Review: Khakee
Baradwaj Rangan
Baradwaj Rangan
(C) The Economic Times, Madras Plus - Jan 29, 2004
Among the many, many pleasures of Raj Kumar Santoshi's 'Khakee' is the
sight - sound, rather - of Amitabh Bachchan in a role reminiscent of
his best work with Salim-Javed. It's as if the cop of 'Zanjeer' has
aged thirty years; he's lost his health, but not the power to deliver
pages of angry, affecting dialogue in the manner only he can, in the
way that makes it seem as if everyone and everything around him has
ceased to exist. (Even the phone doesn't dare ring till the exact
minute he stops speaking.)
The other Salim-Javed connection in 'Khakee' is in its story, set in
the Ramgarh-like Chandangarh, where a senior and two juniors - one
wisecracking, one dead-serious - try to outwit a deadly villain (who
even has a Kaalia-like sidekick named Kalwaa). DCP Anant Shrivastav
(Bachchan), with his officers - the casually corrupt Shekhar Verma
(Akshay Kumar), the earnest rookie Ashwin Gupte (Tusshar Kapoor) - and
constables, tries to escort an alleged ISI agent (Atul Kulkarni) from
Chandangarh to Mumbai for his trial, while trying to evade a
mysterious killer (Ajay Devgan) hot on their heels.
'Khakee' makes no bones about being anything but a 'masala' movie, so
this cop-and-mouse game, inevitably, involves politics, corruption, a
love interest (Aishwarya Rai), a 'khadi'-clad journalist, at least one
entirely unexpected twist, and one entirely unnecessary item number.
(The songs seem forced into the tight, twisty narrative, but when Ram
Sampath's tunes are as gorgeous as 'Vaada Raha' and as sensationally
staged as 'Aisa Jadoo', why complain?)
Santoshi, however, is that rare director who can be crowd-pleasing and
classy all at once, so for every intended-for-effect scene - the
villain simply snaps his fingers and the lights reappear in a dark
house - there's an introspective one, with the DCP sifting through
family photographs, ruing the personal time he's sacrificed for
professional commitments. For every potshot at policemen - "Yeh log
lena jaante hain, dena nahin jaante." - there's a moment that
showcases their undervalued service to society.
'Khakee' is really about these men in 'khakee'. The DCP's team, in a
masterstroke of writing (by Santoshi and Sridhar Raghavan), is a
microcosm of the police force - with everyone from an aged, failed
idealist to a young hotshot unashamed of a life of easy money and
unearned perks to a youth whose education has automatically ranked him
over older but less-privileged constables.
The beauty of the film, of course, is that it integrates such ideas
into a much broader entertainment. You will certainly not be thinking
of any of this during the action segments - the opening shootout with
'Saving Private Ryan'-like sound effects, a chase amidst milling
cattle - superbly choreographed by Tinu Verma and stunningly shot by
KV Anand. The dramatic crescendos carry an even greater wallop,
written and performed such that the hoariest of scenes leaves lumps in
your throat. (That one of these lumps results from a sequence
involving Tusshar Kapoor is surely why Santoshi is worshipped by
actors; the entire cast is a standout, with Amitabh and Akshay
towering over the rest.)
'Khakee' belongs to a different genre, yet it kept reminding me of
'Kal Ho Naa Ho'. Both are movies rooted unapologetically in the
mainstream, but made with uncommon proficiency and passion. Both
package the (terrific as well as the tiresome) staples of the genre
into a smart, stylish, spanking-new entertainment. In balancing the
clichés with the cutting-edge, in not letting go of the past even
while raising the bar for the future, both awaken hopes for a new
golden age of commercial Indian cinema.
Michel Hafner
> The beauty of the film, of course, is that it integrates such ideas
> into a much broader entertainment. You will certainly not be thinking
> of any of this during the action segments - the opening shootout with
> 'Saving Private Ryan'-like sound effects, a chase amidst milling
> cattle - superbly choreographed by Tinu Verma and stunningly shot by
> KV Anand.
hell out of me.
Especially the sound of someone hitting or slapping someone else.
It sounds always the same. There seems to be one digital sample everyone
uses and it's grotesquely over the top and unrealistic. Bollywood needs
a revolution in sound design!
I was most 'impressed' by one idea in Khakee at the very end. Bachchan
is in a big fight with the bad guy (yeah, exactly that sound effect is
used here as well, of course) when he suddenly has an asthma attack
and starts jumping around with his inhalator. That part is somewhat
speeded up which gives it a Chaplin like slapstick effect. It's one of
these Bollywood moments that are so grotesque that they become instantly a
stroke of genius. Really, that moment made up for the rest of the film
that was sometimes quite decent and sometimes rather... unsatisfactory.
habshi
digital prints -what are they ?
Sydney Assbasket
>hell out of me.
>Especially the sound of someone hitting or slapping someone else.
>It sounds always the same. There seems to be one digital sample everyone
>uses and it's grotesquely over the top and unrealistic. Bollywood needs
>a revolution in sound design!
That punching or hitting sound always sounds like something from the 70s. Sort
of weird to hear such an antiquated sound effect in an otherwise modern
sounding digital soundtrack.
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