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.
Box office
Koyla grossed ₹25.91 crore (US$2.7 million) in India and $600,000 (₹2.14 crore) in other countries, for a worldwide total of ₹28.05 crore (US$3.0 million), against its ₹12 crore (US$1.3 million) budget. It had a worldwide opening weekend of ₹5.39 crore (US$570,000), and grossed ₹9.60 crore (US$1.0 million) in its first week.[1] It is the 9th-highest-grossing Bollywood film of 1997 worldwide.[5][6]
India
It opened on Friday, 18 April 1997, across 275 screens, and had a record opening of ₹15 crore (US$1.6 million) nett. The film shared the record for the highest opening day with the previous record opener Trimurti which also grossed ₹1.06 crore (US$110,000) nett on its opening day. It went on to break ₹3.07 crore (US$320,000) nett opening weekend record set by Trimurti, and recorded the highest ever opening weekend of ₹3.10 crore (US$330,000) nett. It had a first week of ₹5.52 crore (US$580,000) nett. The film earned a total of ₹14.88 crore (US$1.6 million) nett.[1]
Overseas
It earned $600,000 (₹2.14 crore) outside India.[1]
