DAMMAM, 20 September 2003 — Bollywood’s penchant for lifting and Indianizing Hollywood story lines is again in evidence in the new release “Koi Mil Gaya” starring Hrithik Roshan, Preity Zenta and still glamorous Rekha.
The story of the film is basically a cocktail of Hollywood hits of late 70s — Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “E.T.” Papa Rakesh Roshan, the movie’s producer and director, has tried to blend the two stories into one and give it Indian color.
He has not shied away from copying Spielberg’s visual style and special effects, if in a rather coarse approximation of the real thing. The spaceship looks like a replica of the one in “Close Encounters”.
All this is not to take any credit away from Hrithik, who does a wonderful job as a mentally retarded young man.
Hrithik is an actor who tries to immerse himself in the character he is playing. It was sheer bad luck that after his debut hit “Kaho Na Pyar Hai” he has had a string of flops to his name. The responsibility for the failure of these movies lies either with a weak story line or inept direction. Hrithik wowed critics in films like “Fiza” and “Mission Kashmir”.
In “Koi Mil Gaya”, his body language and speech capture the character completely. The films starts with Papa Roshan, a scientist, trying to establish contact by sending “Om” signals into outer space - a nod to Hindu revivalism. The aliens respond and visit him, but the sight of their spaceship makes him lose control of his car and kills him. His wife and unborn child are injured.
The first half of the film then is about the scientist’s son, who has a low IQ but a pure heart. Had director Roshan wrapped up the film on this note it would have left a much better impression than what happens next.
The aliens come back, and leave an E.T.-like lovable alien behind.
The rest of the story is filmmaking by numbers. Hrithik’s mission is to send the alien safely back home, and in this endeavor he is helped by Mama Rekha, heartthrob Preity Zinta and half dozen children.