Coolie

This movie is fantastic. Amitabh stars as the orphaned Iqbal. He grows to become a coolie in the railway stations of India. His mother was kidnapped by an ex of hers when Iqbal was a child, the ex wanted the mother so bad, that he caused a city wide flood (yeah right!) His father is believed to be deceased and the only family he has are the coolie's he works with. He is the man who picks up the entire worlds' luggage on his shoulder. The songs are good. I give this classic movie an 8 out of 10.

I had to review this movie as I noticed a guy named sylvan de Souza was comparing Coolie with Singh is King. These days any tom dick and harry are reviewers. Comparing Coolie with Singh is King is like comparing Titanic (Box office Blockbuster and Critical Hit, Classic) with Master and Commander (Box office hit and critical hit at the time, but now long forgotten). I guess that guy Sylvan does Not understand that Coolie was a Enormous hit World wide. I got African and Arabic friends who say Coolie is like their favourite film, a legend of a movie in so many countries in Africa, Europe and the Arab world. It may be loud and over the top with lots of co incidences, but that's what Manmohan desai films are all about. Entertainment is the reason most people all over the world watch a movie. Its what makes money in the box office. Unfortunately Art films don't make huge money. Coolie is commercial entertainment cinema from the 80s at its best. One of the best Big B Films. Especially when he runs of the platform. Apparently women went mad at his macho style. Quote Malika Sherawat at Koffee with Karan

This is a movie which's clips will be shown on every channel when GOD Amitabh comes to die, i hope at least a hundred years from now. Because this is the movie in which that Punneet issar guy almost killed Amitabh bachchan during the shooting. About the movie itself, not the best Amitabh-Rishi movie, not the best Amitabh-Manmohan Desai movie (though not as bad as Ganga Jamuna Saraswati), actually not the best Amitabh movie. Worse is that you have Suresh Oberoi in it. rati Agnihotri is the leading lady. Okay, so they couldn't get Hema, Parveen or Zeenat, at least take jaya Pradha. The director has a song in this movie which says it all about the movie " accident hogaya rabba rabba" . But i may be prejudiced because they actually freeze the shot where Amit gets hurt and you see the man inb pain. And to see that happening to The Man who has given me and so many other people hours and hours and hours of joy in our life through his movies is painful. But to be a real bachchan fan, you need to own this movie just for the historic value

Coolie review:

2nd December 1983 was most awaited day for Indian movie buffs, particularly Amitabh Bachchan fans. Manmohan Desai's Coolie was releasing on that day - a film which had attracted immense attention even before its release due to Bachchan's near fatal accident while shooting it. The particular scene required the screen baddie Punit Issar to punch him in the stomach and then Amitabh was to roll over on a table. Unfortunately, the punch got mistimed and hit Bachchan hard and he got further hurt on the iron table rupturing his intestines.

The entire India, including the then PM Indira Gandhi and his close friend Rajiv Gandhi, paid visits to Breach Candy hospital and prayed for the superstar's speedy recovery. After many months, Bachchan was back on his feet, quite frail and weak but re-shooting the film from that very same scene. Manmohan Desai (Manji as he was affectionately called) froze the movie frame with a note stating "This is the shot in which Amitabh Bachchan was seriously injured" to let his audience know the exact unfortunate moment.

Coolie was sold out for weeks in advance and getting tickets was next to impossible. A two to three rupees ticket was black marketed for a whopping three hundred rupees!! Badal Bijlee, Matunga was perennially housefull so my parents took me to Capitol Cinema opposite CST (then VT) and I still remember the entire audience at Capitol just stood up and clapped loudly for minutes as Amitabh made his grand onscreen entry walking on top of a train with an eagle in hand. It was a great gesture to welcome him back on screen after this accident. The film became a blockbuster hit and ran for multiple weeks at Capitol where films wouldn't last for a week or two. The main theatre was of course Alankar at Gol Deval where the film completed a golden jubilee run. Manji even refused to give Alankar Cinema to Prakash Mehra for Sharaabi (1984) though Coolie had completed a silver jubilee. It lead to an argument between the two rival filmmakers.

As a standalone product, Coolie was quite underwhelming compared to Manji's other hits like Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) and Naseeb (1981). It was the standard lost and found formula with the separated child growing to be a railway coolie who then takes on the perpetuators and also finds his family in the end. Ths film also had a strong communist undertone where Amitabh held the hammer and sickle in the posters. But nobody cared about all that. Coolie was Amitabh's triumph over death and the whole India celebrated it wholeheartedly!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.

Review By Kamal K

The movie direction is very stupid and done illogically. The movie is has such a good story but lack of logic and bad screenplay made the movie unwatchable. It is a nightmare for talented actors and actresses in the movie.