The scientist Sanjay Mehra has built a computer in his shed to communicate with the stars. He is startled when the musical notes he sends out start receiving replies, but this is ridiculed by his colleagues. Driving home, the car that Sanjay and his wife Sonia are in is buzzed by a UFO and crashes, killing Sanjay. In the aftermath, Sonia gives birth to a son Rohit but the crash has left him developmentally disabled. As Rohit grows into a young man, he is kept behind at school. Rohit and the group of younger kids he plays with trick Nisha into driving them across town to a movie theatre. Afterwards, Rohit goes to apologise to Nisha but is bullied by Raj Saxena who has designs on marrying her. Nisha comes to Rohit’s defence and this sparks a friendship and attraction between the two. Rohit begins to experiment with his father’s computer and is surprised when he gets a reply from the stars. A UFO then appears over the town. In the aftermath, an alien is left behind. Rohit and Nisha find it and hide it in the shed, naming it Jadoo, where it soon found by the other kids. As Rohit faces other bullyings from Raj, Jadoo increases his intelligence and uses its powers to help him stand up to Raj.
Koi … Mil Gaya is a Bollywood film. (The title translates to English as ‘Found Someone’). It was one of the films from Rakesh Roshan, an actor since the 1970s who turned director in the mid-80s and enjoyed some success making films in a variety of genres. Rakesh can be seen on screen playing the scientist who is killed in the car crash during the early scenes. Rakesh is also the father of lead actor Hrithik Roshan, who is the son of Rakesh’s scientist character. Both Roshans went on to respectively direct and star in the sequels (see below). Roshan’s brother Rajesh also composes the film’s score.
Koi … Mil Gaya is essentially a Bollywood version of E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial (1982). That is if one can imagine a version of E.T. with song and dance numbers and with Elliott as a developmentally disabled kid. The result are down around the level of one of the E.T. copies such as Hyper Sapien: People from Another Star (1986) or Mac and Me (1988) with a rather rubbery looking alien and 80s era effects when it comes to the appearance of the UFO. Being a Bollywood film, we also get scenes of the kids dancing and singing with the alien as it makes magic cloud pictures with its powers and the like.
Everything in the film is pitched down to a very juvenile level. Unlike the emotive beats of E.T., this comes as a juvenile comeuppance fantasy where Hrithik Roshan has his intelligence expanded by the alien’s touch and is then able to conduct complex tests – such as answer the question of how to move files between folders in Windows Explorer! There is a good deal of predictable comedy relief – Johny Lever has a role as an inept and bumbling police officer whose sole purpose in the film is reacting to manifestations from the alien.
Rohit (Hrithik Roshan) (l), Nisha (Preity Zinta) (r) and the alien visitor Jadoo
Much of the film focuses on Hrithik being bullied by Rajat Bedi, his rival for Preity Zinta’s affections, and a series of alien-aided comeuppance fantasies, which include Hrithik having his muscles instantly expanded to the point they tear his shirtsleeves. Most of the comeuppance happens on the basketball court with climactic scenes where the alien uses its powers to aid Hrithik and the team of kids to win the game by making them fly through the air – shades of The Absent-Minded Professor (1961). Indeed, dealings with the aliens are largely sidelined as the romantic element, the rivalry from bullying Rajat Bedi and assorted basketball games take over about two-thirds of the way through the film.
The singing and dancing numbers are fairly standard for Bollywood, although I did quite like one number with Hrithik Roshan drunkenly dancing with Preity Zinta in the rain.
The sequels, all directed by Rakesh Roshan and starring Hrithik Roshan were Krrish (2006) and Krrish 3 (2013), which feature Hrithik’s character becoming a superhero. Elsewhere, the alien Jadoo turned up in an animated tv series J Bole Toh Jadoo (2004).
