20 Years Of Khakee EXCLUSIVE: “50% of Amitabh Bachchan’s character is based on a cop I knew. 30% is inspired by Zanjeer’s character. We imagined how he must be 30 years later” – Shridhar Raghavan 20 : Bollywood News

Khakee (2004) completed 20 years on January 23. Starring Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Tusshar Kapoor, the multi-starrer, directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, was loved for its action, performances, nail-biting moments and emotional scenes. The film is also significant as it marked the debut of Shridhar Raghavan as a film writer. He later went on to write the YRF Spy Universe films like War (2019), Pathaan (2023) and Tiger 3 (2023) and many other flicks. As Khakee celebrated its 20th anniversary, Bollywood Hungama spoke to the talented writer about the film, his experience, what made him switch from television to cinema and a lot more.

20 Years Of Khakee EXCLUSIVE: “50% of Amitabh Bachchan’s character is based on a cop I knew. 30% is inspired by Zanjeer’s character. We imagined how he must be 30 years later” – Shridhar Raghavan

How did you bag the film?

I was primarily a journalist. I have covered the police beat and written about crimes. Then I assisted Kundan Shah for a couple of years. This is when I met Anjum Rajabali and we became friends. He was and is still my mentor. Some years later, I wrote a pilot for a police show which never got made. It starred Irrfan Khan and was to air on BI TV, which never took off. Anjum was its creative head. Anjum liked it but felt that it was too dark and that it couldn’t work on television.

Some years later, Anjum called me and told me to come on board for CID and Aahat which were being made by his friends, B P Singh and Pradeep Uppoor. He also introduced me to Mr Rajkumar Santoshi. I met him 2-3 times. Raj ji called me to discuss various scripts. But I was caught up with television. Every week, I had to come up with a new story for CID and Aahat. Hence, I told them that I wouldn’t be able to work on a feature film.

I wrote a total of 1000 episodes on TV. After working on 600 episodes, I realized that the work would now get tiring and I wanted to graduate towards writing films. I had spent a lot of time interacting with cops. The film I wanted to make would be unlike CID and I wanted it to be gritty. Also, I am a huge fan of Govind Nihalani. His films like Ardh Satya (1983) and Aakrosh (1980) are among my top 20 or 30 films. I was also a fan of Zanjeer (1973). While growing up, for us, Salim-Javed and Mr Amitabh Bachchan meant the world. We idolized them. I wanted to write a film in that tone and with texture. I got an idea and I wrote the story and the 30-40-page long script.

The working title of the script was Khakee which was also the name of my TV show. It was aired on Doordarshan. It was produced by Pradeep Uppoor and it was about the daily life of cops. I suggested the title Khakee to them for the show and I told Pradeep Uppoor ki ‘Mere paas yeh title hai lekin mujhe ek din film mein use karna hai!’. He said, ‘No problem. You can take the title for your film. But for now, we’ll use it for the TV show’.

Once, I decided to get out of television, I tried to see who could make Khakee. But nobody was interested. I almost gave up on the script and started writing other stuff. Raj ji called me one day. This was when Sridevi and Mr Boney Kapoor were planning a show called Mrs Malini Iyer. They wanted to know how TV shows are made. I met the three of them and explained to them the budgets, teams and writing process for a TV show. They offered me to come on board. But as I had quit television, I declined.

Raj ji called me for dinner and he told me that he was working on a script with Anjum and both were stuck. I suggested to them that I have a script based on real characters. I also added that it’s a police film that no one wants to make. I offered them my characters to incorporate them into their story. I narrated that it’s about a guy who’s being taken in a train by five cops. During the course of their journey, they hate him as he’s allegedly a terrorist but then they are forced to have a change of mind. There was also a second version. It never got made but it had a tagline which Raj ji really liked – ‘For one man, it was a pilgrimage; for others, it was war’. Raj ji heard the first version and decided to make a film on it. Anjum liked the idea too. I, however, reminded them that it’s a low-budget film and isme scale hai nahin. Raj ji said, ‘We’ll scale it up’! Then, Raj ji and I went scene by scene to add the scale and make it more dramatic, more tense and more terrifying. He also assured me that he’ll keep the realistic tone intact. Hence, he was the perfect collaborator.

Working on Khakee was one of the best memories I have ever had. I was a new writer and yet, he allowed every scene to be discussed and debated. During the shoots, he would ensure I travelled with him. He would treat me with as much respect as any other else, though I was a kid then. Since he was a big director, he also managed to get the cast.

You said that Khakee was based on real-life characters. Did they see the film?

When you interact with so many cops, you often feel ‘I love this cop’s quality. One day, I’ll use it in a character’. So, I wrote many such traits and then merged a few of them. But at the same time, there's an equal amount of Salim-Javed in it. Amitabh Bachchan’s character is based on a cop I knew. 50% is that cop and 30% is inspired by Zanjeer’s character. We imagined how he must be 30 years later. Due to his honesty, he would have constantly gotten into trouble and would have got a transfer. He won’t lose his anger but since he’s older, his anger would be tinged with humour. That’s how I wrote the opening scene. Even here, some people wondered, ‘You introduced him asleep’! But he was bored of the goings-on.

