(Anwar:) In what way was "Khakee" an "illogical, typical Bollywood film"? I thought it was a great action movie, with all-around great performances. I cared about the characters, the action scenes were exciting and believable (no one flew from rooftop to rooftop, firing off a hundred bullets a second from a revolver, etc.), the number of songs was kept low (though I feel that the film would have benefitted from the omission of at least two)...it was a great action movie. Hell, it was much better than the disappointing "Lajja" (not that I loathed "Lajja," it just wasn't any better than "OK"). I see that you, too, have said (concerning Amitabh Bachchan), "many of his films are really stupid nowadays." Please, give me a few examples that correspond with your claim. Also, he's always done "stupid" movies now and then; he's just always made that fact not matter, by doing the "great" ones. I'd say, the trend continues.

Can you please tell me which movie Abhishek did out do himself in PMG!

I think, just portraying a character naturally is NOT GOOD ACTING! May be on your face LOUD/OVER ACT is real acting!

Shilpa was good! but IMHO, that needed an actress with much better histrionic than Shilpa! Somehow it is hard for me to accept Shilpa as ACTRESS DEJOUR as it is for Abhishek!

Salman, unfortunately has VERY LIMITED RANGE! but indeed for a change even he was ridiculed for this role he was pretty good!

I like sensitivity involved with Revathy's films and look forward to her next one!

Unfortunately like every one else she is depending for success this time with currently OVER THE BOARD HYPED BIG B too!as long as it lasts!

BIG B is a GREAT ACTOR! It really hearts to see him doing any thing and every thing coming his way at any cost

Khakee had GOOD MUSIC and GREAT VILLIAN ACT by AJAY DEVGUN!rest it was just an average affair imho, cops/robber drama!
Santoshi has gone off track too, but I liked LOBS!
I never aknowledged HUM TUM as more than time pass crap!

I agree 100% with Kamran regarding Amitab and Abhishack. I wouldn't mind seeing SRK and Priety Z in movies they are ok and good. As far as seeing Abhishek for the next 2 decades, I have a simple solution, avoid all his movies. I don't care if he makes 50 movies per year i will refuse to watch them. As a matter of fact most of his movies up to date have been flops. But it doesn't matter too much, in India poeple will watch any movie and the movie makers will make plenty of money no matter what they produce.
And I'm not surprised they r alot of poeple who like some or most of Abhishek's movies. They r the same poeple who will shell out $16 to $20 for a worthless Abhishek movie Bounty AB etc. I would not even waste a cheap blank dvd disc on it. As for the movie Khakee, it has some good songs but the rest of it is not that good at all. What about Hum Kisise Kam Nahin, un insult to a thing called a movie starring Amitab.

HKKN, WAS SANJU'S GAME, HE TAKES OVER AB THERE AND THEN, EVEN FILM WAS TERRIBLE, AND AB WAS HOPELESS!

How can anyone say they're tired of seeing Amitabh. He's the greatest actor alive and has saved alot of movies from going under, he's just as good now as he was when he was younger, some may say even better. Look around to all the so called other actors, they can't even act, they're only there because they're a bunch of pretty faced smiling idiots. They don't know what acting is, non of these so called new comers and yes that goes for Amitabh son too, and Hrithik, etc etc. That's my 2 cents.

I indeed liked Abhishek's work in "Phir Milenge," but it was more a "good movie" than a "good Abhishek." Again, I think Abhishek really shines in "Yuva" (which, also, I deem a great film). I can't believe that you would relegate Shilpa Shetty's work in "Phir Milenge" to "good." She was amazingly brilliant. Her "histrionics" were suberb (as she has a very expressive face), and yet she managed not to "over-act." I agree about Salman Khan's limited range. Most actors tend to improve over time and through experience; Salman, it seems, is justg getting worse. Again, regarding "Khakee," I disagree: I thought it was one of the best Indian action films in a long time. Also, yes: Rajkumar Santoshi has made some other great films, too: "Andaz Apna Apna," "China Gate" (I'm looking forward to "Family"). (Also, I hear good things about "Ghayal," but really don't remember the film well enough to comment on it.) I agree that "Hum Tum" was an above-average entertainer; in fact, having first watched it, I thought it was suberb. The problem came when everyone began rewarding Rani Mukherjee's good performance in it, while overlooking far better ones by other actresses in other films.

"Hum Kisise Kum Nahin" was OK. I agree that Sanjay Dutt had more to do in it than did Amitabh Bachchan, but Bachchan, nevertheless, turned in an entertaining performance. I haven't seen "Bunty Aur Babli" yet, and I probably wouldn't "shell out" a lot to purcahse it. That said, Indian DVDs tend to suck; thus, I don't get many, regardless of the quality of the film (though I do have many Amitabh-Bachchan DVDs...hello Faddy).

