Main Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Preity Zinta, Rekha, Johnny Lever, Rajat Bedi
Release Year: 2003
Country: IN
Run Time: 172 minutes
Plot
A scientist (director Rakesh Roshan) invents a computer to send sounds into outer space. Using the sound "Aum," he makes contact with an alien life form, but his fellow scientists laugh at his claims. Despondent, he drives home with his wife (Rekha). A spaceship interrupts their journey, and causes the excited Sanjay to crash. He is killed and his unborn child is injured in the accident. Rohit (Bollywood heartthrob Hrithik Roshan) grows up brain-damaged. He's stuck in a class with much younger kids and longs to advance academically, but he continually flunks. On top of that, he and his young friends are frequently bullied by Raj (Rajat Bedi) and his gang of thugs. Then Nisha (Preity Zinta), a beautiful young woman, moves to town. After a couple of comic misunderstandings, Nisha takes an interest in Rohit. Rohit asks Nisha to teach him computers, and they dig up his father's old device, inadvertently sending another message into space. Soon, another ship arrives, and this time, a funny little blue alien is left behind. Rohit takes the little one in, and soon finds himself being magically healed. Suddenly, he can see without his glasses, and soon he develops a quick mind and superhuman strength. Not only that -- he can dance. So he and his friends call the alien "Badoo." Raj grows jealous of all the time Nisha is spending with Rohit. He finds that now Rohit is strong enough to defend himself. But the authorities are searching for Badoo, and Rohit is determined to keep his little friend safe, no matter what the cost. Director Rakesh Roshan last directed his son, Hrithik, in Kaho Naa...Pyaar Hai, the film that made him a star. The big-budget Koi...Mil Gaya was promoted as the first science fiction film to come out of Bollywood. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Review
Imagine, if you can, a cross between the all-singing, all-dancing romance of a typical Bollywood musical and a barefaced rip-off of E.T., Close Encounters, and Phenomenon, with bits and pieces of Spider-Man, Forrest Gump, and Flubber thrown in for good measure. Or rather than try to imagine such an amazing film, see Rakesh Roshan's big-budget sci-fi extravaganza, Koi...Mil Gaya. Roshan's unwieldy mishmash of genres has a surfeit of good will, a bouncy soundtrack, wonderful dance numbers, and a charismatic performance from Preity Zinta to help it compensate for its goofy plot, naïve take on disability, and serviceable, but sub-Hollywood special effects. The lead performance by self-conscious Bollywood stud muffin Hrithik Roshan is laudably subdued by his standards. His dancing is terrific, as usual, and he has a couple of wonderful, surprisingly romantic numbers with Zinta. The children billed as the "the super six" are more palatable than might be expected, although the climactic scene in which the magical alien helps them win a basketball game against a gang of bullies is one of the weaker parts of the film. As for Badoo himself, he's no E.T. He's fairly expressive, but he's never well established as a character. At times, he appears child-like, and it seems like there should be more evidence of his purported intellectual abilities. It's understandable that Rohit (Roshan) thinks Badoo's ability to help him dance like John Travolta and cheat at basketball is of crucial importance, but one might think a superior being would have other things on his mind. Despite these quibbles, Koi...Mil Gaya succeeds as a uniquely entertaining effort to bring Bollywood sensibilities to the science fiction genre. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
The film was screened at the Jerusalem Film Festival and the Denmark NatFilm Festival. Rakesh Roshan has produced a sequel to the film entitled Krrish, the second part of the Koi... Mil Gaya series, which opened worldwide on June 23, 2006 and also became a success.
A Sindhi Canadian scientist named Sanjay Mehra (played by the film's director Rakesh Roshan) creates a computer from which he dispatches variations of the syllableOm, hoping to attract the attention of extra-terrestrial life. When he finally receives a response, the scientific community mocks him and makes fun of him.
As he is driving home, an alien spacecraft enters the vicinity, then he looks out the window and exclaims: "UFO," and begins to veer off the road. His pregnant wife turns around the steering wheel causing the box car to flip over a stone and explode. His wife is thrown out of the car and Dr. Mehra dies in the car. His pregnant wife, played by Rekha, survives the wreck and decides to return to India. Their son Rohit (played by Hrithik Roshan, who is Rakesh Roshan's son), when born, is developmentally disabled.
Hrithik Roshan and Preity Zinta as featured in the film
His mother raises him with tender care in the town of Kasauli, by which he grows up to be a young man of limited intellect and childish personality, yet with a loving heart. Rohit has a number of much younger friends; children with whom he plays and who are very loyal to him. He also befriends a young lady named Nisha (Preity Zinta). Nisha feels sympathy for him and humors him as one would humor a child, having learned of his mental disability from his mother, who chastises Nisha's suitor Raj for beating Rohit up.
Rohit and Nisha find Sanjay's Om computer and summon the aliens by accident. The visiting aliens leave in haste and one of them is left behind. Rohit, Nisha, and Rohit's young friends find him, befriend him, and name him Jadoo (meaning "Magic" in Hindi and Urdu) when they discover his abilities of psychokinesis. Jadoo's remarkably vast intelligence leads him to discover that Rohit is mentally subnormal, whereupon he uses his magic to enhance the boy's mind. He is now accepted by young-adult society. Only the loyalty of his friends and Nisha prevent him from developing total arrogance. Raj and his sycophants attempt to embarrass Rohit multiple times, only to be beaten in fights as well as in a basketball game, wherein Rohit's bodily strength has increased with his mental calibre.
Rekha as featured in the film
Nisha and Rohit spend more and more time together, before and after his enhancement; ultimately Rohit proposes marriage to her. She agrees. Jadoo's presence is kept secret from all humans except Rohit's friends and mother.
However, the government has not given up their search for the alien arrival. Police capture Jadoo, who is then rescued by Rohit. Jadoo flees in his returned family's spaceship and apparently takes Rohit's new powers with him. Rohit is again mentally disabled, which saves him from prosecution by the government. Later, Jadoo restores Rohit's special abilities permanently. Nisha and Rohit can now lead a happy life together.
