A 2004 Bollywood Action thriller film starring one of the best actors of Indian cinema; Aishwariya Rai Bachchan (as Mahalakshmi), Amitabh Bachchan (as DCP Anant Kumar Shrivastav), Akshay Kumar (as senior inspector Shekhar Verma), Ajay Devgan (as Yashwant Angre).
Khakee - Comic Page 55Shemaroo
To engage and entertain Bollywood fanatics, Shemaroo Entertainment launched some of the iconic cult movies of Bollywood as aesthetic illustrations that brings the characters to life through printed comics. One of them being Khakee (2004)
Khakee - Comic Cover page 2Shemaroo
An action thriller film, directed by Rajkumar Santoshi released on 23 January 2004, is a cop film that revolves around an Indian Police and his team on a mission.
While books being made into movies is a common practice, adapting a classic movie into a comic seemed like a unique, fun and ‘hatke’ idea. Being a content powerhouse, having a treasure trove of Bollywood blockbuster and cult movies Shemaroo Entertainment launched 'Khakee', one of their many Comic Book series.
Khakee - Comic Page 56Shemaroo
This film is also based on the duty of these Cops toward their uniform.
The term Khakee is actually a Color.
Color of the uniform for the Indian Police force. A colour that determines strength and unity.
Khakee - Comic Page 39 (2020)Shemaroo
A fight towards terrorism
D.C.P. Anant and his team are on a rescue mission to escort an accused terrorist from a small town in Maharashtra to Mumbai.
While the Team is on their way to Mumbai, their van becomes dysfunctional and they decide to halt at a bungalow nearby waiting for backup.
Just when they thought their backup had arrived, it was indeed goons who came and attacked the bungalow out of nowhere.
Khakee - Comic Page 40Shemaroo
Mission in danger
The team was attacked by the enemy where in the DCP gets shot.
The rest of the team continues to fight and take cover but soon, they too are out of bullets.
Khakee - Comic Page 41Shemaroo
The sole purpose of the enemy was to get the accused terrorist Ansari in their control for reasons unknown.
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Plot Twist
Just when senior inspector Shekhar decides to save their own lives and give the accused terrorist to the enemy, Ansari breaks down and reveals the truth.
The Truth
Ansari reveals that he was in fact paying the price of being an honest Indian citizen.
The fact was that Ansari is a doctor who was trying to save the life of a Journalist who had information about a corrupt minister, Deodhar being involved in comunnal riots.
When Ansari refused to cooperate the corrupt cops framed him as a terrorist.
The story then continues wherein the team comes together to reveal the truth and expose the corrupt minister. With a turn of events, action and drama they were able to finally bring justice to Dr. Ansari, who was accused of being a terrorist.
An integral part of the process was the shading of the comics. All the Comic Pages of the film Khakee has a warmer tone to them, a shade of the color Khaki. The character needed to look identifiable with onscreen characters to a certain extent but at the same time, retain their comic look giving the readers a feel of the film.
'Khakee'(2004) was one of the first films to start the trend of parotic cop films, after which many such stories were written and directed, for example; 'Special 26' (2013), 'Article 15' (2019), 'Satyameva Jayate' (2018) with a base storyline where the Indian Police helps remove corruption and restore peace.
The delightful comic format is a way to engage with Bollywood fans, and give them something that will not just entertain them, but something they can use to reminisce a movie, to cherish as a collectible.
