As the film completes 15 years, let's take a look at some less known facts...
Rakesh Roshan’s Koi…Mil Gaya is considered to be the epitome of science-fiction family friendly films in Bollywood. The Hrithik Roshan-Preity Zinta starrer was a hit from the word ‘go’, blending comedy, tears, thrills, sci-fi and music into one perfect masterpiece of a movie. The movie became Hrithik’s comeback after a few less than stellar roles, and continued to cement Preity as one of the most iconic Bollywood actresses of the late ‘90s-early ‘00s. Even the character of the alien, Jaadoo, became a popular figure in Indian cinema. Many people proclaim this film to be one of their favourites, and with good reason.
The film was released 15 years ago, August 8, 2003. So, to commemorate 15 years of the movie, let’s take a look at 7 things that you may not have known that just make it seem a lot more interesting.
1. The person behind ‘Jaadoo’
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The iconic alien from the movie, India’s alien poster-boy, Jaadoo, was actually played by Indravadan Purohit. He had to wear a bulky costume and an animatronic headgear. He couldn’t see anything with the costume, and so had to rely on instructions of others to get around. His voice was also mechanically altered so as to not upstage Hrithik’s presence.
2. Sanjay Mehra = Rishi Kapoor?
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Initially, Rakesh Roshan approached Rishi Kapoor to play the role of Sanjay Mehra, Hrithik’s father. However, as mentioned in his biography, Rishi saw the role as a ‘bad career move’ and turned it down, which led to him falling out with Rakesh. Finally, the director himself took on the role.
3. Jaadoo: Now on TV
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The movie was such a huge hit and Jaadoo became so popular that a spin-off show was released which featured the alien in the lead. The show centered around the adventures of the titular alien and his young friends, and was called J Bole Toh Jaadoo, airing on Nickelodeon India. While the show didn’t run for too long, it was mildly popular with young viewers.
4. Hrithik’s difficult transformation
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Hrithik was working on other films while doing this one, so he wasn’t able to lose the weight and gain the thin appearance of a grown man with the mind of an 11 year-old. Instead, producers solved the problem by having him wear baggier clothes and a hairstyle that made his face look much thinner. The muscles were eventually brought out in the second half of the movie.
5. Real life parallels
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One of the most heart-breaking scenes in the movie comes in the very beginning, when Rohit’s parents, Sanjay and Sonia Mehra, get into a car accident, which killed his father and badly injured his mother. What’s weird is the fact that the same fate befell Preity Zinta when she was 13 years old. Her parents got into a similar car accident which killed her father and injured her mother.
6. Hrithik Roshan and Rohan Mehra
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Speaking of real life similarities, Hrithik didn’t see himself as being much different from Rohit. He spoke about a stammering problem he had as a child, and was constantly bullied. In fact, the scene where the bullies break Rohit’s scooter is, according to the 44 year-old actor, very similar to an incident he himself had as a child.
7. An award show darling
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Koi…Mil Gaya received many awards and accolades during its run, including the Filmfare Award for Best Film. Hrithik Roshan was the first actor to win both Best Actor Critics and Best Actor at the Filmfare Awards for his performance. The feat was later repeated by Amitabh Bachchan for Black and Ranbir Kapoor for Rockstar.
