Kick me baby one more time. Review on Khakee

Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Aishwarya Rai, Akshay Kumar in a film directed by Raj Kumar Santoshi. Missing this one was not an option. But so was LOC. So I was apprehensive and went to watch it with my guards up (i.e expecting Disaster). But it didn't take me more than ten minutes to get my guards down as Santoshi hammered his point by a wonderfully choreographed ambush sequence.

The best quality about santoshi is that he uses every minute to say a story, no useless songs & high-fi stunts. So much so that by the time of the interval I was expecting a film that will rewrite film making as we know it, as far as big budget film goes. But just when I was most vulnerable, Santoshi hit me where it hurts most.

Story

The film is about a Muslim Doctor Ansari (Atul Kulkarni) who is framed by a politician in riots case and branded an ISI agent because he knows too much. Expectedly he does not want ansari to be presented in court, so he hires an ex Con-cop Ajay Devgan, who has become a mercenary, to kill him before he reaches court.

After the first ambush, a police team of Amitabh, Akshaye, Tushhar and two more men is sent to escort Ansari and bring him to Bombay to face trials. But as the politician is in power he uses every means to kill ansari before he reaches bombay. When our heroes come to know of this, they decide to take on the establishment to ensure justice to Ansari.

Pros

Well if you read the story, you would agree that it was a big plus. Also the screenplay of the first half was brilliant. So was the case with direction. The film was well edited. Also the performances were fine too. Tushhar for once didn't overact. It was nice to see Ajay Devgan in a different shade of grey, as I mentioned in my LOC review that he was getting monotonous. So even a single shade bad guy was a refreshing change.

Amit Ji, well after watching this you just want to call him Big B. If he showed in baghban that even with a pathetic script, ridiculous screenplay and a novice director he can lift a film to a different level, this time he knew that balance was necessary as an out an out amitabh would have overshadowed other characters, to the films detriment (Credit must also be given to Santoshi). In one seen in which he chases AD on foot and after a long chase has an asthma attack, the line between fiction and reality blurs.

But for me the real winner was Akshaye Kumar. Three cheers for AK. He is just brilliant as a cop, who doesn't mind the life's pleasure's however they come, but hates to be on the firing line. A typical Bad Cop and before I forget an instinctive flirt (personally I have never seen anybody flirt better, not even Saif in DCH), you won't forget him easily. Big scenes and emotions are easier then these small discreet ones.

Aishwrya Rai?? Well I must have missed her.

Cons

Whatever I have written above is applicable to the first half. The second half was as good as a C grade Mithun flick, the only difference was that it had AB, AD, AR, AK. I felt cheated at the end of it all. If you were expecting sensible cinema you came to the wrong place. In second half Ansari dies and it is up o our gang to ensure justice. All three of them have the police and political heirarchy against them and an enquiry commisioned no to mention the charge of being a sell-out to the ISI. So how do they accomplish this? By bashing everybody who comes in their way.

Everyone is after a file who has all the secrets (such a novel idea), Akshaye gets the file, then ajay kill him and gets the file, then abitabh goes and bash up ajay and takes the file back. Did I mention him bashing up the neta and the DCP, well you must have guesses it. Could anyone please tell me the sense behind 50 policemen standing and watching a man having an asthma attack getting clobbered by a man half his age. Were they waiting for him to overcome his asthma attack by himself and then get up and beat the hell out of ajay. It is beside the point that the even the art house director couldn't stop this from happening in his film.

Bottomline

I hate this film. A complete waste of money. Even Big B and Akahye's performance make it worth coz I'm sure they will surely give better performances in better films. What about the five star first half? You might ask, well that's precisely the reason for disgust. You don't expect Mithun's of David dhawan's film to be path breaking but for santoshi you do. And when he has a good script and enviable star cast failure was not an option. So I cannot understand how on earth one can goof this film up after a smashing first half. One thing is for sure after Gangajal and Khakee i'm watching the next Santoshi movie, not the second half atleast.

Njoy! (If you could)