Men In Uniform. Review on Khakee

The following review contains absolutely NO SPOLIERS and its safe to read. I havent disclosed anything which you wouldnt find out for yourself 20 minutes into the movie!. This is an amateur review and please see it as one only!

Khakee.... Khakee is the colour of the uniform worn by policemen in India. This is the story of good cops,bad cops,funny cops,rookie cops and cops gone wrong.

The movie begins with the capture of an cartload of weapons from the house of Dr.Iqbal Ansari (Atul Kulkarni) at Chandangarh in Maharashtra. Previously riots have broken out in this little town claiming abt 70 lives. He is branded as an ISI agent and beaten up by the police.But he refuses to talk and spill the secrets. Now he has to be taken to the court in Mumbai. When 8 cops get into this endeavour they get killed en route by masked men.

The police and ministers in Mumbai are flustered since they want Ansari in the court at Mumbai on time. They decide to send a special group of police officers for this purpose. This group consists of 5 cops.

The leader of the mission is Anant Srivastava (Amitabh Bachhan). He has give 30 years of the life to the force. But hasnt been able to achieve anything great, no promotions and no memorable deeds,an ordinary ageing DCP. He is getting his daughter married in a few days.

Next comes Shekhar (Akshay Kumar). He is a cop without a conscience,one who thinks of his skin and how to protect it from getting harmed on any occasion.

Ashwin (Tushhar) is a rookie cop.He has joined the force with lots of hope, self confidence. He does what his conscience tells him and is an antithesis to Shekhar.

Then there are 2 constables Mhatre and Kamlesh.

These 5 get to ready to go to Chandangarh to bring Iqbal to Mumbai. Their job supposedly ends here. It would take 3 days. But they know it wouldnt be easy coz 8 of their men have already given their lives in the first attempt.

And there is someone watching their every move and every step. A man with no scruples and no fear, Angre (Ajay Devgan), and disaster has struck even before they left Mumbai.

They reach Chandangarh and meet Ansari telling him that they have come to take him to Mumbai. While they are at the station, the local police at Chandangarh gets a phone call from a civilian Mahalekshmi(Aishwariya Rai),a teacher for visually and speech impaired children voicing her fears that the men who are occupying the room above the school maybe terrorists. They reach there and find that the wanted birds have already flown the nest. They realize that Mahalekshmi is originally from Mumbai and is in Chandangarh as a part of a 3 day camp. In the course of their conversation they come to know that she has seen glimpses of the face of the leader and can recognize him(no points for guessing who he is!). This puts her in danger and they ask her to join them since they would be leaving for Mumbai,the next day.

Will they reach Mumbai and how? Are they aware of the blocks they would face on route and how difficult,shocking and life threatening the journey would be? Will they get their priorities right and do whats expected of men in khakee irrespective of the consequences? Will they be able to present Ansari in court? Who is Angre? Why doesnt he want Ansari to reach Mumbai?Why did an educated person like Ansari get into cahoots with the terrorists? They rest of the movie answers these questions and some more as we go through unexpected twists and turns when we least expect them. And when u think,there wouldnt be no more surprises u would be shocked by what you discover in the last 30 minutes of the movie!!

There is very little that is really predictable about this movie. Although the second half would have been trimmed (it was nearly 3 hours and fifteen minutes) one doesnt get bored or letdown at any point. Raj Kumar Santhoshi manages to have that edge of the seat effect one thats expected from the director of good movies like Ghayal,Ghatak ,Damini and Lajja.

There are 3 songs.The ''Dil Dooba'' song sounds good.The songs end even before they begin and doesnt tire one out.The item number withLara Dutta is nothing exceptional and has Lara with scantly clad lothes and the usual gyrations.It is a clear gap filler.The songs could have been given a miss.

Now to the characters. Amitabh is well, what can I say, Amitabh.The cop in Anant is as courageous as Vijay or any of the other cops Amitabh has played. Age might have mellowed this cop but hasnt dampened his mettle. He is truly the hero of this movie and it was a invigorating effect to see him act out Anant. No one and absolutely no one from the last 60 years in Bollywood can do this role as convincingly as him.

Akshay Kumar as Shekhar also suits the character to the T. He is a pucca flirt and a user and he tries to get as close to Mahalekshmi as he can enroute their journey!

The jokes and oneliners are funny and nothing much is out of place. But watch out for ''that something'' which would set his priorites right. He and Aishwariya make a handsome pair. The tall,dark and handsome hero and the porcelain blue eyed beauty has 2 songs picturized on them. Aishwariya does whats expected of her and her screen time isnt much but her character stays in ones mind after the movie ends.

Tushhar, his acting is understated and matches with his offscreen image. He is a no nonsense cop, wet behind the ears and one who has entered the force with lots of ideals. Akshaye Khanna was supposed to play this role. But believe me Tushhar has acted very sincerely that one wouldnt miss the Khanna.

Ajay Devgan as Angre...never ceases to surprise one. He is the only actor in bollywood who can play a freedom fighter(Bhagat singh), a silent lovetorn lawyer(HDDCS),a psychopath(Deewangee) and a hardened criminal with equal convictions and so marvelously that one wonders how many more surprises does this man have up his sleeve for the audience.

Atul Kulkarni. This is one actor whom bollywood has to definitely watch out for.Very skilled and very much underutilized.

The supporting cast consists of Jaya Pradha, Tanuja, Prakash Raj among many others.But major credit belongs to Raj Kumar Santhoshi and Sridhar Raghav for the fabulous storyline.

The dialogues are very good and crisp.Though like I earlier mentioned some people may find the second half a bit too stretched out.

This is a good movie and one definitely worth your money and time. Watch it!

P.S...I am not saying there are no negative points abt the movie ..but I didnt find any worth mentioning and I am sure there would be many people who wouldnt like the movie as much as I liked it coz no movie is perfect and one can always find faults!

This is my first review at Mouthshut and excuse the mistakes.