IT'S A RAJ KUMAR SANTOSHI FILM. Review on Khakee

He’s a cop all right, but he’s not gone places. He needs a promotion badly and has lost all hope till this one mission comes his way. He is DCP Anant Srivastava (Amitabh Bachchan), hopeful of becoming ACP Anant Srivastava.

He is the awaara paagal deewana of the police force. He accepts bribes, sleeps around, and always comes up with winsome one-liners. He too is part of the mission. He is Inspector Shekhar Verma (Akshay Kumar).

He is a rookie. But boy is he earnest. He hates cops accepting bribes. He wants to change the world. The mission is his best chance to prove his metal. He is Inspector Ashwin Apte (Tushaar Kapoor).

POTA convict Iqbal Ansari (Atul Kulkarni) is to be brought from Chandangarh to Mumbai by this team. But things are not as aasaan as they seem. A few days earlier another attempt was made to transfer Ansari to Mumbai, but the assigned officers were slain enroute. Thus the charaj of bringing Ansari to Mumbai falls on the trio.

And yes, there is Ms Universe … oops … Aishwarya Rai for company. She is a social worker who reports strange happenings to Cop 3.

The journey back home is no smooth ride, as Angre (Ajay Devgan) the demon keeps stalking the group. Mission becomes mission impossible. Almost!

Srivastava suddenly discovers that the officials who sent him on the mission do not actually want him to be successful. And just as suddenly, Ansari breaks his silence and reveals a handful.

The explosions begin on screen. Reels unravel hidden agendas of the characters and by the time you approach the climax, you’re gasping “Paani, paani … more paani”. The climax is electrifying and instantly makes you forgive all lapses and ludicrous moments …. not that there were many.

Raj Kumar Santoshi has not made a cult film. Definitely not. But one thing is sure that with each and every movie, he is fast acquiring the status of a cult filmmaker. He is, according to me the Mehboob Khan of today. Like Khan, Santoshi dreams big and translates those dreams on a bigger canvas. And like Khan, he always has an interesting tale to narrate, which he narrates in an even more interesting way. Once the auditorium plunges you into darkness it is just you and his characters … koi aur nahin beech mein. Cigarette and leak breaks are judiciously avoided, except, ah, whenever those item numbers come out of nowhere. That is so very unlike Mehboob Khan.

Coming to the performances …. Amitabh Bachchan … one need not say anything about this peerless actor. Packs in more than a punch every time he makes an appearance. Vintage sharab and Amitabh, did any one say?

This is definitely Akshay Kumar’s best performance to date. Perfect timing in those comic scenes and a brilliant emotional thrust in the more dramatic ones, Akshay renders an award worthy act.

Tushaar Kapoor is not as bad as he is usually made out to be. Here, Jeetendra's beta is actually very good.

Ajay Devgan smokes and tilts his head like always but this one performance would have made Shakespeare’s Iago turn green with envy. What villainy! He epitomizes evil for evil’s sake.

Aishwarya Rai is well … beautiful and stunning. Period.

Atul Kulkarni is adequate but hams in the emotional scenes.

Let’s not talk of the music. Instead of sa re ga, it goes ka ka ka … kakaphonic. Totally misplaced. Ram Sampat, tune in buddy.

Undoubtedly, and unusually (in Bollywood) the script is the real winner. Hats off to Raj Kumar Santoshi and Shridhar Raghavan.

Awaiting the next “IT’S A RAJ KUMAR SANTOSHI FILM”.