Khakee () is a 2004 Indian Hindi-language neo-noir action thriller film directed by Rajkumar Santoshi and written by Santoshi and Sridhar Raghavan around an Indian police team on a mission to escort an accused terrorist from a small town in Maharashtra to Mumbai. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Aishwarya Rai and Tusshar Kapoor. It was produced by Keshu Ramsay and distributed by Eros International, with cinematography handled by K. V. Anand. Khakee was released theatrically on 23 January 2004 to widespread critical acclaim with particular praise for its screenplay, execution, and the cast's performances. It was one of the most high costliest films at that time, though still it became a critical and commercial success. The film was the fifth highest-grossing film of 2004, grossing 50 crore worldwide in its lifetime run. Plot Additional Commissioner of Police, AD.CP Shrikant Naidu assembles a team of five police officers to bring Dr. Iqbal Ansari, a captured ISI agent, responsible for riots, safely from Chandangarh to Mumbai, consisting of DCP Anant Shrivastav, Senior Inspector Shekhar Verma; Sub-Inspector Ashwin Gupte and constables Kamlesh Sawant and Gajanan Mhatre. It is then shown that criminal Yashwant Aangre is tracking the team. The team proceeds to Chandangarh, and come across school teacher Mahalakshmi, who informs them about suspected terrorists who stayed incognito in her school premises. Soon, along with Ansari and Mahalakshmi, who also wants to go to Mumbai, they leave for Mumbai by road. Angre distracts the team and tries to disable the mission repeatedly but fails. On route, the van becomes dysfunctional, and the team halts at a secluded bungalow. Anant calls Naidu to appraise him of the events and send a police team. Anant now remembers Aangre, a corrupt and ruthless ex-cop or ex-inspector, who was dismissed and imprisoned after Anant caught him killing five innocent men in a fake encounter during the bank robbery. The team is soon attacked at the bungalow by Aangre and his men. Shekhar tries to surrender Ansari to Aangre, but Anant objects. At this point, the plot turns when Ansari tells them that the terrorists are there to kill him, not free him. He was a doctor in Chandangarh when journalist Bhaskar Joshi informed him that the communal riots were actually engineered by minister Deodhar, who killed a few social workers who had compiled evidence that would've jailed him. Bhaskar had the file containing