2 weeks ago
Khakee Review: Amitabh Bachchan as the Angry Old Man
A movie critic wrote a long article about an old Indian movie called Khakee.
The main character is played by a very famous actor named Amitabh Bachchan, who is a police officer.
Many years ago, in a 1973 movie called Zanjeer, he played a young man who was very angry about unfairness in the world.
In Khakee, he is much older, so the article calls him an "angry old man."
The article explains that Khakee is a "masala" movie, which means it mixes many different things, like songs, action, romance, and big emotions, all together.
The film has a scary villain, a chase across a desert, and a promise the hero makes to a kind mother.
It also talks about serious problems, such as a Muslim family being treated unfairly and a man who is not given a proper burial.
The critic believes great movies can mix fun with serious ideas at the same time.
At the very end, the article wonders whether movies made in 2026 would still be brave enough to tell this kind of story.
Rajkumar Santoshi's Khakee (2004) is analysed as a near-perfect masala vehicle featuring Amitabh Bachchan as an "angry old man" police officer.
The essay compares Bachchan's Khakee cop to the "angry young man" archetype he created in Prakash Mehra's 1973 film Zanjeer.
The film stars Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai and Tanuja, with Ajay Devgn as the villain Aangre, who calmly kills an entire family in his introduction.
Khakee mixes romance, action, theatrical dialogue and spectacle, while its plot touches on a Muslim family branded anti-national and a man condemned as a Pakistani agent.
The article ends by questioning how many films in 2026 would still dare to feature the film's politically charged storyline.
- Who
- Amitabh Bachchan as an ageing police officer, with Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai, Tanuja and Ajay Devgn as the villain Aangre; the film was directed by Rajkumar Santoshi and written by Shridhar Raghavan.
- What
- A critical analysis of the 2004 Hindi film Khakee, described as a near-perfect masala vehicle in which Bachchan's cop embodies an "angry old man" with a political edge.
- Where
- Not explicitly stated in the article; the film belongs to Indian (Bollywood) cinema and includes a desert chase sequence.
- When
- Khakee was released in 2004; the review essay, written in 2026, compares it with Bachchan's 1973 film Zanjeer.
- Why
- The article argues that Khakee re-imagines Bachchan's Angry Young Man archetype as an Angry Old Man inside a masala film with a political spine that confronts communalism and the treatment of suspects.
Key facts
- Film
- Khakee
- Release Year
- 2004
- Director
- Rajkumar Santoshi
- Writer
- Shridhar Raghavan
- Lead Actor
- Amitabh Bachchan as an ageing cop
- Other Cast
- Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai, Tanuja, Ajay Devgn as villain Aangre
- Genre
- Masala film
- Comparison Film
- Zanjeer (1973), directed by Prakash Mehra
Quotes
Amitabh Bachchan
Legendary Bollywood actor and central figure in the film Khakee
“That is why Khakee begins with a Muslim family being branded as anti‑national; reaches its midpoint when a man condemned as a Pakistani agent reveals that he was only trying to do his job with integrity, until the state made even that impossible.”
indianexpress.com
“In 2004, however, an angry old man was born. Bachchan was no longer young, nor the towering star he had once been.”
indianexpress.com





