Dev Patel is currently promoting his directorial debut Monkey Man, which released in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland on 5 April. During one of the promotional interviews, Dev spoke about a Shah Rukh Khan film that had a huge impact on him. The film is Koyla, which was directed by Rakesh Roshan and starred Shah Rukh as a mute character.
In an interview with Draw Your Box, a snippet of which was uploaded on X by fan pages, Dev shared memories of watching the movie and how it left a lasting impression on him. "I remember a movie. You know, I don't even remember the plot too well, because I watched it when I was really young, but it was Shah Rukh Khan and this movie Koyla. And he was like, at these red eyes and he was drenched in sweat and he had this, like kind of mullet haircut and this sword and it was like a, you know, a brutal revenge epic where he'd lost his voice by being forced to swallow hot coals and it was like, it's kind of got it all. It's kind of, you know, like me in a way. My identity is kind of, it's been formed by all of these influences.”
Koyla was a 1997 action-thriller which also starred Madhuri Dixit and Amrish Puri in key roles.
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