Right on, Raj_d, but come on: don't bach other actors just to support Amitabh. I agree that there are several–many "terrible actors" out there, but, there always have been. As for Hrithik Roshan, he's done some good films, some great ones, and some horrible ones. He's turned in some good performances, some great ones, and some horrible ones. At the end of the day, however, he is one of the more competent performers of the industry. (Examples of his excellent performances: "Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai" [people got sick of all the attention it got, but he did great work in it], "Mission Kashmir," "Koi... Mil Gaya," "Lakshya.")

KHAKEE has no novel story, a typical style of storytelling, three songs that don't fit in the movie, very filmi dialogues (not many natural dialogues), filmi and some illogic sequences, etc. The only reasons I watched the whole film were the good performances and the many twists. Ajay Devgan was really good, but then he had to play the typical goonda/terrorist/villain. I'm not saying it was bad. To me it was just an entertaining formulaic but overrated film. It was just disappointing to see such a film coming from a director like Rajkumar Santoshi. Direction was very good, but the film was too much focused on entertainment value rather than telling a believable story. That's how I feel about the film.

I'm not sure what you mean by "novel story," and I'm not sure what sort of expectations you have for the story of an action film. I thought "Khakee"'s plot was engaging, and (far more important) I thought its execution was superb. Many films with promising stories are ruined by mediocre story-telling, and many average stories manage to be told in a fresh and engaging way; I think "Khakee" had the best of both worlds: an interesting — what I would consider "novel" — story (well, the plot, more than the "story," was novel, and a riveting method of "story-telling." I agree with you about the three songs. ...That's it; I have no argument there. (That said, I think "Aisa Jadoo," "unnecessary" as it might have been, helped liven up what was become a rather grave tone.) I loved the dialogues of the film. It was a "film"; naturally the dialogues, and many of the moments, ought to have been "filmi." This is true of films across the globe. I think an action film with purely "realistic" dialogues would be dull and uninteresting. I don't, however, think that the dialogues went overboard at any point. They always served to enhance the story. Furthermore the dialogue delivery by the entire cast was commendable, which only enhanced the film further. As for Ajay Devgan's role of a "typical villain," I think such a character is not out of place in such a film. I think I understand you correctly when I say that your problem was the lack of a "real, deep, three-dimensional" villain. Most action stories need a "two-dimensional" villain, one that exists for the sole purpose of ultimately being vanquished. (Come on, even Gabbar Singh wasn't all that "realistic.") I think, to me, the strength of the film lied largely in its non-formulaic execution. I don't want to say that this was the best movie to have come from the industry in years, but I do uphold that it was one of the industry's best commercial entertainers in years. Personally, I don't find it one bit "over-rated"; if anything, I don't think it often enough gets mention. "Dhoom," for instance — which, too, I really liked — got much more spotlight than perhaps it deserved. "Khakee," on the other hand, was said to be a good film, and it was left at that. I appreciate your opinion, but mine happens to differ with it. (I like this "non-bashing" conversation, though; IMDb boards could learn a thing or two here. )

Commando-ji,

I respect your opinion very much and I see why you like the film. I think it's just a matter of taste and it was a little harsh for me to say that it was a stupid film. I take that back: it was just an average film for me which didn't excite me and even bored me a little. Maybe I like the films you would call dull and uninteresting. But that's OK, right?

Man, I haven't yet seen "Bunty Aur Babli." Having read some of the on-line reviews, I was really looking forward to it. Hell, most seem to claim that Abhishek "stole the show" (http://nowrunning.com/film/review.asp?movieNo=2208). Seeing what most of the people here have to say, however, I'm feeling a bit apprehensive about even renting the DVD. I think I'll check it out anyway, but...still.

And I respect yours, Anwar-ji. I'd like to know what some of your favorite films of 2004 were. Look forward to hearing what you have to say.

I've revisited Yuva just yesterday after a gap of over 6 months from my first viewing, and now I'd have to discard my previous statement entirely. At first, I couldn't digest the intimations of Lallan's character, now I'm thinking that this might be perhaps the most sadistic character(purposely?) Ratnam has ever drawn in his film, even the most uncompoassionate role I've ever seen. If anyone agrees with me, please help me elaborate on this. If anyone else feels otherwise(kamran?), I'd love to hear from you as well.

Though I, too, haven't seen the film in several months, that was exactly my ascertainment of Lallan's character: he was sinister and villainous. This was not a compassionate charcter, and I think that Abhishek brought him across very well. He didn't make any efforts to try to sanitize the character; he simply played the part as it should have been played. The audience was not necessarily supposed to feel "sorry" for Lallan, yet — through Abhishek's work — it was certainly able to understand him as a character.

Ratnam surely gets the best out of his actor's, having said that, my favourite performance from Yuva has to be Ajay Devgan's, Michael Mukherjee was the only progressive moving character within the context of the film, and it left me wanting to see an entire film revolving around his ambitions. Lallan, while viciously portrayed, ultmiately leaves a very little to nothing effect on me as far as the film's importance is concerned.