I was also inspired by real-life incidents. The scene where Anant deals with a mob is sourced from a true incident that I heard about. The cop single-handedly reminded the mob ‘Who the hell are you guys to take law into your hands?’.

Those were the days when Amitabh Bachchan would sport a French beard. But for this film, he shaved it off. Whose idea was it?

I guess Raj ji wanted that. Mr Bachchan by then had done a lot of films with that look. Raj ji was particular that he wanted the seniority and dignity to come across and that he wanted to see the character’s face.

One of the most memorable scenes of the film is when the constables slap Anant Srivastava (Amitabh Bachchan).,..

That was Raj ji’s idea. I was nervous. How can we even imagine a scene of Mr Bachchan being slapped? But he reasoned, ‘The slap is the heart of the scene’. The reason you are asking this is exactly why he felt it would work. We would be horrified by the thought of it.

In the last scene, Ashwin (Tusshar Kapoor), who went by the rule, stages a fake encounter and kills Angre (Ajay Devgn). It worked big time but what made you go for such an ending?

The story is about a young guy who has got three role models in front of him – one is a man who is completely honest but he paid the price for it - Anant Srivastava. The second one, Shekhar (Akshay Kumar), walks the line in the middle. He’s essentially honest but doesn’t feel that there’s anything wrong in occasionally crossing the line. The third one, Angre, has gone beyond the law. If you see, the story is about this young cop and who he wants to become. In the end, he merges all three of them. He realizes that to survive in today’s world, you have to have elements of all three characters. It’s up to the moviegoer to decide whether or not he did the right thing. In the theatre, people clapped in that scene.

There’s one scene we wrote but it was never shot. In the end, we show Ashwin informing someone that Angre had been shot when he tried to escape. We wrote a scene showing Ashwin talking to Anant. Anant ends the call and then tells his wife, ‘I have lost three good men’. She said, ‘No. Two died’, that is, constable Kamlesh Sawant (Kamlesh Sawant) and Shekhar. But Anant maintained, ‘No, I lost three good men’, referring to Ashwin’s character and his change of heart. After saying this, he puts on his uniform and goes to train the next batch of cops, hoping that he can instil his principles in the next generation.

Many people, however, said that it seemed ambiguous. Raj ji felt that it was too much spoon-feeding. Also, the high one gets when Ashwin shoots Angre is an apt way to end the film. Hence, this scene of Anant was never shot.

Despite the theme, commercial songs were well woven into the film…

Raj ji managed to put them neatly. I was like, ‘How can you put songs in such a film, sir?’! He answered, ‘Gaane toh daalne padenge kyunki yeh mainstream film hai’! And I was stuck on the fact that ‘Aakrosh aur Ardh Satya mein toh gaane nahin the’ (laughs)! I was a bit bewildered at how a song like ‘Aisa Jadoo Daala Re’ would be incorporated. I guess the soundtrack made it acceptable to a larger audience. When you are making a film with such a huge star cast, the cost is higher (and it needs to be recovered).

A minor criticism that came against the film was why Ansari (Atul Kulkarni), believed to be a dreaded terrorist, was taken by road or rail and not by flight…

My answer is, ‘Real life mein aisa hota nahin hai. Yeh facilities Police ke paas hamare desh mein hai nahin’. When you go to the court in town, you’ll see people tied to each other by rope. If you take the early morning train from Pune to Mumbai, you’ll see prisoners being brought for hearings and they are all sitting with their hands tied. This is how things happen in India. Hence, I wrote a realistic film on the lines of Govind Nihalani and my other two favourite films, The Wages Of Fear (1953) and The French Connection (1971).

It is often said that it’s difficult to remake Khakee in today’s times as it shows a corrupt minister and religious prejudices. What’s your take?

A lot of such stuff is happening on OTT. I don’t believe that such films can’t be made. I don’t know how you would tell this kind of story in today’s day and age. Even for me, a film has to be cinematic. It took Rajkumar Santoshi to understand that there’s a film in Khakee’s story. Nearly 50 people told me ‘Iss story mein kya hai’. Also, they had a perception since I was a TV writer. I also had the scene of the cattle bazaar. It was hard to explain to other people as they would wonder, ‘Isme kya action hoga?’. I wanted to ask them, aap kabhi cattle bazaar gaye ho? It’s scary as there are thousands of bovines and you can’t hear anybody. Thanks to my journalist background, I had travelled to rural Maharashtra extensively (and knew about it). Raj ji loved the idea of doing something gritty.

So, to answer your question, it all depends on the person’s vision. I would love to write another gritty, police film. But I guess I’ll face the same battle again that I faced two decades ago. Then they used to suggest, ‘Aap yeh TV ke liye banao’. Now, they would say, ‘This is fit for OTT’.