotional Indians. We love our cinema to project larger-than-life emotions in palatable portions. That’s where Koi…Mil Gaya really scores. It’s a truly ingenious indigenous film with universal human feelings that control the plot’s destiny with fine-tuned delicacy.
The anguish of the mentally challenged protagonist is brought out in brilliantly written scenes, sometimes funny sometimes sad but always moving. The narrative pacing specially in the first- half is so unhurried and yet so absorbing that we’re one with Rohit’s adventures from the word go.
As a director, Rakesh Roshan has never been more sure-handed in his vision of quality entertainment. He marries massy elements in the plot with an astute aesthetic integrity that penetrates from the smooth surface to the heart of this tale of frail bondings. The hill-station setting is wonderfully apt for the tale. The director merges stunningly scenic foreign landscapes into his small-town tale without creating any jerks in the continuity. While the small town in Sooraj Barjatya’s Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon looked like New Zealand gone awry, Rakesh Roshan takes us exactly where he wants his plot and characters to go—emotionally and geographically.
Sure, the peripheral characters such as the district collector (Prem Chopra) and his bully of a son (Rajat Bedi) grate on your nerves. Wisely the narrative focuses on Rohit’s various relationships with terrestrial and extra-terrestrial creatures and how they finally help him to attain ‘normalcy’ rather than go off into tangents.
Rohit’s sequences with his mother (Rekha), girlfriend (Preity Zinta) and his inner circle of diminutive pals are all done up in deep and potent colours. Hrithik Roshan is undoubtedly the lynchpin on which Rakesh Roshan’s sleek spiral of mellow masala –dossier hinges. It’s hard to imagine any actor from any part of the world playing Rohit with such supreme sensitivity and conviction.
Hrithik combines the character’s vulnerability and powerlessness with a tremendous sense of dignity and fun. Watching him go through his painful evolution from fragile determination to heartwrenching adulthood is an enriching experience for the audience. This is a performance that possesses the power and potency to change our perceptions of life, on how ‘the weak’ in our society need to be held in compassion, not contempt. When Rohit gently reminds a teacher of his obligations to those who need special attention, we the audience feel touched in places in our hearts that cinema doesn’t generally reach.
Leaving the loin behind this once, Koi..Mil Gaya creates a blueprint for the heart. You wish there was some way the film could’ve avoided the pitfalls of alchemizing the graceful sensitivity of a full heart into the ostentatious mass appeal of a calculating mind. Rakesh Roshan takes that steep leap from sensitivity to market-reality without breaking the narrative’s spine.
Even in its post-interval masala avtaar the film does fine. At times, though, Rohit’s ‘transformation’ into a typical screen hero becomes obtrusive, specially in the song Haila haila or, in the worse sequence of the film, Rohit suddenly lectures the stunned congregation on the definitions and types of madness.
Barring the outer space elements the film is technically brilliant. Though the cinematography is shared by Ravi K. Chandran and Samir Arya, there’s not a split-second of unevenness in the storytelling. The art direction and choreography are inventive and new-fangled. Hrithik’s dancing-in-the-rain in Idhar chala main udhar chala would’ve made even Fred Astaire stare. He takes film dancing beyond anything choreographically conceivable. Hrithik dances how the mentally challenged Rohit would dance if he were a fan of Hrithik Roshan. Indeed, there are no words to describe what this dynamo of personality transference has achieved under his father’s stewardship.
Preity Zinta as Rohit’s gradually sensitised girlfriend is …Preity Zinta! Rekha as the mother, is ravishingly framed. She brings forward the anguish of Rohit’s mother without turning maudlin. Her outburst before her son’s tormentors where she’s thankful her son doesn’t abide by normal standards of normalcy, is a classic piece of ‘subtle rabblerousing’. And if that sounds like a contradiction in terms, then you aren’t familiar with the rudiments of sensible commercial filmmaking.
Rakesh Roshan bends the rules of mass entertainment without breaking any. The film is young vibrant and appealing without looking flamboyant and overly hip. Alas, the compassion that Hrithik’s eyes exude cannot be matched by those in the eyes of the robotic alien. But that’s okay. Koi …Mil Gaya is about re-discovering the artless charms of mainstream Hindi cinema. And we have Hrithik Roshan’s flawless take on the politics of innocence to carry the film’s fragile plot to a triumphant ending.
