Raj Kumar Santoshi is one helluva director in Hindi films who keeps on giving surprises one after another. He makes films on so varied subjects that one film is just different from the other. However, he didn't do it from the beginning though. He made films with Sunny Deol like 'Ghayal', 'Damini' and 'Ghatak', but films like 'Andaz Apna Apna', 'Barsaat', 'The Legend Of Bhagat Singh' and 'Lajja' made him a director with a difference. His latest offering 'Khakee' deals with corruption in the system and the problems those uniformed men face within the system. 'Khakee' speaks for the masses and it has all the ingredients for them.
Still it will be equally liked by the classes. To summarize the film's fate, it can be said that if Prakash Mehra gave The Angry Young Man to Bollywood in 'Zanjeer' as Inspector Vijay Shrivastav, then the inspector gets promoted here to the rank of DCP and has now become the Volatile Old Man of Bollywood in 'Khakee'. The film is one has one of the best performances of Amitabh Bachchan till date. And every other thing is a sort of bonus on your ticket. The film is going to create waves among audiences and will be the most talked about film of coming days. Raj Kumar Santoshi made Sunny Deol, Anil Kapoor and Ajay Devgan win National Awards in his films in the past. Now the competition begins from the day one as to who will dare beat Big B in the chase this year.
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When Amitabh made his comeback about a decade ago, he was failing miserably. That time it was mentioned that there should be roles on the lines of Sean Conery's 'Rock' for Amitabh Bachchan where he becomes the crux of the happenings and the younger lot surrounds him as the icing on the cake. Writer Sridhar Raghvan (brother of Sriram Raghavan, director of 'Ek Hasina Thi') and Santoshi have done the same in 'Khakee'. Akshay Kumar, Tusshar and Ajay Devgan are there and Aishwarya too, but 'Khakee' gets color only because of Amitabh. He is just the reverse of Sean Conery's role in 'Rock here though.
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To bring back a dreaded terrorist from Chandangarh to Mumbai, DCP Anant (Amitabh) is assigned the task of leading the escort team. He has senior Inspector Shekhar (Akshay Kumar) and sub-Inspector Ashwin (Tusshar) as his aides. What looked to be a routine task for the three turns into a gruesome journey. Every one of them has an altogether different approach to his job. If Anant has to prove that his ideas are still worth for the department, Shekhar takes it as just another thankless job. Ashwin finds for the first time that the realities are different from the classroom training. They have a common goal and for that they will have to work like a team, but there is some one who does not want them to succeed and this enemy is from within.
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'Khakee' is a complete entertainer and fulfils all the expectations that one has from a good film. This moves very fast and it will be a loss for those who miss even a single scene in the theatre. Like his other films, Santoshi has developed various sub plots in 'Khakee' too. And these sidetracks don't dither the narration of the original story; rather they add to the momentum. The script is very tight and it does not give any time to the viewer to relax. The events come as flashes and remain there with all their impact. One can hardly imagine as to what is going to happen next as there is no loose shot to give that space to the viewer.
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As a technician, Santoshi wins 100 per cent points in 'Khakee'. He has built an impressive film on a slick screenplay. His imagination is praiseworthy and he uses his team to its fullest. The dialogues written by Santoshi himself are masterwork and even after the film is over, viewers remember them. Cinematography by K. V. Anand is A grade and the music by Ram Sampath is good too. The best part of the film is action by Tinu Verma, who after a long time has come out with some edge of the seat sequences in 'Khakee'. The train scene will be remembered for a long and will always be counted as one of the best action scenes in the history of Hindi Cinema.
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Among actors the film belongs to Amitabh Bachchan. The film becomes synonym with his character DCP Anant and the whole film progresses from his point of view. At the age of 61, it is only Amitabh who can give such a volatile performance; no other actor can do this. Akshay Kumar is fantastic in his role and he too gets some good lines to deliver on screen. Tusshar doesn't have many dialogues to deliver but he succeeds with his facial expressions. Aishwarya Rai looks pretty and works better (it is the same film where she had broken her leg while shooting) this time around. Jaya Prada, Tanuja and Atul Kulkarni support the film well. Ajay Devgan is a surprise item as is Lara Dutta's item number in Santoshi's yet another good film. On the whole, 'Khakee' will stay in theaters for many weeks to come and will do much better business in comparison to the other Amitabh starrer 'Aetbaar' released simultaneously this Friday. This is for the first time in Amitabh's career that his two films have been released on the same day.
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