The special effects aren’t the most special aspect of the film. Hrithik is.
When Rakesh Roshan’s Koi…Mil Gaya was released there was a dispute among experts on what sort of a psychological ailment Hrithik Roshan’s character suffered from.
In an interview with this writer on the eve of the film’s release Hrithik shared, “My character Rohit is not autistic. He is born with a deficient part in his brain. He is mentally ten years behind other people his age. Rohit isn’t a loser. He’s quite smart, actually. Just not adult smart. Unlike other actors playing mentally challenged characters, I had to make Rohit look smart. He’s always playing pranks on supposedly normal guys twice his size. Dad is right when he says Koi… Mil Gaya is my chance to connect with my young fans.”
Hrithik bragged, “No star in Bollywood has ever attempted this role. It was a big risk for me, my dad and the film industry. My character had no reference points. There was no film or novel to be inspired by. Everything had to come from within me. I had to work on my body language, speech, everything. I’ve seen mentally challenged characters played in an extreme manner, like Sridevi in Sadma. She played a complete child, and did it brilliantly. I’d have loved to do that. But Dad had something tougher in mind. He didn’t want me to regress to being a complete child nor did he want me to be autistic. He wanted me to play a normal 11 year old trying to behave like a grownup man.”
Hrithik described his method acting in getting into his character. “So, first, I had to become this 11 year old, and from there I had to look strong and capable. Do you know what I’m saying? I had to find that 11-year-old boy within me. And that was just the beginning of my problems. Then, I had to interact constantly with six other children on screen. So my performance couldn’t be judged in isolation. I had to look like I belonged to that group. If I went wrong, I’d be found out in the first frame. All my buddies in Koi… Mil Gaya came up to my knees (laughs). That itself could have thrown me off course. That was scary.
To add to my woes, this 11-year-old child I played had to undergo a transformation. I had to tear away bits of Rohit’s childhood in every scene in a very subtle way. To keep Rohit’s graph going through several intermittent schedules was amazing.”
In addition, India’s own Brando had other assignments on his plate. “I was also doing three other films — Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon, Mujhse Dosti Karoge and Na Tum Jaano Na Hum — at the same time. I was tearing my hair before every schedule of Koi… Mil Gaya. I made sure I had at least a day’s break to get into character.I needed a secluded place where there would be no visitors or phones. I would just sit and go through the script. It used to overwhelm me each time. I’d be choked with emotion. I realised the essence of being a child was happiness. Kids always try to find reasons to get happy. I sat there in the hotel room trying to make myself happy. I binged on chocolates and cakes not caring about my weight. I watched all my favourite films when I was a kid, like Superman. It was the first film I saw.”
Hrithik felt he had evolved since he made his debut in Kaho Na..Pyaar Hai. “I think I was far more organised and prepared when I did Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai. During Koi… Mil Gaya, I didn’t know what I was going to do until I actually gave a shot. I think I worked harder in Koi… Mil Gaya.I made sure I had enough time to prepare, though finally, I was on my own before the camera.Am I too corrupted as an actor to play a character as innocent as Rohit? (thinks). No, I think I am far more innocent now than I was when I did Kaho Na… Pyaar Hai.Koi… Mil Gaya has given me a chance to relive my childhood.”
Koi… Mil Gaya seemed like a copy of Steven Spielberg’s E.T.
Hrithik defended his film. “I guess every film about an alien landing on earth on a spaceship would be compared with E.T. Apart from that, there is no similarity between the two. We have only heard about one film that shows a bond developing between a human and an E.T. But there are scores of them. How the audience would react to this alien film is scary. But it is about time we gave the audience a new, intelligent movie experience instead of going by their expectations all the time. Having said that, I’ll let you into a secret. Koi… Mil Gaya is TOTALLY Dad’s film. A complete entertainer. Before the film’s first preview, I couldn’t sleep. Now, with the positive reactions. I’m less anxious. I’m sleeping better.”
